Adding A Gas Fireplace to a 100-Year-Old Home: A Homeowner's Perspective

Writing to you on an 11-degree winter day makes me even happier with our new fireplace. My husband and I dreamed of installing one since we bought our home a couple years ago. We spend a lot of time in our living room, which is also visible from our dining room, and knew we wanted to up the coziness factor.

The living room is a long, narrow space with lots of windows. But despite our house being built in 1925, there was no fireplace. When we were determining the furniture layout in the living room, we thought to ourselves, “How would we arrange it if there were a fireplace in here?” A five-foot space in the center of the room seemed like a natural spot and the perfect punctuation mark between a wall of windows.

We had a few key details in mind but knew we’d want to hit up a Fireside store for more info, so we worked with Cindy at Fireside Eagan who helped us select the Heat & Glo Slim Line Series. Our biggest goal was something that felt clean and modern, while still feeling natural to our 100-year-old home. And while the living room is lengthy, it’s not very wide, so keeping things tight was top of mind too. Cindy walked us through how the Fireside install team would take care of everything - including the gas line hookup, installation, new wall construction and even the city inspection scheduling! - that would complete our fireplace. (Fireside also has a local drywall company on-hand, so that was yet another Google search they saved me from having to make.) We barely lost any livable square footage in the living room thanks to their efficient planning and construction.

The floor was the first thing to go. The Fireside team cut through the hardwood to make way for the gas line and then started framing out the new wall. (Our two very furry project managers - Fergus the dog and Dave the cat - made sure things were running smoothly.)

It took the install team about three hours to complete the gas line hookup and framing. Once the city signed off on the gas, another member from the Fireside team came to fully install the fireplace - setting up the logs, placing the glass, making sure it all functioned correctly, showing us how to use the remote, etc. Next, drywall. We made sure our cat was in fact out of the framing before we gave Universal Drywall the go-ahead.

One of my favorite parts of the from-scratch fireplace process was being able to add cord management directly into the new wall. We knew we’d want to mount our TV, so being able to hide pesky wires from the get-go made my Before & After dreams come true. The Fireside team installed a smurf tube (best name ever) so we could easily fish the wire through the wall and out the bottom side for connection to an outlet. 

I kept the wrapping on the fireplace until I finished painting the new wall and then called in another professional (AKA a dad) to install our floating ledge and TV. We minimized busyness - and the bottom line - by sticking with drywall (instead of additional finishes like tile) and by foregoing a traditional mantle and opting for a sleek, white ledge instead. The Fireside team highlighted in our install book how high the mantle needed to be in order to keep things safe, so that was very helpful!

Cindy also recommended black reflective glass for even more of a modern look and helpfully suggested we probably didn’t need to add a blower since the space we’re trying to heat is a bit smaller. (See? These are the helpful things I would’ve never known about!) She also hooked us up with a financing plan through Wells Fargo, so our fireplace is on a monthly payment plan that helps us me stay on budget. I also love that our remote lets us control varying levels of flame height, whether we want the fireplace on more so for heat or ambiance.

We absolutely love how everything turned out and it’s not a stretch to say that we use our fireplace every day. It’s so easy to turn off and on, without having to worry about the smoky smell or mess from a wood-burning fire. And while my husband and I enjoy the warmth, no one enjoys it quite as much as our cat, who’s now as much a permanent fixture in front of the fire as the fireplace itself.

To get started on adding a fireplace to your home, learn more here.