Common Questions About Fireplaces, Stoves, Gas Logs & Service

It depends on the unit, the venting, and the finish work, which is why we put live pricing in the online estimator instead of making you call for it. Answer a few questions about your space and you'll have a real number in about a minute: the unit, the venting it needs, and professional installation, with no obligation.

It's a real ballpark, built from the unit's actual price and the typical installation for your configuration. Your appointment turns it into a firm quote once we've seen the wall, the chimney, or the gas line. Nothing is ordered until you've seen the final number.

A fireplace builds into a wall (a blank wall or new construction). An insert slides into the masonry fireplace you already have and seals it. A stove stands on its own and heats a zone or the whole house. Pick your situation on the home page and the estimator shows you what fits.

Yes. Once you accept your estimate and it becomes an invoice, financing runs through Affirm right inside our billing, with terms you pick. Tell us you're interested when you book and we'll walk you through it.

It depends on the unit, the venting, and any finish work. Inserts and freestanding stoves are the quickest; built-in fireplaces with framing, a gas line, or finish carpentry take longer. The appointment sets the schedule before anything is ordered.

Fall is the busy season, so the earlier you start the estimate, the better your odds of watching the game in front of the new unit. Off-season installs book quickest of all.

Because chimneys lie, clearances surprise, and every house vents a little differently. The appointment, at the showroom or at your home, confirms the venting and the fit so the number holds and the install goes in once.

One shop is on the hook from the first visit to the first fire. The NFI and CSIA certified shop that helps you choose the unit specs the venting, handles the install, and services it for years afterward.

Please do. The showroom is open Monday through Friday, 11 to 5, with many of the displays lit, and Saturdays run by appointment if you want the whole floor to yourself. The education session is free either way.

Many gas fireplaces and inserts light with a standing pilot or a battery backup for the ignition, so the flame keeps going when the grid doesn't. The blower needs electricity, so you'll get radiant heat without the fan. Ask which ignition your unit uses when you book.

Log detail, the ember bed, and the flame path. Builder-grade units burn a thin ribbon behind glass; better units layer taller flames through detailed ceramic logs over a glowing ember bed. It's why the showroom keeps displays lit: you judge a flame at three feet, not on a spec sheet.

Usually, yes. A gas insert slides into the masonry firebox you already have, seals it, and runs a liner up the existing chimney. The measure confirms the opening, the chimney, and where the gas line lands.

Done right, it disappears into it. Surrounds and trim kits size the insert to the opening, so the brick and the mantel stay the heroes. The change your guests notice is that the room is finally warm.

Once a year, ideally before the first cold night. Dust, pet hair, and spiders love a pilot assembly, and a small drift in gas pressure or a tired thermocouple turns into a no-start in December. The annual visit catches all of it.

Check the wall switch and the breaker first, honestly. After that, don't keep cycling it. Note what it does (clicks, sparks, nothing) and tell us when you book; knowing the symptom saves you a second visit.

Architecture chooses for you, mostly. A fireplace builds into a wall and anchors the room's design. A stove stands on its own feet out in the room and can go where framing a chase doesn't make sense, which is why it wins in three-season rooms and additions.

No. An electric insert makes no combustion, so it needs no liner, flue, or fresh-air kit. The old chimney can stay as it is, capped or open. What it does need is a dedicated outlet within reach of the cord, which most masonry fireplaces don't have yet, so plan for that line item.

Yes. That's the whole trick. An open masonry fireplace pulls more warm air up the chimney than it gives back. An insert plugs that hole with a sealed, efficient firebox: real heat, a glass door you can see the flames through, and a fire that keeps working when the power goes out.

A sealed stove sized to the room, dry wood, and a loading habit: load full, burn hot briefly, then damp down. The right unit holds coals to morning. The wrong-size unit never will, which is why the sizing conversation matters more than the brand.

Seasoned hardwood, split and dried for a year or more. Wet wood burns cool, smokes, and coats the flue. If the ends are cracked and it sounds hollow when two pieces knock together, it's ready.

Close the door on a strip of paper. If it slides out without tearing, the door isn't sealing, which means the fire burns fast, hot, and wasteful. A gasket is inexpensive and turns the same armload of wood back into an overnight burn.

Yes, a flexible stainless liner sized to the insert. It's the venting we source from National Chimney and spec at the measure, so the install passes inspection and the stove drafts the way it should.

A hopper feeds compressed wood pellets into a small burn pot on a schedule set by the thermostat, and a blower pushes the heat into the room. It's wood heat with set-it convenience, and at moderate settings a full hopper often runs a day or more between fills.

Choose pellet when you want wood-class heat with thermostat control and don't mind electricity in the loop. Wood wins for off-grid heat, gas wins for zero handling, and pellet sits deliberately between them.

More than gas, less than you'd fear. Empty the ash and check the burn pot on a regular rhythm through the season, and book the annual deep clean, which is where the auger, the fans, and the vent get the attention that keeps it feeding.

Vented if the flame is the point: taller, more realistic fire, with the damper open like a wood fire. Vent-free if heat is the point: nearly all of it stays in the room, with a smaller flame and a few placement rules. Both look far better than the set from the '90s.

Installed and sized correctly, yes, and they're built with an oxygen sensor that shuts the burner down if the room's air changes. The rules are about room size, clearances, and where they can go, and you'll hear all of them before you buy.

Most sets light with a match or a standing pilot, so the flame doesn't care whether the power is on. Remote-controlled sets use a battery-powered receiver. Either way, the fire is there when the grid isn't.

Gently, with the gas off and the logs cool: a soft brush for the logs, a vacuum for the ember bed, and nothing wet. If the flame pattern has changed or the logs look shifted, leave them and book a visit; log placement is what keeps a set burning safely.

Separately, happily. Gas logs are one of our biggest categories: vented and vent-free sets from RH Peterson, Grand Canyon, White Mountain Hearth, and Monessen, sized to your firebox and installed right.

Yes. Lexington Hearth mantels come in a range of sizes and finishes for existing openings. Bring photos and measurements, or have us out to measure.

It depends on the unit and how far the mantel projects from the wall; every fireplace publishes its own clearance. We check it at the measure so the shelf sits as low as it safely can.

That's why they're on display in the showroom. Stand in front of the grain, hold a finish sample against your photos, and leave knowing which one is yours.

Yes, and plenty of them. Gas fireplaces, inserts, and log sets, plus pellet stoves and chimney sweeps. Plenty of the people who buy a fireplace from us met us on a service call first.

Late summer or early fall, before the first burn. Fall is the busy season, and off-season visits book quickest of all.

It depends on the unit and what it needs. The scheduler shows the price of each visit type when you book, and the in-store and at-home consultations are free.

Yes. The chimney sweep is one of our three service visits: masonry fireplaces, wood stoves, inserts, and prefab fireplaces, CSIA certified. Book it online like any other visit.

Book Appointment, anywhere on the site. It opens the scheduler with every visit type: gas fireplace service, pellet stove service, chimney sweep, and the in-store or at-home consultation.

Yes. Outdoor-rated gas fireplaces from Regency and Napoleon, planned for Indiana freeze-thaw and installed with their own gas supply, clearances, and venting.

It needs its own set: gas supply, clearances to the structure, and wind consideration for the venting. It's a real appliance, which is exactly why it outlasts the department-store fire bowl.

The ones we carry are outdoor-rated units, built to live outside year-round. Ask about the right cover for yours, and it's ready the first warm evening in March.

The triangle around Indianapolis, I-65 south and I-70 east: New Palestine, Greenfield, Shelbyville, Franklin, Bargersville, Greenwood, Whiteland, Fishers, Fortville, McCordsville, and the Indy neighborhoods in between. Not sure you're inside the lines? Ask.