Hi Hearth members, recent lurker and interested on asking the community it's opinion on the best route for me to go for my new-to-me double-sided fireplace.
A wood burning method would be preferred with the readily accessible wood that I have on the property and I already have 3/4 of a cord worth stacked in the back. A stand-alone wood stove was not something my wife wants as it would 1) take space 2) limited area to be installed, so she would prefer to take advantage of the existing fireplace as best as we can.
We had a local chimney company inspect and got the thumbs up to use it. The home is 33 years old and the fireplace has never been used, understandably it is more for aesthetics at this point.
The total area of where I'd like to heat is around 1400sq ft, though any supplemental would come from central heating. The room that the fireplaces are in is (see pictures, brick) 20x18 with 10ft to 15ft cathedral ceilings and 15x18 with 10ft to 15ft ceilings. We recently have opened up the walls to permit walking on either side of the fireplace (pictures are older).
From my research, an actual insert that provides double-sided viewing is out of the question for my masonry fireplace. However, I'd be interested to figure out the steps I should take to get an single-sided insert installed. We would mostly spend time in the living room space (brick with chandelier) and don't mind having the insert on this side and the side with the stone work a standard glass cover that just covers the back of the insert.
For reference the dimensions of the rough opening is 29 1/4" L x 30 1/2" H x 33 1/8" D
![[Hearth.com] New owner - double-sided](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/305/305089-726ad2af532bc7d7a988179249e17364.jpg?hash=-dh--ktOM1 "[Hearth.com] New owner - double-sided")
![[Hearth.com] New owner - double-sided](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/305/305090-8e2ee737d8d8ade02f3156aa3ccbeb94.jpg?hash=yYfS88MHsF "[Hearth.com] New owner - double-sided")
A wood burning method would be preferred with the readily accessible wood that I have on the property and I already have 3/4 of a cord worth stacked in the back. A stand-alone wood stove was not something my wife wants as it would 1) take space 2) limited area to be installed, so she would prefer to take advantage of the existing fireplace as best as we can.
We had a local chimney company inspect and got the thumbs up to use it. The home is 33 years old and the fireplace has never been used, understandably it is more for aesthetics at this point.
The total area of where I'd like to heat is around 1400sq ft, though any supplemental would come from central heating. The room that the fireplaces are in is (see pictures, brick) 20x18 with 10ft to 15ft cathedral ceilings and 15x18 with 10ft to 15ft ceilings. We recently have opened up the walls to permit walking on either side of the fireplace (pictures are older).
From my research, an actual insert that provides double-sided viewing is out of the question for my masonry fireplace. However, I'd be interested to figure out the steps I should take to get an single-sided insert installed. We would mostly spend time in the living room space (brick with chandelier) and don't mind having the insert on this side and the side with the stone work a standard glass cover that just covers the back of the insert.
For reference the dimensions of the rough opening is 29 1/4" L x 30 1/2" H x 33 1/8" D
