[Buoy]

Just a question.
Do you have a fireplace in your home?
Gas or wood?
How often do you use it?

I started my adult life working as a fireplace install guy, and am thinking about getting back into it.
Considering opening a hearth shop, and also sell firewood and gas logs.
Doing some early homework - I'd appreciate your input.

Myself, I'm a firebug (but not an arsonist), and have a fire going any chance I get.
I can turn off the TV and just stare at the fire, it's very relaxing.

So, trying to do some research in the Phoenix area (Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert)...
Do you use your fireplace? Where do you buy your firewood?

 

[GT Jets]

Just a question.
Do you have a fireplace in your home?
Gas or wood?
How often do you use it?

I started my adult life working as a fireplace install guy, and am thinking about getting back into it.
Considering opening a hearth shop, and also sell firewood and gas logs.
Doing some early homework - I'd appreciate your input.

Myself, I'm a firebug (but not an arsonist), and have a fire going any chance I get.
I can turn off the TV and just stare at the fire, it's very relaxing.

So, trying to do some research in the Phoenix area (Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert)...
Do you use your fireplace? Where do you buy your firewood?

I love mine, but....With all the carbon BS and SMOG laws kicking our ass, don't know if they will be legal for too much longer.

You may want to really diversify if you are getting back into something....

By diversify I mean inspections, retrofits, energy and safety inspections and whatnot...

I am a building mechanic and 90% of the work I do has to do with energy.

Hope this was helpful.

GT hand

 

[milkmoney]

still have the a/c going. seasonal work..good luck. a nice fire is nice to have. my problem is i build them to hot and people leave the house and next time they come over in the winter they have thier bathing suit on..i think it would sell in the winter only. due to being to hot in the southwest..

 

[ROD]

We have one and I burn all the pallets I get from deliveries. We only burn for the ambiance and not for sole heat source.
Funny though the last time I needed it done the only chimney sweeper around came from Barstow.......we are in Kingman.

 

[HOOLI]

We have 4 in total and use them a lot in the cool months. 3 in the main house that are gas ( 1 in the master / 1 in the great room and 1 downstairs and 1 wood stove in another small house we have on the other end of the property .. oh yeah ..I'm in Canada

 

[DannyH]

I agree with the GT. Carbon is a big deal these days.

I have a wood fireplace and I burn in it because I can. I can get some roaring fires going but the wife always gets mad at me. "You're going to burn the house down!"

Not to many people can get a real fire going these days. I don't use duralog's. Just real wood and newspaper. The way a fire is supposed to be. It seems to be a lost art in todays society.

I shop real estate often. When shopping new construction you can no longer get wood burning fireplaces. Gas only these days in the name of environmental protection. Most fireplace are sealed glass enclosures with a small gas burner or they are electric and look fake as shit with a small blower and heat coil system that blows hot air into the room.

Fireplaces are awesome. But... Their days seem to be numbered.

 

[Buoy]

I agree that the gas fire usually looks fake, but I have seen a few log kits that look pretty good.
I've installed over 1000 of these, both gas direct vent (the glass sealed), and wood-burning.
I have a hard time believing that the "romance" of a fire will ever die. Even if it is gas.
Gas is very convenient, and can be switched on with a wall switch or even a remote control.
Burning wood is an art.
Burning Pallets - I've done that, bad idea. Wound up with so many nails and screws left in the ashes - complete mess.
I used to be able to buy an entire P/U truck load of firewood in Ohio/ Kentucky for $40.
Out here in AZ, they want $140 at the only place I've found so far.
Just hating my job, and thinking of something else to get into.
I appreciate the comments!

 

[2Driver]

2 wood burning inside and 1 mexican fireplace thingy outside.

I get my Aligator Juniper here. http://www.cavecreekfirewood.com/

 

[TCHB]

Huntington Beach

We have a gas fireplace and use it every so often. We also had a wood one but it would make our house smell like ashes.

Havasu Wood fireplace
Use it a couple times a year. It is just for looks.

 

[HOOLI]

I agree with the GT. Carbon is a big deal these days.

I have a wood fireplace and I burn in it because I can. I can get some roaring fires going but the wife always gets mad at me. "You're going to burn the house down!"

Not to many people can get a real fire going these days. I don't use duralog's. Just real wood and newspaper. The way a fire is supposed to be. It seems to be a lost art in todays society.

I shop real estate often. When shopping new construction you can no longer get wood burning fireplaces. Gas only these days in the name of environmental protection. Most fireplace are sealed glass enclosures with a small gas burner or they are electric and look fake as shit with a small blower and heat coil system that blows hot air into the room.

Fireplaces are awesome. But... Their days seem to be numbered.

I make fire every weekend ..when there aint 5 feet of snow

I go through 4 piles of what you see for wood every summer ...and by the way ... they are 20 feet long each side devil

 

[Buoy]

2 wood burning inside and 1 mexican fireplace thingy outside.

I get my Aligator Juniper here. http://www.cavecreekfirewood.com/

Thanks - that's good info.

 

[GT Jets]

I make fire every weekend ..when there aint 5 feet of snow

I go through 4 piles of what you see for wood every summer ...and by the way ... they are 20 feet long each side devil

Hmmm, looks like all the Hoser's are the cause of all this carbon....:|err



GT hand

 

[Buoy]

I make fire every weekend ..when there aint 5 feet of snow

I go through 4 piles of what you see for wood every summer ...and by the way ... they are 20 feet long each side devil

Brother - you are a man of my religion.
If it'll burn, I'll burn itdevil

 

[HOOLI]

Brother - you are a man of my religion.
If it'll burn, I'll burn itdevil

Left pile is dead fall from the acreage, right pile is dried / cut birc at 450 bucks a cord . I use the birch for cooking and the dead fall poplar for plain ol fires. 1750 lb crusher cone liner does not discriminate.. I have had that sucker glowing red all around more times than I could count devil

 

[2Driver]

Thanks - that's good info.

BTW: I paid $95 for a 1/4 cord of premium Aligator Juni.

Personally by the time you drive to the cutting spot, cut, split, beat up your truck, saw and your back you dont really make a dime. I did it in college with a buddy and we had beer moeny but that was about it.

 

[Buoy]

BTW: I paid $95 for a 1/4 cord of premium Aligator Juni.

Personally by the time you drive to the cutting spot, cut, split, beat up your truck, saw and your back you dont really make a dime. I did it in college with a buddy and we had beer moeny but that was about it.

I'm thinking full shop with F/p's, gas logs, and firewood.
I hate my job enough that if instead I liked what I was doing, and I only made beer money, I'd be OK

 

[Mirage257]

Buoy , move to Canada and you'll have lots of work. Woodfire places are illegal to install in new homes in BC ,and a lot of folks convert their wood fire places like I did solely for the purpose of not bothering to clean up after the fire is outhand. I know it means I'm at the mercy of gas companies , but so far we haven't run out of gas once since the installation 7 or so years ago.
We have a Valor Legend in the living room, vented through the chimney , and a Valor direct vent in the basement.The basement one alone could heat the whole house with the heat rising through the stairs to the 3rd floor devil.
Just turned them on last week ,and have them on till March .

Here's a picture of the basement one

The big one in the living room is on the far right somewhere.The flames are pretty realistic in the Valor models being red and some yellow , instead of blue I've seen some others.

This was last winter , picture taken from the basement , Brrrrrrrr

 

[The Doctor]

I was raised by a bricklayer and became a bricklayer early in life. I've probably built 500 or more masonry fireplaces and quickly learned that most masons these days couldn't build one that will draft correctly to save their lives. The inner-workings (smoke shelf) is pretty vital as well as the box, throat, flu, etc and when they aren't right, they smoke into your house and that ruins any hope of using it. That being said, it's not mostly the zero-clearance units framed into place and although I'll never have one (mason's pride, I suppose) I understand they work quite well and can be very efficient - even above a well built masonry unit. On the right evening, there is nothing like a warm fire.

On the other side of the coin, here in Phoenix, they have "No Burn" days nearly all winter. I suppose Al Gore will eventually outlaw them for everyone except his own personal homes one day so their future usage might be in jeopardy.

 

[Ion]

Have gas-started wood burning fireplace and use it more often than not in the winter for primary source of heat. I have a tree-trimmer pal who provides me with more eucalyptus and mesquite than I can burn. So much, that it's in an ongoing cure cycle. Which brings me to the point...hookup with local tree-trimmers. When they cut down aforementioned trees, they usually have to pay a landfill fee or some other means of disposal, so they would probably be open to someone taking it off their hands. Like others have stated, it sure doesn't sound like a 52 week pursuit.

 

[Cdog]

I was raised by a bricklayer and became a bricklayer early in life. I've probably built 500 or more masonry fireplaces and quickly learned that most masons these days couldn't build one that will draft correctly to save their lives. The inner-workings (smoke shelf) is pretty vital as well as the box, throat, flu, etc and when they aren't right, they smoke into your house and that ruins any hope of using it. That being said, it's not mostly the zero-clearance units framed into place and although I'll never have one (mason's pride, I suppose) I understand they work quite well and can be very efficient - even above a well built masonry unit. On the right evening, there is nothing like a warm fire.

On the other side of the coin, here in Phoenix, they have "No Burn" days nearly all winter. I suppose Al Gore will eventually outlaw them for everyone except his own personal homes one day so their future usage might be in jeopardy.

Do we really? I have fires often.