I had a fireplace inspection done recently on a house I just moved into and was told the fireplace is not safe to use. They said that the smokebox needed to be larger and that there were cracks between the vent flue tiles. I do not know the history of the fireplace for certain, but from what anyone can tell it used to be a wood burning fireplace and was converted to gas.
The inspector seemed to lean heavily towards replacing the vented gas burner and log set with a ventless one for $2300 installed and just closing the damper.
I also asked for a quote to fix what was there which came up to a little over $7000 to break flue tiles, add stainless steel insert, thermix insulation, refractory mortar in smoke box, and replacing the burner and log set with a newer model. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with the current one other than dated and unattractive.
I think the costs seem about right for what I see online, but I will get other estimates too.
Is either of these options a significantly better idea than the other assuming we are planning on staying here long term? There seems to be a lot of conflicting advice out there. Is staying vented considerably more maintenance costs over the long term? Is the flame on ventless really that noticeable and will it make my home smell and create a lot of condensation? I guess what I’m asking is one of these ideas more “right” than the others if that makes sense.
The inspector seemed to lean heavily towards replacing the vented gas burner and log set with a ventless one for $2300 installed and just closing the damper.
I also asked for a quote to fix what was there which came up to a little over $7000 to break flue tiles, add stainless steel insert, thermix insulation, refractory mortar in smoke box, and replacing the burner and log set with a newer model. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with the current one other than dated and unattractive.
I think the costs seem about right for what I see online, but I will get other estimates too.
Is either of these options a significantly better idea than the other assuming we are planning on staying here long term? There seems to be a lot of conflicting advice out there. Is staying vented considerably more maintenance costs over the long term? Is the flame on ventless really that noticeable and will it make my home smell and create a lot of condensation? I guess what I’m asking is one of these ideas more “right” than the others if that makes sense.