When do you repair a fireplace versus replace it?
A lot of it depends on the fireplace. If it's a true brick fireplace, we can often repair cracks so they're not going to be a problem. Sometimes a replace just means adding a wood-burning insert, some gas logs, or a gas insert. Once a repair gets too costly, it often makes more sense to put in a wood-burning insert, since that's a self-contained unit: anything that's broken on the inside of the old fireplace isn't going to be an issue anymore, because we're putting in an insert with a liner that runs all the way to the top. Those units can also heat a big area, and you can regulate the blower speed with a control to put more warm air into the house.
How do you help customers decide?
We'll give them a repair-versus-replace cost breakdown, showing what it's going to cost to repair it against what it's going to cost to replace it with something like a wood-burning insert. People like seeing that breakdown so they can make the decision themselves.
Are there other benefits to replacing with an insert?
Besides keeping heating bills down, a wood-burning insert can hold heat well overnight. Load it up around nine o'clock at night, and the warm air it's put into the house can still be kicking in as late as four in the morning. By six o'clock, there's usually still a big bed of red hot coals, so all you have to do is throw in some more wood and it starts going again.
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