Fireplace in Port St. Lucie (Palm Beach: insurance, new home, buy)

[alsidw]

This is probably my last house and I always wanted a fireplace and am thinking about adding one. I wonder if anyone has done this and what to consider. I am not talking about a huge thing burning logs but some sort of wood burning stove that burns pellets and generates little ash or smoke. There is something primeval about watching a fire on a cool night. I thought to put one in the master bedroom because it is in the rear of the house and a smokestack in the front of the house may not look too good from the street. On the other hand the living room and dining rooms are located at the front of the house and a fire place in either of those rooms might be more appropriate since more time is spent there.
Ideas, suggestions?


Sid

[SeetheUSA]

Buy an electric one at Lowes or HD. Save yourself a ton of money, permits, and time. It doesn't get cool enough to warrant one IMO, but to each their own!

[SeaLark7]

Here in Ohio we have a wood burning stove in our finished basement, and at least in the style we have, there is no viewing window. It is purely for heat, and I don't think the pellets would provide the same flames for viewing as a log fireplace would; somehow you just need the logs for the "atmosphere". I agree with SeetheUSA, get a decorative style.

[rusty78]

Sid....something to look for before you spend your money...when looking into new homes in Palm Beach County...we were told no permits for fire places will be issued to new home's...something to do with air pollution....so before you go any further wait till monday and call the town building department and see if they are still issuing permits...

[LingLing]

Also your home owner insurance premium may go up. I have one that I have never used but was asked about it by an insurance agent.

[HarryWho?]

EndlessVideo - Crackling Fire

[alsidw]

Harry, I feel warm all over.

Sid

[pattybee]

>some sort of wood burning stove that burns pellets and generates little ash or smoke.

Stoves either burn wood or burn pellets, but not both. You really don't want a stove—today's stoves are all air tight and designed for maximum efficiency in cold climates where the heat is really needed. It's highly unlikely you will ever get a cold spell here where lighting a fire in a stove wouldn't blow you out of the house with the heat.

> smokestack in the front of the house may not look too good from the street.

By code you won't be allowed to have a naked "smokestack" anyway. The round metal flue will have to be enclosed. And you will find that you will not get very much use out of a bedroom fireplace. Put it in the living area.

An installation for a pre-fabricated metal fireplace looks something like this:

http://www.fireplacesnow.com/Info_Pa...stallation.jpg

It can be put on an interior wall and after framing it as you see in the picture, drywall is added to the ceiling and then you can have a facade of stone, brick or marble tile finished with a mantel surround or mantel shelf—look at some pictures. This will result in your having a box butting into your room (or catty-cornered) that will be no less than 42" across by 24 " deep all the way up to the ceiling with the flue pipe going through the rafters and out the roof, with a box built around that exterior flue giving you the look of a "chimney". Or you can pour a concrete pad outside your exterior wall, have the box sit on it and frame it up on the outside so you have what is called an exterior chase—a box that extends up as high as is necessary. This way you don't lose any sq. footage within the room.

You can install a free-standing wood-burning fireplace such as a Malm Malm Lancer
which doesn't have to be framed to the ceiling and finished like the other type, but the part of the flue that extends through the roof will require the same box around it.

There are many other options for something called a "fireplace" which you should look into online, and there's a fireplace dealer called Fireside Distributors in W. Palm who could give you more information.

Either way it's a construction project requiring a licensed contractor, a permit and inspections, and probably more money than you imagine.

I have enjoyed a wood-buring fireplace in the PSL area for 25 years, but I will tell you that this winter we didn't use it at all because until recently (March!) it wasn't cool enough, and I've just moved from that house. My feeling is that climate change is making both gas and wood-burning fireplaces in our area obsolete.

[alsidw]

In an end of times scenario, a fireplace might come in handy for those cool nights; that and a lot of firepower- if you can find it nowadays.