Double sided, indoor/outdoor gas fireplace

[flowergirl45]

Good morning! We are building a new home and are considering upgrading from a standard gas fireplace in the great room, to a double sided option with a screened porch on the other side of the wall. The Cost to upgrade is fairly significant so I'm not sure it's worth it. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Good morning! We are building a new home and are considering upgrading from a standard gas fireplace in the great room, to a double sided option with a screened porch on the other side of the wall. The Cost to upgrade is fairly significant so I'm not sure it's worth it. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks!

I have to say yes, it is worth it. I loved my screened in deck. It is an outdoor private space.

That being said, make sure that you can do "furniture layout" on the placement of the fireplace. WHERE the fireplace is, is a big deal.

I am assuming this is not a walk out property so the cost is about 5-10 thousand?

I will say that doing it at building is the cheaper way to go. Adding on later becomes cost prohibitive.

Do other homes in the area put this on their house as a 'standard feature" ? Might want to examine that aspect as well.

Good luck on your decision!

 

[HeatherC]

I would LOVE this. So I definitely do it if you can.

 

[nkereina]

That being said, make sure that you can do "furniture layout" on the placement of the fireplace. WHERE the fireplace is, is a big deal.

I am assuming this is not a walk out property so the cost is about 5-10 thousand?

I will say that doing it at building is the cheaper way to go. Adding on later becomes cost prohibitive.

Good advice. We built three years ago and while we did not have the option of an indoor/outdoor gas fireplace, we did opt to get the gas fireplace and had to decide which wall of the living room to put it on. We had two choices, and the one option meant the vents would protruding out into the space that we eventually would build a deck into based on where our sliding glass door was located. So definitely consider placement of both living room furniture and porch/patio furniture.

Also, everything we upgraded and did at time of build worked out to be the cheapest and easiest route and we are glad we did it. A few of our neighbors opted for central air after the fact because they thought the builder had marked it up too high, and a few of them ended up paying more and none of them are installed as nicely as the builder did it on the exterior. My best advice is to just do it instead of wishing you had. You only get to go through the building process once on this house!

 

[DopeyDame]

I have no advice but wow - that sounds awesome!!

 

[flowergirl45]

Thank you all very much for your comments! The house plan we chose comes with a standard gas fireplace as an included feature. Mystery Machine, correct, the house will not be a walkout, and the cost to upgrade it to an indoor/outdoor gas fireplace is about $5500. And nkereina, your comments regarding outside venting (of the standard model) are spot on - the builder warned us about that. I guess to me, $5500 seemed a little pricey considering a standard gas fireplace is included. The comments about being cheaper during the build process (rather than later) are duly noted. Everything seems so expensive, that I think I have a case of sticker shock lol.

We do live in the Charlottesville, Virginia area - in case that matters. The Cost of living is on the higher end of the spectrum.

And heatherc and dopeydame, thank you for the votes of confidence.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Thank you all very much for your comments! The house plan we chose comes with a standard gas fireplace as an included feature. Mystery Machine, correct, the house will not be a walkout, and the cost to upgrade it to an indoor/outdoor gas fireplace is about $5500. And nkereina, your comments regarding outside venting (of the standard model) are spot on - the builder warned us about that. I guess to me, $5500 seemed a little pricey considering a standard gas fireplace is included. The comments about being cheaper during the build process (rather than later) are duly noted. Everything seems so expensive, that I think I have a case of sticker shock lol.

We do live in the Charlottesville, Virginia area - in case that matters. The Cost of living is on the higher end of the spectrum.

And heatherc and dopeydame, thank you for the votes of confidence.

5500 is nothing for a room when building. I would do it absolutely.

 

[flowergirl45]

Just to clarify in case I wasn't clear, the $5500 is only for the fireplace upgrade. It doesn't include any actual room costs. Those are much more!

 

[HeatherC]

You only live once! Go for it!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Just to clarify in case I wasn't clear, the $5500 is only for the fireplace upgrade. It doesn't include any actual room costs. Those are much more!

So you are saying that you are already getting the screened in room and wondering if you should upgrade to having the fireplace in the room?

 

[flowergirl45]

Mystery machine- yes, that is correct!

 

[PlutoPony]

Here's my one concern.....how much heat would you lose in the winter when it's not in use? Would the closed fireplace doors on the screened porch side let heat out given that the fireplace glass enclosure isn't nearly as insulating as a solid wall? I know Charlottesville is fairly moderate temp wise in the winter (we're ~ 75 minutes north of you off 29) but we do get colder spells that can last.

Our neighbors recently added a a really nice screened in porch and did as much as they could to make it 3 season. It's got the the newest plastic type material that comes down over the screens to insulate while still allowing you to see out - it honestly looks like window material. And not cheap, we're talking high dollar. They've been disappointed at how cold it gets out there and don't get as much use out of it into the fall and early spring as they expected, even with a blast heater out there. So I can see a fireplace being useful IF it throws off a lot of heat. BUT again, how much heat inside the house do you lose in the winter when you're not using the fireplace from either side.

Good luck and enjoy your new house!

 

[nkereina]

The comments about being cheaper during the build process (rather than later) are duly noted. Everything seems so expensive, that I think I have a case of sticker shock lol.

The only thing I would caution is if you are mortgaging most of the build process. If the upgrades will be part of the total purchase price which you are mortgaging, then you will be paying interest on any upgrades over 30 years (or however long). We tallied up our upgrades and put as much cash down as we could.

That being said, everything seems to be easier to do during the building process since it's bare bones and they can strategically plan installation of different things. If you decide in 5 years you want that indoor/outdoor fireplace, the installation may become more complicated and thus may end up costing more than that $5500. So might be worth it.

Good luck with the process - call me crazy, but I actually miss the process and excitement of it!

 

[flowergirl45]

Plutopony, hi 'neighbor'! It is helpful to hear what your neighbor did. I'll bet the plastic that looks like window material is very expensive indeed. And we have the same questions you raised.

Nkereina, all good points. We are building our retirement home and thankfully, will have it paid for when our current home sells. So long term cost of money isn't a huge concern. That being said, we are trying very hard to keep the total cost down. Lol sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between 'kinda want' and 'really want' items!

 

[PlutoPony]

Our neighbor LOVES their porch and does get a lot of use out of it. We were there for Thanksgiving and used it with no problem. Christmas-early March is problematic, although they did put a tree with lights on it for the holidays and it looked beautiful. They basically used their deck area for the porch but did tear it down and start from scratch. But the house was already configured for a french door entrance to the outside so that work was done. Added a nice stone patio and have a great area for entertaining. Consider if/when you get direct sunlight there as you know how much that effects temps. And definitely add a good fan.

What side of Charlottesville are you building on? Does this put you away from University traffic and sprawl? I can definitely see the allure of retiring in a college town like Charlottesville, we keeping thinking about going back to Chapel Hill area to retire...

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Mystery machine- yes, that is correct!

Oh, Ok.

Eh, take it or leave it then, but it would be cool. I would be concerned about it eating up space in my outdoor room.

Do they have a model home with that feature? How does it look?

 

[flowergirl45]

Mystery machine, the model home does have an indoor/outdoor fireplace and I really like it. The model's outdoor part is a covered (but not screened) back porch.

Plutopony, we are building on the east side of Charlottesville. You are spot on about the traffic. It continues to worsen. Plus we hear sirens night and day. But we'll only be about 15 minutes away from restaurants, doctors, and work (c'mon retirement lol). Plus we like to hike in the blue ridge mountains. We like going to Richmond also, and we'll be a little closer to it. We do like being in/near a college town! So if you don't return to Chapel Hill, this is a very nice area!