New fireplace install - cost?

[ampersat]

The wife and I were talking about some household remodeling this morning. The one thing we really miss about our previous rental house is the fireplace. Being a new home buyer I didn't know how much I would miss not having one.

So, our current discussion involves installing a fireplace into a location that doesn't have any fireplace stuff there currently. It would be an all new install. My question is, ballpark, how much does this cost? Our plan would involve a simple wood framed mantle with some tile around the fireplace and a tile area in front. It would look a lot like this:

[blubeast]

Many years ago in my first home, I installed a free standing wood buring fireplace myself. Not real hard to do. Of course I did it AFTER putting on a new roof [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img] .

If your are handy around the house you should be able to do most of it yourself. I'd suggets you go visit some fireplace shops and check out their inserts.

[Miss B Haven]

Go with a nice wood stove with a glass door. Not only cheaper, much more efficient. Mine cost me about 3000 with the tile base to set it on and the double wall pipe (installed). The stove itself was about 1800 (4 years ago). It's a large box and will run a hard wood load 8 hrs and then the stove/coals stay hot for another 4 or so.
We don't use any heat other than the wood stove all winter. Heats my whole (2300 sq ft) house. On normal winter days you can't run it all the time or you'll have the windows and doors open. Start a fire first thing in the AM and let it go out by 10. Start another about dark and let it go out about bed time. The stove will still be warm and giving off heat in the morning.
Last couple of days in this near snow weather is the only time it's going most all the time. We do have the option as well of running the fan only on the furnace to circulate the heat and have a ceiling fan as well. Don't use those often becuase we like the bedrooms cooler anyway.
A fireplace retro will cost more and you won't get anywhere near the heat out of it. No heat loss up the flue with the stove either when not in use. With the glass door you still get the effect.

[SLEDDER]

Wood stove or insert is the way to go. Just size the stove to the room, try to centralize in house if possible. Enjoy the heat.

[1pump]

A retro fireplace install? :shocked: You'd probably have to go with one of those "zero clearance" fireplaces, and those are awful.


IMHO, I'd go with a freestanding pellet stove, or if you have gas, a freestanding gas stove.
A lot of folks really like their wood stoves, but I think they're a pain. Wood storage takes up a lot of room, the stoves can be a pain to clean up after, the emissions are higher, etc etc.
I had a pellet stove and I loved it. Not as romantic as a wood stove or fireplace, but a lot more efficient and cleaner.
You can go another route and try an oil stove. They look just like pellet or woodstoves, and you can even see the flame. Not real popular around here, though. The only reason I mentioned it is because I work in the oil business.

[ampersat]

Yes, a retro install. A good ol' wood burning fireplace. I miss having a real fireplace. Even if I bought a new house, I'm not sure I'd want a wood burning stove, pellet stove or an insert. I just like to sit in front of the fire.

The space we're talking about is small to begin with so a free-standing unit isn't a good option. Usable floor space is at a premium. As for gas fireplaces, what's the point? A fireplace that you can operate with a remote? You might as well play a DVD of a fireplace. (Anybody watch "Yule Log" this year on TV for Christmas? We did.)

The other problem is that this install would be all the way at one corner of our house. The place is only 1500 sq ft but it's very "segmented", making it feel that much smaller. Using a fire as a primary heat source for the house would be like trying to take a drifter out to Buoy 10: it can be done but most folks would advise against it. I could always use the fan in the furnace to move the warm air to other parts of the house, but mostly it's an aesthetic thing for me.

[will_e_fish]

A 2 story tear down and rebuild cost $7000 and the high bid 12000. The bid of 7000 we are doing tile work inside.

[Pitch Pocket]

Wood stoves are more efficent (no contest at all) and you can sit in front of them and watch the fire just fine. Glass doors or screens can cover the opening. You'll be glad you did when you figure more heat goes up the chimney of a regular fireplace than it produces for the room it's in.