Your fireplace sits cold and drafty most of the winter. We check the chimney, then fit gas or wood to how you'll use it.
Fireplace installation in Antioch usually means fitting a gas or wood insert into the fireplace you already have, so a drafty opening becomes a closed unit that can put more heat into the room.
Most calls start with a fireplace nobody uses. It's drafty, it pulls warm air up the chimney all winter, or it's a brick opening that hasn't held a fire in years. An insert turns that opening into something you'll actually light, but only if the fireplace and chimney behind it are in good enough shape to carry it.
The price moves with the unit you pick, how hard the venting is, how far a gas line has to run and what you want on the face around it. The schedule turns mostly on what shape the fireplace and chimney are in, because a sound one needs less built around it. Your written estimate spells out what we'll do and what we won't.
An insert is a closed unit that sits inside your fireplace and vents through the chimney. These are the parts of the job that decide whether it fits and runs safely.
An insert can go into a brick and mortar fireplace or a factory-built metal one, as long as the chimney above it works. Across the trade, the most common job is a gas insert set into an existing fireplace, and that's usually where our conversation starts too.
Depending on the fuel, an insert vents naturally up the chimney, uses a direct vent that pulls outside air in and pushes exhaust out, or is vent-free. Most need a liner, a metal pipe run down inside the flue, so the plan starts with a working chimney and, in most cases, a liner.
Vent pipe has to keep set air spaces from wood framing and anything else that can burn. One vent maker's instructions name skipping those spaces as a major cause of vent fires, so it's a fair question to ask any installer, us included, how they're kept on your job.
Here's how a fireplace job runs with us, from the first call to the walk-through. You'll know what I found and what the plan is before any work starts.
Call (925) 503-1025 or send the form with a few lines about your fireplace. Most of the time it's me getting back to you, and I'll ask whether it's brick or metal and whether you're leaning gas or wood.
I come out myself, look over the fireplace and chimney and tell you what I see, good or bad. Then I send a written estimate that spells out what we'll do and what we won't.
If you go ahead, we handle any permit the city needs and line up the inspections. I'm on site while our crew sets the unit, runs the vent and finishes the surround.
When it's done, we walk it with you and show you how it runs. After that, the hearth industry's trade group suggests a yearly chimney inspection by a sweep certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America, whatever unit you have.
I start every fireplace job by checking that the fireplace and chimney are sound, because an insert is only as good as what it sits in and vents through. If the firebox is cracked or the chimney mortar is failing, I'll tell you, and we fix that first instead of hiding it behind a new unit that won't last.
Then we talk about how you'll actually use it. If you want a fire on a weeknight without planning around it, gas is usually the better fit here, and the local burn rules further down are a big part of why. If you burn wood for the real fire and don't mind sitting out ban days, a certified wood insert can still make sense.
Once the unit is picked, the rest is masonry, which is the work we know best. We can reface a tired brick surround in stone, the same work we do for stone veneer installation, or build a raised hearth or a new chase from block the way we build our concrete block walls, so the finished fireplace looks like it was always there.
If your brick surround is solid and you like it, we fit the insert inside and close the gap with a trim panel. It keeps the job smaller and keeps the look you already have.
If the face is dated or stained, we cover it in stone so the whole wall looks new. It adds material and time, but you only open that wall up once, so I'd do it now.
Send the form and you'll hear back within one business day, most of the time from me. I come out to your house, look at the fireplace and chimney and send a free written estimate, with no pressure to book.
(925) 503-1025For homes in the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, any new indoor wood-burning unit has to be EPA-certified, and even a certified one has to stay off when a burn ban is called. Gas and electric units are exempt from those bans. New construction is stricter. It can't include a wood-burning fireplace, a pellet unit or even a certified wood stove or insert, though gas and electric are allowed.
Building permits for work in Antioch go through the city, and applications can be filed on its online permit portal. Whether your insert needs one isn't something I'll guess at. We check with the Building Division before work starts, and when a permit is needed we pull it and line up the inspections. You can also call the division about your project at (925) 779-7065.
Around Antioch, and in Pittsburg and Brentwood, we see a lot of brick fireplaces that haven't been lit in years and factory-built ones in newer tract homes. The brick ones often need mortar work up top before anything goes in, and both kinds get the same chimney check before we talk about units.
I come out to look at every job myself, and I'm on site with our crew while the work gets done. I started as a helper on a masonry crew, mixing mortar long before anyone let me lay a brick, and I opened this business in Antioch in 2023. That's three years on our own, built on what I learned from people who'd done it for decades.
We're licensed and insured. I'd rather fix why something failed than cover it up, so if your chimney needs work before an insert goes in, you'll hear that from me, and if all you need is a smaller job, I'll tell you that too. Satisfaction guaranteed on every job.
If you're ready to find out what your fireplace can take, call (925) 503-1025 or send us the form, and I'll set up a time to come out. Bring your gas and wood questions to that visit, since standing in front of the fireplace is the best place to sort them out.
If the brick face around your fireplace looks dated, stone veneer gives the whole wall a new look without tearing out the masonry behind it.
Block is what we use when a job needs a solid new structure, and our block walls are built to drain properly and stay where we set them.
We're based in Antioch and work in the cities around it, from Concord and Walnut Creek out to Brentwood and Rio Vista. If you're not sure we cover your address, call and ask.
Installing a gas fireplace across the US usually costs about $2,500 to $10,000 per job, and that's a national figure, not a quote for your house. Where yours lands comes down to the unit, the venting, the gas line run and the finish. For your house, the written estimate spells out what we'll do and what we won't.
No, a burn ban covers all wood burning, including manufactured logs and pellets, so a certified insert sits out those days like any other. The Air District can call a ban any time of year when particle pollution is forecast to be unhealthy, which matters if you want to count on a fire when you feel like one.
Most fireplace projects take one to three days, and an insert going into a sound existing fireplace sits at the short end. New framing, venting or surround work stretches it, so the chimney check at the start tells you a lot about how long yours will run.
It can, if you pick the right type. Units with a standing pilot and a millivolt valve, one powered by the pilot flame's own heat, keep working with no electricity, but the blower stops, so you get radiant heat only. An electronic ignition model with a battery backup is the other way to keep heat in an outage.
It helps to know whether you have a fireplace and a working chimney now, whether you're leaning gas or wood, and roughly how far a gas line would have to run to reach it. You don't need it all worked out, because I'll check those things when I come out.
We answer (925) 503-1025 seven days a week until 11 PM, so you can call after work or on a weekend, or send the form whenever it suits you.
