Fireplace Installation In The GTA

Longing For Warmth

Winters in Canada can be long and cold. I love myself a toasty warm fireplace in the living room, blanket and cozies on for 3 out of 4 seasons.

So, when I purchased my house in the GTA area I made sure I had a nice open wall for a gas fireplace installation. Sure, it would have been ideal to find a place that already had one. But, not in my price range.

After moving into my house I found there were many updates and emergency “to-do’s” to get done. My priority had slipped away from me. My first winter in my new house was such a bummer. No fireplace to decorate and read beside.

I was pretty miserable about the plumbing that had to be dealt with scooping up all my fireplace installation purchase money.

Yeah, the brand new washrooms were fabulous. But I can’t exactly spend my cold winter days curled up in front of them…

Choosing A Fireplace For Installation

While I was moping all winter long I had time to really fantasize about my future fireplace. Online was full of ideas and ways to style gas fireplaces.

I really wanted a large fireplace window, brick and a mantle. But had no idea there were so many variations to choose from. So I started making myself a list of things I wanted in a fireplace.

Mantle that would hold knick-knacks and candles
Brick up the whole wall behind the T.V
The top portion to be set back from the bottom
No bottom step hearth
Earthy brick colours
Dark thick rustic wood beam mantel
Pot lights above
Need to have an outlet for my apple t.v (apparently many forget the outlet and have wires running along the side.. No thanks)

The brands for the fireplace insert were all pretty comparable. But, I did fall in love with the Napoleon brand. Their website was just the best. I could use an interactive build your own fireplace to make my insert unique to my preferences.

Finding A Fireplace Installation Company

Once spring rolled around I had already purchased my fireplace insert. It was now just sitting in my basement collecting dust until I found a trust worthy contracting company that worked with heating and cooling in the GTA area.

Another long battle of patience researching and reading reviews on a bunch of the companies.

I only accept the 4+ star reviews, so seeing a 5 star company in the top 3 search engine made my day!

I went to the website and submitted a contact information form. I can only imagine how many these companies get a day… Phone calls included. I hate phone calls, so if a company won’t do email or text… I’m out.

To my surprise, I had a response within a couple of hours. So if you are like me and hate waiting around… You will love this guy.

I quickly booked a consultation for my fireplace installation renovation. The employee had me penciled in for that week. So quick!

Fireplace Installation Consultation

The guy arrived on time and was full of information. There were so many little things I hadn’t really thought of that were more important than my decoration mantle… Yeah, ok. LOL

Turns out I will need a gas line to the area (how did I not think of that), adding to the electrical panel and venting properly to the outside.

Thankfully the wall I had chosen to put the fireplace on was a great choice.

The side of the house wasn’t a walkway and a vent was going to be easily installed for the fireplace installation. And my electrical panel was updated within the past few years so it was okay to add to that.

Gas line installation was the trickier part.

I do have a gas furnace and water heater in the house so I didn’t need a new gas line installation. BUT, my basement was completely finished and with the way the joists were running a good portion of the ceiling would need to be removed.

I was given an estimate for the fireplace installation, excluding the price of the brick and mantel.

He did give me a company name to select those from that they work well with. I was super thankful for that.

The quote was beyond reasonable so I had them book me in for the early fall giving me time to choose my brick and mantel. Plus, have the fireplace frame made up.

Fireplace Installation Day

When the fireplace installation company arrived I was basically a kid on Christmas morning. They arrived on time and ready to make my dreams come true!

I had already had the referred company come and build up the frame for the fireplace insert. The electrician had set up the electrical that was needed plus my above outlet for my electronics.

Everything went so smoothly for the fireplace installation. The basement ceiling was cut out very minimally to feed the gas line across to the fireplace unit. I could easily put up some wood beam styles to hide the access points. Perfect!

The team made sure to clean up their mess and leave the house like it was when they arrived. Just like I had read in plenty of the reviews.

The vent to outside was all sealed and looking great too! Very impressed with this company.

They started the fireplace once everything was installed. Ran it for about 30 minutes to make sure there were zero issues with the gas leak or the unit itself.

Brick and Mantle Installation

The final portion of the renovation was framing the gorgeous fireplace insert. The referred company was so great too! I was even consulted during the installation on how I would prefer certain brick hues to go. The attention to detail from both of these companies is top of the line.

My mantle is about a foot deep and 8 inches thick, so much space to put my sound bar and apple tv up on AND my knick-knacks! You know I have all my fall trinkets on display already.