<p>My husband’s study is over our garage, although it’s larger than your family room. When we did our reno, we installed in-floor heating which is wonderful and we also have a gas fireplace in there, a three sided one that serves to separate the space. It’s warm and toasty.</p>
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<p>Perhaps where you live but I’ve never heard this. In fact, the opposite is true where we live, and also where we have our second home. A gas fireplace would be far more attractive to buyers than a wood-burning one. I would not go with the stove looking ones, though. Every realtor I know says that most people don’t want those and if you’re planning on selling in the near future, it may turn buyers off.</p>
<p>Talked to H last night and I think we are going to try for a gas fireplace. Need to find recommendations of local installers for this. Any pointers on what to look for/avoid?</p>
<p>No, definitely a gas insert. Doing some preliminary research, it sounds like we want a direct vent gas insert - I just have to figure out what brands are good and how much BTU we need. Then find a reliable dealer/installer in our area. Any specific experiences with gas insert models?</p>
<p>We just had gas logs added to our family room fireplace. Because of the existing hearth configuration we couldn’t do the ventless logs. There is a new generation of venting gas logs that put out a ton of heat. This fireplace heats our 25x18 great room very efficiently.</p>
<p>Oh boy! Didn’t realize it’s been this long since I started this thread We didn’t do anything about this last winter, but definitely want to get this done before this winter begins. Went to the local fireplace store and the two recommended gas inserts we are looking at are Fireplace Xtraordinair and Valor. Any experience with either of these brands? I looked on the internet and can find several folks who like the Valor - not much info available about the FPX one (and that’s the one the local store was pitching the most!)</p>
<p>This is timely for me, too. A gas main is being run down our street, and we are planning to hook up to it. We have to make some choices about heat.</p>
<p>We actually have a room that is heated by a freestanding gas stove that looks like a woodstove–it’s very attractive, IMHO–and the great virtue of it is that it runs on a thermostat, doesn’t require one to buy, store, and haul wood, and doesn’t make the room smell like woodsmoke. It is currently on propane, though, and we are planning to convert it to gas, which should be significantly cheaper to run. It is similar to this one, but a blue-green called “Seafoam Majolica”:</p>
<p>I also want to put a gas insert in the fireplace in the parlor. It’s not really a room than lends itself to a wood fire. I’m going to be looking for recommendations. It sounds like the big choice is whether to just go for logs, or to install something that really puts out heat. Is that correct?</p>
<p>Wool pad, thick, under wall-to-wall carpeting. It worked for us. (Our bedroom was over the garage.) We did that in lieu of insulating the garage–it was less expensive and more pleasurable.</p>
<p>@Consolation - you can choose to get just a log set but that’s more cosmetic rather than functional. We needed heat in the room, so choose to get a gas insert. We finally decided to go with the Fireplace Xtraordinair unit - bought it during MA’s tax free weekend, hoping the install will happen within the next two weeks.</p>
<p>We have a 15yearold Heat and glo direct vent gas fireplace. We took the cheaper option - it has a pilot light and you flick a wall switch to turn it on, instead of the more expensive remote control option. The benefit is that if the electricity goes off, you can still turn the thing on and off and heat your house. It is rated as a gas furnace, and has lovely realistic logs and cranks out the heat. </p>
<p>I had the same problem when I lived in the South, in a high-ceilinged house that was suited for hot summers. It meant in the winter I froze. When I climbed up a ladder to fix something near the ceiling, I discovered how dramatically warmer the temperature was up there along the ceiling. </p>
<p>What really helped was installing ceiling fans. In the summer you flip a switch to make the fans blow down, In the winter, you flip it to make the fans blow up. It causes a convection cell to mix the warm air along the ceiling w the cold air along the floor. It made a noticeable difference in comfort level.</p>
<p>If you install a fan in a room w very high ceilings, you will need to get the right-length down-rod for optimal air moving efficiency. Ceiling fans are relatively inexpensive to buy, and they are cheap to operate in terms of power usage.</p>
<p>The dilemma with simply adding another heating source in a room w a very high ceiling is that the heat will simply migrate up to the top the room waaaay above where your shivering body is. </p>
We didn’t do anything about this last winter, but definitely want to get this done before this winter begins. Went to the local fireplace store and the two recommended gas inserts we are looking at are Fireplace Xtraordinair and Valor. Any experience with either of these brands? I looked on the internet and can find several folks who like the Valor - not much info available about the FPX one (and that’s the one the local store was pitching the most!)</p>