Im planning to install a fireplace in our living room before winter hits. Ive wanted one since we moved in about 13 years ago. I had installed a wood stove on a hearth years ago in one of the back rooms when we moved in just so we had an extra form of heat in case the power went out. I loved it. The room was small but with a fan set up blowing the heat down the hallway it would heat the entire house up nicely. Well a couple extra kids later now that back room is now my sons bedroom so I removed the wood stove so he would have the extra space. I would have loved to put it in our living room but our living room is long but narrow. A free standing stove would occupy too much space. Which brings me to my dilemma now. I want a fireplace in the wall with the nice mantle etc. I would rather have a wood stove insert because of the better heating capability. My mother has a heatilator insert fireplace she burns wood in and it just doesn’t heat very well in my opinion. Most if not all nice double door with glass wood stove inserts I come across are made for sliding into masonry fireplaces. Since I have no fireplace at all would it be feasible to build/frame up a non combustible firebox to sit the wood stove insert into?? Im doing all of this on a budget so Im trying to save money best I can but also not burn my house down. We heat our home all winter with wood when we had the stove in the back room and would like to do the same this year with a new fireplace addition. What are some of you guys/gals thoughts?? I have a nice old hutch wood stove insert in my shop I picked up for dirt cheap I would like to use in my home but it is designed for a masonry fireplace.

Why can't you put in a free standing stove with heat guards, I believe you can then be 12 " from the wall, and you have a real stove...Fireplaces look nice, but not worth much for heating....you could still have a mantle above the stove on the wall...

We took out the insert in our fireplace because it won't heat much without the fan running, and replaced it with a freestanding stove on the hearth. It heats the house much better without reliance on electricity.

^ this.
So many ways a free standing stove is better then a fireplace. You can build a brick frame around them and make them look like you want and have a way better heat source.

I have a small stove at line shack and installed block around and have an opening above the stove and it acts as the oven. here are some pictures and ideas of ways to do a stove.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...+earth+stove&form=IQFRML&first=1

Check with your insurance company if its an issue. Some companies frown on woodburning.

Contact the fire marshal for your area, if any, and follow his recommendations.

here are my thoughts

Don't install a fire place

unless you are putting it in to primarily look at it

if you like the heat get a good quality free standing wood stove and have it installed.

insurance companies are usually looking for 2 things in an install.
first , that it is on the main floor of the house were it will be seen and people will be occupying the area around it.
Second it is professionally installed or professionally inspected.

this is what I have , I have a 25 year old model of this
https://forgenflame.com/products/quadra-fire-4300-step-top-wood-stove

make a nice hearth for it and enjoy wood heat.

I had a house built. After about A year I wanted the same thing. so I did it. I cut the entire side of the house out. Dug a footer for the fireplace and framed it out into the floor of the house. I wanted a BIG fire place I hired a mason to put in the Flue and the smoke shelf. I added a fresh air intake (I highly recommend putting one in). Purchase airtight glass front Then did everything else. At the end I had a stone fireplace, a mantle I cut from an old chestnut beam from a local farmer who tossed out an old barn. Added electrical outlets for Christmas stuff. I added windows on each side. It looked awesome. Then I got divorced. I sure miss that place. LOL

Never buy a wood stove with a glass front. My buddy did, and you will be forever replacing the glass.

really , I have had the same glass for 19 years no issue , what does he do to it

I have two wood stoves with glass fronts, both are Quadra-Fire 3100's. I've been using both as my primary source of heat at home and at camp for over twenty-five years. Never damaged the glass on either one other than a dog got his tail against one years ago and you can still see where if singed his hair off LOL!|

You just gotta have some common sense and don't try to force the door shut with firewood that is too long for the stove.

I've had two wood stoves with door glass. A Vermont Castings in a previous house and a Jotul in our current house. Have never had to replace the glass. I suspect your buddy is doing something he shouldn't be doing that is breaking the glass. If he broke the original glass and replaced it with standard plate glass I would not be surprised it keeps breaking.

I like being able to see whats going on in the firebox without opening the door.

Can't remember the name of the stove, Swiss made, I think, maybe Jotel? Porcelain coated Cast Iron, and had a single door across the wider than deep front. The glass was in strips and as it got hot the seems would open and the glass would bow out and effectively open the draft so it got hotter still, then the strips would break, and run full blast till he could replace them. The glass was special, they claimed, and cost him a fortune for each strip.

My Timberline, which I love, was installed Dec '78, has double solid doors, but it came with a screen insert. You open the doors wide and the screen would fill the opening for viewing. Only used a couple of times as the wide open front sucked any hot air out of the house and up the flue, and incinerated the firewood waaaay too fast to suit a guy that cut his own wood.

BTW: I looked sat the price of the stove shown above, $3,400!!!!! CRAP I haven't been keeping track of such things for a lot of years. My stove was about $600, with the flue, brick wall, quarry tile deck etc, about doubling that. Worked so well! I shut down the furnace early dec '78, pilot light and all I figured that it was paid for in a couple of years.

Funny story: The winter I installed it, the gas co meter readers were on strike, and when they finally settled the next spring and went back to work, I was awakened one Sun am by a meter reader with a cop in tow. They wanted to check my meter for sabotage, because my gas consumption was so low. ROTFLMAO!!!