House in Progress Diary

Making a Decision About the Fireplace

(Sorry for the lack of posts last week. Who knew how much dust would gather on my keyboard when the baby started walking? Yes, I should have guessed that. But I didn't.)

After much fretting and research and discussions and reference checks, we narrowed down the type of fireplace that would work for us as well as the potential installer. This would have been a more complex task than it already was had our chimney not been blocked.




In the end, that blockage left us with few options. I guess the upside is that it made decision-making easier. Originally, the fireplace was a gas fireplace. Way, way back in the early 1900's, there was a gas fireplace there. We found the pipeline. Right next to the electrical outlet that was installed by previous owners. Yes, of course, that gas line is live.




That means that the original flue was sized for gas and not burning wood. Which made Aaron very sad because he is a fan of wood fireplaces. However, it was not to be. The only way to secure the vertical flue at the right diameter needed for smoke exhaust would have been to rebuild the chimney. And that just wasn't an option that we wanted to pursue. One side of the chimney works it way through a crawl space behind the wall in our master bedroom. Here is an OLD picture from 2004:




Rebuilding everything would have meant tearing out walls and, with a walking 15 month old, I wasn't up for it. Uh uh. I fought hard for that upstairs clean space and I intend to keep it that way.

The layout of the room discouraged us from considering any kind of stove because it would have placed the stove too far into the area needed for walking from one room into another.

We were going to have to choose an option that allowed us to direct vent right out of the back of the fireplace, right through the wall of the chimney. And that option was gas. We had to come full circle back to the way the fireplace had begun. As a gas fireplace.

We researched many different brands and manufacturers with some helpful advice from Craig at Hearth.com. We hunted around for potential contractors based on recommendations (some from you, so thanks!). After we talked with each of them (and researched their customer satisfaction track record through references and the Better Business Bureau), we chose a company that we like very much.

More tomorrow. Gotta run. The baby is heading for the garbage can.

Posted by jeanne on April 3, 2007 at 10:36 AM