Kearns · Salt Lake County
Installing and Replacing Fireplaces in Kearns
Very few installation calls from Kearns are for a brand new hearth in a brand new wall. Almost all of them start with a tired unit that has stopped being worth repairing.
That is a good position to be in, because a replacement in an existing opening is the least disruptive fireplace work there is. The chase, the framing and the route through the roof already exist. What changes is the appliance and the pipe inside it, and the result is a room that gets warmer instead of a hole that loses heat.
Choosing between the options honestly
There are three realistic paths and they cost very different amounts. A gas log set inside an existing masonry firebox is the cheapest and keeps the open look, but it is decorative rather than a heater and it still sends warm room air up the flue. A sealed direct-vent gas insert costs more and changes the appearance, but it takes its combustion air from outside and puts real heat into the room, which matters on a January evening in a single-story house with a slab. A new zero-clearance wood-burning unit suits people who want a genuine fire and are prepared to keep feeding and sweeping it. We will lay all three out with what each one actually does, and we will not push the expensive one at a household that told us the budget.
Practical constraints in west valley houses
Ceilings here are often eight feet and living rooms are not enormous, which limits how far a hearth can project into the room and still leave a walkway. Slab-on-grade floors change how a hearth extension is built. And the roof pitch matters: a direct-vent gas unit can frequently terminate through a sidewall, which is simpler and cheaper than running new pipe up a chase, but only when there is a legal location for the terminal clear of windows, doors, decks and the gas meter. We check that before quoting, not after.
Permits and gas work
Appliance installation and gas piping are permitted work in Salt Lake County. We pull the permit as part of the job. Anyone offering to skip it is offering to make the next home sale your problem.
Questions
Installation in Kearns — common questions
Our old fireplace is a metal unit from the seventies. Can a new one go in the same hole?
Usually yes. The existing chase and framed opening are the expensive parts and they normally stay. The new appliance and its chimney system go in together as a matched set, which is what keeps the clearances valid.
Is gas cheaper to run than wood here?
It depends on whether you buy firewood or cut it. What is more clearly true is that a sealed gas insert delivers a much higher share of its fuel as heat into the room than an open fireplace of any fuel, so it is the more efficient choice by a wide margin.
We want an electric fireplace instead. Any reason not to?
It is a legitimate option, particularly where there is no gas line and no usable chimney, and it needs no venting at all. Just be clear that it is resistance heat, so it costs what electric heat costs to run, and it will not warm a large open plan.
How disruptive is the installation?
A like-for-like replacement is typically a single day with the work confined to the one room. A job that adds a new gas line, or changes the venting route, takes longer and involves more of the house. We tell you which one you have before you book the week.
Also in Kearns
Our other services here
Chimney Sweep Inspection Chimney Repair Fireplace Repair Gas Fireplace Caps & Dampers Dryer Vents All Kearns services
Nearby
Installation in neighboring cities
South Jordan South Salt Lake Taylorsville West Jordan West Valley City