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My husband dearly wants a house with a fireplace; there is a house I would really like to consider buying but he won't look at it because it has no fireplace. I am wondering, how much money (approximately) would it cost to have one installed? We would not want a woodburning fireplace. Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks.
In most places, you cannot get permits for wood burning fireplaces anymore. What you would need would be the room along an exterior wall for a direct vent (no chiminey). I am not sure how much the cost would be to run a gas line to the fireplace, framing the box, and installing the unit. Might check your local hardware company, they might be able to give you more of a cost idea.
I had a direct (back) vent prefab fireplace installed in my last house. It cost about $2500 for everything, including the fireplace, venting, installation/labor and running the gas lines. I spent another $1000 or so on a wood mantel and tile hearth, but those were optional.
That was about five years ago, so it might be more now. It worked great and it was the focal point of the room. I never had any problem with it and you'd never know it had been added. Good luck!
In most places, you cannot get permits for wood burning fireplaces anymore.
What??? Where are you talking about? Here in New England, new homes are being built with wood-burning fireplaces all the time. In fact, if homes do not have them they are considered to be less sellable. Jay
You can't get them in most parts of CA (maybe all). They have to be grandfathered in. That's been the case for over a decade now. I think it's the case in a few other states and cities, too.
That is true on the woodburning fireplaces, I think the East Coast is still okay but a lot of the western states are not even offering woodburning fireplaces anymore. Also with the gas fireplaces you don't need the cost of a full chimney that runs up above the house. The prices listed here are really reasonable, I was also going to suggest before seeing that, you can also get a pellet stove, they have some really pretty ones that have a full fire through the glass.
What??? Where are you talking about? Here in New England, new homes are being built with wood-burning fireplaces all the time. In fact, if homes do not have them they are considered to be less sellable. Jay
in the greater majority of Colorado, you Cannot place a wood burning fireplace in a new construction. Dealt with it many times before with new projects where the client has requested a wood burning fireplace.
That is true on the woodburning fireplaces, I think the East Coast is still okay but a lot of the western states are not even offering woodburning fireplaces anymore. Also with the gas fireplaces you don't need the cost of a full chimney that runs up above the house. The prices listed here are really reasonable, I was also going to suggest before seeing that, you can also get a pellet stove, they have some really pretty ones that have a full fire through the glass.
Direct vent is the way to go with retrofitting in a house. They will have the Gas fireplace vent exit the exterior wall of the house where a metal box will cover the opening. They will need a clear path for the vent to go though. Best to place the Fireplace along an exterior wall for ease of install. They can however run the vent between floor joists though. It is a pain, and I think there is a restriction as to how long the flue run can be, and how many 90* turns it can have.
That is true on the woodburning fireplaces, I think the East Coast is still okay but a lot of the western states are not even offering woodburning fireplaces anymore. Also with the gas fireplaces you don't need the cost of a full chimney that runs up above the house. The prices listed here are really reasonable, I was also going to suggest before seeing that, you can also get a pellet stove, they have some really pretty ones that have a full fire through the glass.
I don't think they've cracked down entirely here in Florida yet, but I bet it's coming here too (no more wood-burning fireplaces allowed to be installed).
I agree, the chimney would be the bigger expense, I believe, and that can be prohibitive. I looked into retrofitting a wood-burning stove using an exisiting chimney (from an old oil heater) by lining the flue and even that was expensive.......if I had to build the chimney the project would have been scrapped. To get a good quality woodburning stove in place with an exisiting chimney would run appx $4k in total (could do for less if willing to make some changes, but that gives you an idea).
In my new construction house, the builder would have put in a woodburning fireplace upgrade for $2k......I don't even know if they're allowed to do this any longer (I think the developers may only be allowed to install gas-burning now).
If it's too much, too complicated, maybe you can suggest to your husband to build an outdoor fireplace - these can add to resale too. If that's not allowed in your city, then maybe a simple firepit would suffice?
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