Home Improvement Today?

just watch the menards kits. many plan for 24" centers and ceiling trusses, which if you use the ceiling for any type of storage, they're really not up to the task.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

we build with 24" centre trusses on everything

 

See if your local lumberyard has options as well. I looked at the menards kits and then ought it locally as it was about the same cost but had the doors i wanted, windows i wanted, ect. I also wanted 16' walls which menards didnt offer at all. Let alone mixing truss types. It was "free" as i didnt need engineered plans or anything (no permits needed for me) so really was just counting how many of each piece was needed lol.

 

Ok so my wife has decided she wants a brick hearth put back in place, so that’s an easy fix just need a brick mason.

went and spoke with a fireplace company about options for replacing our current setup, and he recommended a direct vent gas log insert. To the tune of 8000-8500 dollars.

I believe we have what you would consider “ventless” now, but I do open the damper because the gas smells are pretty strong when you fire it up at first and we don’t love that. Through the research I’ve done most ventless systems/inserts still have that issue because the gases just come out in your house. They are supposed to be more efficient as far as heat goes though.

all that being said, do any of you have recommendations on how I should do this? Looking for a more DIY situation for myself. Do I go ventless insert? Or is there a direct vent option that I am capable of DIYing?

 

Some rare warm fall temps (low 70's) here in Maine. Took advantage of it and got a coat of stain (SW water based semi-transparent cedar toned) on that deck I cleaned a few weeks back.

 

That’s looks great

 

I would not run a ventless without opening a window for some fresh air
Direct vent isn't that hard but it depends on if you want to drill out the back for a side vent or fish flex lines down the chimney

 

I want to do direct vent, I’m just not sure it’s in my wheelhouse of capabilities or my budget to pay a pro lol

 

running the gas line could be harder than the venting

 

I have gas already, just have to connect to the existing.

 

Having lived in 2 houses with old school wood burning fire places (which is what your's looks like it started as) and 1 with a direct vented insert, I'd take the vented insert every time. As long as you have a flue and damper you will be losing heat up the chimney. $8,500 seems high for an insert. I found this at $4,300. https://www.heatnglo.com/fireplaces/gas/inserts/cosmo-gas-fireplace-insert# Not cheap but but still half the price. I wouldn't hesitate to DIY something like that, but YMMV. As for the "ventless" inserts you couldn't pay me to have one. It's essentially a gas stove venting all of the combustion products into the room or sending, like you do, all the heat up the chimney.

My vented system has a little fan that blows the warmed air into the living space while getting the combustion air from outside. It keeps the living area nice and warm, but it isn't very efficient compared to using our high efficiency furnace. If we run the firplace alot the gas bill always goes up. However, there is something primal about sitting in front of a fire on a cold winters night.

 

Yeah I actually don’t know the cost of the insert itself he told us the total with install would be 8-8500. I definitely want to go direct vent I just don’t know if it’s something I can DIY. I’m not great with heights so the thought of climbing the top of my chimney and dropping duct down it isn’t thrilling. But I also don’t want to pay that much money..

 

My direct vent fireplace is something like this -

But my house was built with this type of fireplace in mind. I don't know if you could retrofit this style into an existing brick fireplace. It's probably worth talking to some other installers to see what they can do.

 

Yeah we discussed this with the guy we originally talked to and since we already have a chimney/flue it’s cheaper to run the duct up to the cap for the intake and exhaust.

 

If I want to move an outlet, say 3ft from where it’s currently located, what’s the proper way to “extend” the wires without getting into the attic and pulling new? I don’t want the current location to be an outlet so I don’t want to just jump off of it to a new one.

 

Cover plate.

 

Treat the existing location as a junction box and put a blank cover plate on it like Pablo said.

And remember that the "junction box" needs to remain accessible, so no cabinets or other fixed in place items in front of it.

 

I guess I should have specified I don’t want the existing outlet box to be anything coming through the drywall, like I don’t want to see a plate or box or anything.

I currently have the walls torn out since I took the paneling down and am going back with drywall.

 

After six months of home renovations, I’m done for now. The cold weather has settled in. I may do some small interior stuff over the winter. I have two motorcycle restorations that I’m dying to start. Luckily they’re done in my basement. For now my garage will have to wait.