Anyone have a faux fireplace or new installation

[jaminmd]

in an existing home?

We're considering adding a fireplace, which we currently don't have. Wondering if anyone here has experience they can share.

Also, anyone with just a decorative mantle with surround? I like that idea, too, and I'd put candles in there. It would be a lot cheaper & I'd still get to decorate around it.

I don't like the fake ones they sell at Lowes & Home Depot - they don't look nice to me.

Anyone with pics they want to share? Thanks!

 

[jaminmd]

Bump. Anyone?

 

[RUDisney]

By a faux fireplace, do you mean a gas fireplace, or one that glows behind a log screen?

We added a gas fireplace a long time ago. Two, actually. The first was unvented but when we insulated the house, we had to install a vented one to prevent condensation.

This is what it looks like:

It is vented directly through the wall behind it and it helps to heat the entire first floor of about 1,300 sq ft.

As for the mantle, we bought ours separately from the firebox. We got ours from a kitchen cabinet maker.

A friend of mine stopped using her real fireplace several years ago and has candles in it. I think that looks really pretty.

 

[jaminmd]

By a faux fireplace, do you mean a gas fireplace, or one that glows behind a log screen?

We added a gas fireplace a long time ago. Two, actually. The first was unvented but when we insulated the house, we had to install a vented one to prevent condensation.

This is what it looks like:

It is vented directly through the wall behind it and it helps to heat the entire first floor of about 1,300 sq ft.

As for the mantle, we bought ours separately from the firebox. We got ours from a kitchen cabinet maker.

A friend of mine stopped using her real fireplace several years ago and has candles in it. I think that looks really pretty.

That's very nice! Did you add it where a fireplace already existed or was it brand new? I've never had one & I don't know if I should go ahead & have a gas one put in or just put up a mantle & make it look like a fireplace.

 

[RUDisney]

It was a blank wall with a chimney that is behind the bookshelves on the right hand side.

The first mantle we put in was free standing and sat next to the chimney. We decided (actually DH suggested it) to have bookshelves in the upgrade so that the chimney would be hidden. The chimney served no purpose and we had already capped it off and shingled over it.

Oh, and another thing, there is baseboard hot water behind the fireplace and bookshelves.