Drafty open hearth, or no fireplace at all? We help you pick a built fireplace, insert or gas unit and install it square and sound.
Fireplace installation in Summerville can mean building a brick or stone fireplace on site, setting a factory-built unit, or fitting an insert into the fireplace you already have. The right one depends on how much heat you want and how it'll vent.
Most calls start with an open fireplace that looks good but doesn't warm the room, or a house with no fireplace at all. A mason builds a traditional fireplace of brick or stone in place. A low-mass fireplace is made in a factory and set in, and it's the lower-cost choice widely used in new US homes, so it's a fair place to start if cost leads.
If you already have a fireplace, an insert can go inside the firebox, the opening where the fire burns, and it works much like a free-standing wood stove. What will fit depends on whether your fireplace is masonry or factory-built, so that's something we settle early.
The price moves with the type you pick, the shape your chimney's in, whether a gas line and a new vent run are part of it, and the brick or stone on the face. The schedule turns on the same choices, plus any HOA or review board approval that has to come before a permit. Your written estimate spells out the materials and the steps for your house.
Three things usually settle which fireplace makes sense before we ever talk about finishes. Each one changes the price, the work involved and how the fireplace does once it's lit.
A wood fire needs a chimney that draws well and a dry place to keep firewood, and it asks more of you each time you light it. Gas needs a gas line and a vent route through a wall or the roof, but it starts with a switch. How you'll use it on a cold night usually decides this one.
Whatever goes in the firebox is only as good as the chimney it vents through. If the crown is cracked or the mortar joints are washing out, that gets fixed first, because a new fireplace on a failing chimney means paying twice. That work is chimney repair, and it gets its own line on the estimate.
A built brick or stone fireplace and its chimney are heavy, so they need a proper footing under them, not just the floor framing. Before we plan one, I look at what's under that part of the house. An insert or a factory-built unit weighs far less and usually doesn't need that work.
From the first call to the final walk-through, you'll know who's doing what. I handle the visit and the estimate myself, and our own crew does the work.
Call (843) 376-1285 or use the form. Tell us your address and what you have now, whether that's an open fireplace, a factory-built unit or no fireplace at all.
I come out, look the job over, measure it and ask what you want the fireplace to do for you. You get a written estimate that spells out the materials, the steps and anything not included.
Before we start, I check with the office that covers your address about permits. Our crew does the work, and I check it as it goes, from the layout to the last course or fitting.
When it's done, we walk the fireplace with you, go over how to run it and point out what the maker's instructions ask of you. Then we leave the site clean.
We start by finding out what kind of fireplace or chimney you have now, masonry or factory-built, and what shape it's in, because that decides what can go in. Then I lay out the choices, from a built brick or stone fireplace to an insert, and tell you plainly what each one means for heat in the room and for venting.
On a built fireplace, the layout gets checked square and level before anyone mixes mortar, and the firebox, the throat and the chimney go up course by course from there. The base under it is often block, the same work we do on concrete block walls, and we build the whole thing for the rain and humidity it'll see here.
For the face, brick is the plain choice and stone gives a heavier look. If you'd rather keep a working firebox and just change how it looks, stone veneer installation over the old surround can do that without tearing the fireplace out.
This is the choice when you want a real hearth and chimney that become part of the house. It takes the most work and the most time, and an open one is more about the look than the warmth.
This is the choice when your firebox and chimney are sound and you want more heat. It's a smaller job, but the insert has to suit your fireplace type, so we confirm that before anything gets ordered.
Send the form and we'll get back to you within one business day to set a time. I'll come out for a free on-site estimate, measure the job and write it up with the materials, the steps and anything not included. There's no pressure to book.
(843) 376-1285Inside city limits, Summerville's Building Department requires permits for renovations and system repairs. Its list names electrical, gas, mechanical and plumbing work and doesn't spell out fireplaces, so whether your job needs one isn't settled until we ask. If gas service to the house has been off six months or more, the city requires a permit for a safety inspection before it's turned back on.
If you have an active HOA or Architectural Review Board, it has to give you a letter of approval before the project can be permitted. In the Historic District, the Board of Architectural Review approves the work before the permit application goes in. We help you line up those approvals, then handle the permit and inspections when the job needs them.
For addresses outside city limits in Dorchester County, Dorchester County Building Services issues residential permits for renovations and inspects the work during construction, so we find out first which office covers your address. We do this work across the cities around Summerville, from Ladson to Goose Creek, and in older houses we often find brick fireplaces worth keeping once the chimney's put right.
I learned brick, block and stone on a big commercial outfit, where every course got measured and checked before the next one went on. I started this business in Summerville in 2013 to bring that way of working to houses. A fireplace is a job where it shows, because a firebox that's out of square or a chimney that's out of plumb stays that way.
I come out to look at the job and measure it myself, and our own crew does the work while I check it as it goes. We're fully licensed and insured. Satisfaction guaranteed on every job. If you're weighing a new fireplace or an insert, call (843) 376-1285 or send us the form.
Want a stone face on a new fireplace, or a fresh look for an old brick surround without rebuilding it? Stone veneer adds that layer over sound masonry.
A heavy fireplace and chimney may need a solid block base under them, and block walls also make sturdy garden, yard and garage walls that stay plumb.
We're based in Summerville and work across the cities around it in Dorchester, Berkeley and Charleston counties. If your city isn't listed below, we're still glad to hear from you.
Across the US, a gas fireplace insert installation usually runs about $2,300 to $8,000 per job with materials and labor. That's the national market, not our price. Published direct-vent prices include labor and a new vent setup, so ask whether each quote covers the venting. Our written estimate lists the materials, the steps and anything not included.
The city's permit list doesn't name fireplace installation, so it isn't settled for your job until we ask the office that covers your address, which we do before starting. If a permit is needed, the city uses an online service called CitizenServe to schedule inspections and follow the project from application to completion.
Yes, if the insert is one designed and tested for that unit. A factory-built, or zero-clearance, fireplace can only take an insert made for it, so we find out which kind you have first. With a masonry chimney, ask who checks that the flue liner, the chimney's inner lining, is installed correctly.
I'd lean vented, because a ventless unit has no vent and sends some exhaust back into the room along with the heat. That makes it more efficient but raises air quality concerns, and ventless units are heavily regulated in many states and banned in some areas. One vent maker says its sealed direct-vent units pull combustion air from outside, which spares tight homes poor draft.
Not much. The EPA says most traditional open fireplaces lose over 90 percent of the fire's heat up the chimney, and a lot of the room's warm air goes with it. An open fireplace suits you if the look of a fire matters more than the heat. If you want warmth, ask us about an insert.
An insert in a sound fireplace is the quicker job, and a built brick or stone fireplace takes the longest because it goes up course by course with mortar that needs time to set. Chimney repairs come before either one. Any HOA or review board approval has to come first too, as covered above, so that can set the start date.
Clear the area around the hearth and the path in from the door, because the brick, block or unit comes in that way. We cover the floor along that path and around the work. If you're in an HOA, start on the approval letter early, since the permit waits on it.
Call (843) 376-1285 or use the form, and have your address, the type of fireplace you have now and any HOA approval letter on hand so the first visit covers everything.
