As your Columbus, Ohio general contractors, when we do a room addition one of the questions we are often asked is “what’s better a gas or wood-burning fireplace?”
We are going to weigh the pros and cons for you so you can make your decision!
We all know Ohio winters can be pretty terrible at times. One of the small consolations to this seemingly endless season is the feeling of curling up in front of a nice fire on a cold winter’s day. According to Realtor.com, fireplaces are actually a very popular selling point for new home buyers, regardless of whether they’ll be used or not. They’re aesthetically pleasing and the mantle is a great place to display items.
If you live in a colder climate, like we do, your fireplace might be used for heat generation, in addition to the aesthetics it provides. Therefore, what your fireplace uses as fuel is probably important to you.
Most home fireplaces are either wood-fired or use natural gas, let’s examine the pros and cons of each in a few important categories:
Difficulty of Use:Advantage-Gas
A gas fireplace is as easy as flipping a switch. Wood-fueled fireplaces require a lot more effort to get going. First you have to get the wood, then you have to arrange it a certain way, get kindling, start the fire and then maintain it. A wood-fueled fire is like a living organism that needs to be created and sustained. That’s great if you want the satisfaction of building something. But if you’re cold or just want a fireplace to look at, choose gas.
Fuel Cost:Advantage-Wood
You can buy firewood from a hardware or home improvement store. Or, you can just walk into the middle of the woods and collect wood. Natural gas isn’t expensive, relatively, but it’s more expensive than free or the cost of a few logs!
Fireplace Maintenance:Advantage-Gas
The aftermath of a wood-fueled fire is not fun to clean. The soot, ash and burned-out logs are messy and spread very easily. Creosote, a byproduct of wood-fueled fires can build up in your chimney and need to be removed by a professional. If you don’t regularly maintain your chimney when you have a wood-fueled fireplace, you risk a chimney fire.
Gas fireplaces are as easy to maintain as they are to operate. No messy cleanup and no sweeping are necessary, though you might want to have a professional look at it every once in a while.
The Experience: Advantage-Wood
Gas log fireplaces are as easy to use as opening a valve, but it’s just not the same experience. Where’s the snap and crackle of the logs as they heat up? Where’s the intoxicating aroma of a wood fire? As far as the experience goes, a wood fireplace offers more of the traditional sense of the experience.
On paper when you are trying to decide between gas or wood-burning for your room addition, the benefits of a gas fireplace far outweigh the ambiance and free fuel. Especially if you’re like most people that are a casual fireplace user that just wants to turn it on a couple times per year for family photos or a romantic evening.
Contact us today and let’s talk over your room addition and your fireplace needs! We currently build in Westerville, Worthington, Whitehall, Upper Arlington, Powell, Pickerington, New Albany, Lancaster, Hilliard, Gahanna, Dublin, Bexley, Columbus and all of Central Ohio.