Fireplace to wood stove alcove conversion

[lhamilton1807]

I’m posting this here because the project was way more expensive than I had anticipated.

Over a year ago I started taking out my massive brick fireplace and chimney stack. It was about 9 degrees off square (for aesthetics I presume) and was ~3’ x 5’ (~1x1.5M). This was an inefficient use of space, didn’t heat the house, and looked really outdated.

Turned out the upstairs ceiling was supported by the bricks, and the wife wanted to remove the wall next to it (it was the back of the kitchen, where the original owners installed the laundry hookups.

• Needed an engineer to spec out beams and posts to support the ceiling
• ran the plans through the permit system,
• relocated the laundry to the garage,
• moved the water supply and drain/vent about 6’ (2M),
• bring the holes in the roof, ceiling, and floor back to square,
• dispose of the bricks (thank you, Craigslist!),
• figure out which wood stove (1) is compliant with the new 2020 EPA high efficiency standards, (2) would legally fit in the cavity left by the old fireplace , and (3) heat the whole house (only one checked all boxes: the Lopi Evergreen)
• designed and built a non-combustible wood stove using metal studs and cement board,
• painted it with silicate paint because the wife wanted it to look like drywall,
• tiled the floor with slate (thank you, Craigslist!)

The architect/engineer was about $6500, the stove and chimney were about $4800, and other supplies probably another $1000. So glad it’s done.

I just lit my first fire today after removing the first bricks in August of 2021.

[William the Third]

For ~$12,000 I would have just left it as it was, and saved the money for more paintball gear.

[lhamilton1807]

That thought definitely crossed my mind a number of times 🤣

Sometimes giving the lady what she wants is worth it, and we’re both happy with the more open floor plan and consistent wood heat.

[Grendel]

I am having this discussion with my daughter and her husband right now. They [son in-law really] want to remove a central fireplace in a mid century modern home they are renovating. Their reason is "won't use it". I am trying to convince them to leave it:

1. House is designed around it and removing it will remove a lot of the Mid-Century Modern aesthetic. They seem to not care thinking this is their forever home <roll my eyes> and not worried about re-sale. This is a central fireplace in an open floor plan that separates living an dining but unlike yours is not attached to a wall but is floating in the middle and you can walk around both sides and see through the fireplace.
2. The brick and concrete work for the chimney is integrated not only into the ceiling but also the roof structure. This like yours will be a huge expense for IMHO little real gain.
3. The house before purchase had just had the whole roof replaced and it was done well with quality shingles so a lot of money wasted as that was a negotiating point on the purchase.
4. Fireplace/Chimney have been inspected and in very good shape functionally just needs some aesthetics work to help brighten up the space.

If you do not mind I would like to share your post with them. It sounds like you did the work yourself? They are not the DIYer type and have to subcontract this type of work.

[lhamilton1807]

Yeah, you can share the post. The biggest expense was for engineering, and that was a surprise expense. Everyone we spoke to, including a chimney company that quoted us $7k to remove the bricks for us, said “no one would have built the house to rely on the brick for support. Go ahead and remove it.” Only partway through did we realize it was load-bearing for the structure. I did my own work aside from the engineering, so framing, electrical, plumbing, roofing, etc. Saved a bunch of cost but extended the length of the project since I have a full time job.

Removing ours was partly to reclaim & expand space upstairs and partly to make the wood heat more efficient, which masonry fireplaces definitely are not - most of the heat goes up the chimney. This stove is rated at 77% efficiency, so most of the heat stays in the house.

If we had known about the expense of the engineering before we started, we probably would have waited and done something else first. Since we found out after the bricks were already coming out, we unfortunately got a surprise $6500 addition to the project.

I’ll admit it was fun - I’ve never done structural changes to a house like this and it feels good knowing I did so and passed inspection. The cost still makes me cringe.

[glaman5266]

Sounds like a ton went into this. After mulling over whether we should convert ours or not, that price alone has convinced me to not do it. There might be other logistical things involved with ours since it's a double-sided fireplace between the living room and master bedroom, but not completely sure. Maybe I'll just gut it & put a pellet stove in, sticking just a tad out into the living room.

Enjoyed reading this. 👍

[lhamilton1807]

If our fireplace had been square with the house and hadn’t created so many choke points at common pathways through the kitchen, dining room, living room, and hallway I would have kept it and put in an insert instead. I love the look of brick and miss it some. The modern look is pretty bleak by comparison, but it’s what the lady wanted.

Overall I like the change to the upstairs in how much more open it is. Downstairs I would have preferred a brick surround, but I’ve got wood heat and am happy w it. This isn’t our first home and we’ll be here a while.

[lhamilton1807]

I suppose I should note here that because we got a high efficiency heater, the cost of the entire project comes with a 26% federal tax credit - the engineering and remodeling were all necessary to install this stove where we did so they’re included when calculating the tax credit. Not sure if the new inflation reduction act allotted more money for this type of thing beyond that.