What You Should Consider Before Installing a New Fireplace

If you desire the yellow-orange glow of a fireplace to bring a sense of warmth and comfort to your home, but you’re not sure where to start or if your home is suitable. At Incendium Stoves and Fireplaces, our HETAS registered installers have installed plenty of beautiful fireplaces, and provide full service from start to finish.

We’re able to help you choose the right fireplace for your home, whether it’s better for you to have a cast iron, open fire or a full fireplace remodel for the traditional chimney breast look.

But first, it is important to consider a few items to ensure a fireplace is ultimately right for you and your home. As fireplace remodelling experts, Incendium Stoves and Fireplaces have provided our advice in this blog post.

Usage and Needs

Why are you installing the fireplace? What is it going to be used for? There are options for every answer – whether you’re considering a fireplace for added warmth and lower energy bills or adding a talking point and design feature to improve the value and appearance of your home.

• Gas Fireplaces – these can be energy efficient and low maintenance, however with rising energy costs they can often be expensive to run.
• Wood Burning Fireplaces – cheaper to run than gas fireplaces due to energy prices, but they do not produce a large amount of heat so aren’t suitable for heating large areas.
• Electric – if the availability of gas is an issue, you can consider electric fireplaces. They produce a moderate amount of heat, suitable for warming up smaller rooms.

Costings

While many consider the cost of installing the fireplace to be the most expensive part, you should also take into consideration the running costs overall. Wood-burning stoves may include higher pre-installation costs if you need a chimney built or major alterations to your home but the long-term running costs can be minimal if you have easy access to firewood. Whereas in the short term, a gas stove can be cheaper to install but costly to run.

Safety and Building Codes

Building codes and regulations differ for each location. It may be that your home just isn’t suitable for a certain fuel type or stove size and therefore you will need to reconsider the stove you want.

However, at Incendium Stoves and Fireplaces we stay up to date on the latest building regulations which ensures your installation is fully compliant.

Design and Aesthetics

Design overall will be an important factor to consider, everyone wants their homes to be a display of personality. You will want to ensure your hearth is aesthetically appealing and matches your home’s existing decor. There are options such as detailed iron, stone or marble work or even more modern, sleek designs with glass. In addition to the hearth and fireplace, you may also want to choose a mantle and surround based on the room.

For more information on how Incendium can help you with your stove installation from initial free home survey through to completion and aftercare, get in touch with us today.