What You Need to Know about Wood Fireplaces
If you're looking to upgrade your home or cabin with a wood fireplace, there are a number of questions you'll need to answer to ensure you get the right unit to meet your needs. Wood fireplaces offer unbeatable heat production and the natural feel of fire, making them an excellent choice for cold climates to save on your heating bill. To help guide you through the process, we've put together this wood fireplace buying guide to walk you through the questions and provide links to relevant products and additional information.
Wood Fireplace FAQ's
- How much should I budget for a fireplace?
- What style of wood fireplace should I get?
- What features do I need?
- What are my ventilation requirements?
How Much Should I Budget for a Fireplace?
The first question you'll have to settle is how much money you want to spend on your wood-burning fireplace installation. Like most products, there's a wide range of pricing options available in wood fireplaces, and the more you spend, the more features you'll get. A basic unit will run about $1,000, while a full-featured wood fireplace can cost as much as $12,000.
These prices only cover the purchase of the unit itself. You'll also need to account for installation, framing, ventilation and masonry costs. Individual scenarios vary too much for us to give a reasonable estimate in this post, but a qualified contractor in your area should be able to help plan your project.
What Style of Wood Fireplace Should I Get?
The variety of available designs ensures there's a wood fireplace to suit both your tastes and your needs. Importantly, you'll need to account for whether you're working with an existing chimney or if you'll need to accommodate new ventilation.
Built-In Wood Fireplaces
A built-in wood fireplace is an excellent choice for new homes or remodels, as they need to be installed into a framed space. They're available in a variety of styles, from classic to modern, to suit your needs. As always, keep in mind the chimney requirements to install a built-in wood fireplace.
One popular built-in model is the Napoleon NZ5000-T High Country 5000. Its top-notch heat output and heavy-duty construction make it an effective and enduring appliance, and the clean, European-style design ensures it will make an excellent décor choice. On top of that, it features both horizontal and vertical airflow ridges for easy start-ups and a clean-burning experience.
Wood Fireplace Inserts
If you're looking to upgrade or refresh an existing fireplace, a wood fireplace insert is just what you need. They simply slide into or "insert" into the existing space, and with new chimney pipe, create a more efficient wood fireplace system. Many also come equipped with an integrated blower system to increase air circulation and disperse heat into the room. It's important to closely review the manufacturer's specifications to ensure your space is suitable for the unit you want.
The Osburn 3500 is an excellent example of what a wood fireplace insert can offer. It carries an EPA certification with an efficiency rating of 77 percent for a clean burn, and the firebox is lined with refractory bricks to distribute heat more evenly.
Wood Fireplace Stoves
A freestanding wood stove offers a much more versatile solution for wood-burning heat production, as they don't require an existing chimney or wall framing. This makes them excellent for upgrading a space like a cabin or lodge. You do have to sacrifice some floor space to accommodate them, but the trade off can be more than worth it.
If a wood stove sounds like what you're looking for, you'll want to take a look at the Napoleon S20. It's certified as a low-emission appliance by the EPA and features high-density fire brick for greater heat retention and consistency. Check out our guide to wood stoves for more details.
What Features Do I Need in a Wood Fireplace?
Across the full spectrum of the wood fireplace market, you'll find a variety of features available, and it can take a keen eye to sort out which options are best for your needs. To help, we've listed some common features below with an explanation of how they can improve your experience.
Ash Pans
While wood-burning fireplaces offer many strengths over gas and electric units, one downside is that they create ash, which can make clean-up a pain. Some fireplace units, like the Napoleon S20 mentioned above, feature a pan below the firebox, which collects the ash as it burns. Cleaning it up is then as simple as lifting out the ash pan and dumping it, saving you time and energy.
Efficiency
Real wood flames offer the greatest potential heat output of any fireplace type, but that doesn't mean that efficiency doesn't need to be considered. Many modern fireplaces offer features that improve your heating efficiency to reduce fuel costs and increase comfort. Things to keep an eye out for on this front are fireboxes with a refractory lining to project heat into the room, blower systems to distribute air outward and vents that bring fresh air in to promote a clean burn.
Tool Kits and Accessories
Wood fires require more careful management than gas fires do, so if you're planning for a wood fireplace, a reliable array of tools and accessories are a must have. We've listed some common choices below:
What Are My Ventilation Requirements?
It's tough to give general advice about fireplace requirements as it depends heavily on the structure and layout of your home and cabin. We have a buyer's guide to chimney and venting pipe for more details, but here are a few tips to keep in mind for a start.
The purpose of ventilation is two-fold: bringing in fresh air to ensure clean burning and expelling smoke to keep your home fresh. A traditional chimney accomplishes this with a single, large vertical shaft, but other ventilation options are designed with separate intake and exhaust channels to increase efficiency and take up less space.
It's important to be aware of local building codes and manufacturer's clearances when designing, purchasing and installing a ventilation system, so be sure to check the owner's manuals of any fireplace or vent you're considering.
Wood Fireplaces: Hot This Year
There's a reason wood fireplaces have been a mainstay in our homes for most of human history. They offer exceptional heat and atmosphere that is sure to enrich your house, cabin or lodge. By following our buying guide as well as shopping our wide array of fireplace options, you're sure to find just what you need. If you still have burning questions, you can contact us by phone or email; our product specialists are ready to share their expertise with you.
