Fireplace installation in Manchester NH - an insert sized to your fireplace
Your open fireplace sends the heat up the chimney and leaves the other rooms cold. We fit an insert and liner that keep it inside.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free on-site estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
Is a fireplace insert right for your Manchester home?
Fireplace installation in Manchester usually means fitting an insert into the firebox of the fireplace you already have. Its closed door and insulated body burn the fire hotter and more completely, so more of the heat stays in your house.
Most people who call us have a brick fireplace they hardly use because it burns a lot of wood and gives back little warmth, and they want to know if wood, gas or electric makes more sense. The price mostly turns on what kind of fireplace you have, which fuel you pick, how much liner work the chimney needs and whether a gas or electrical hookup is part of it. The schedule turns on the chimney's condition and on lining up the right trades, and if the chimney needs work first, that's our chimney repair side. We're based in Manchester and work in many of the cities around it, and when I come out I walk the job with you, explain what I see and put it in writing.
How do you know your fireplace needs an insert?
Cold rooms with a fire going
If the room by the fire is warm but the rest of the house gets colder, the fireplace is pulling warm air up the chimney and drawing cold air in behind it. Every winter you wait, your furnace makes up the difference.
Smoke drifting into the room
Smoke spilling out the front usually means the chimney isn't drawing well, often because the flue is too big, blocked or damaged. It's worth a look before more fires, and before any insert goes in, because the insert depends on that chimney.
A fireplace nobody lights
A lot of open fireplaces sit cold because they're more trouble than they're worth for heat. An insert or a set of logs can turn that dead corner into something you'll actually use, and every season it sits idle is a season of heat you're not getting from it.
How we handle fireplace installation
We start by measuring the opening and finding out what kind of fireplace you have, because that decides which insert fits and what liner it needs. Then I look over the chimney itself, since an insert only works as well as the flue behind it, and I'll tell you plainly if it needs repair first or if it's in better shape than you feared. On install day our crew sets the insert, runs the liner up the chimney and finishes the face around the opening. We bring in the right licensed trade for any gas or electrical hookup instead of doing that part ourselves, and we clean up before we leave.
Some homeowners want the fireplace to look new as well as work better. A stone veneer installation over the old brick face gives the surround a fresh look without tearing out the chimney, and when a new hearth or surround needs a solid base built out from the wall, that's our concrete block walls work.
Wood-burning insert
This suits you if you like burning wood and have a sound masonry chimney to work with. It needs a liner sized for wood and a yearly sweep, but it gets far more heat out of each load than the open firebox did.
Gas insert
This suits you if you want heat at the flip of a switch without hauling and stacking wood. It needs a gas line run by the licensed trade we bring in, and the venting depends on the unit you choose.
Electric insert or decorative logs
This suits a fireplace you want to look lit when the chimney isn't worth relining or you don't want a real fire. Decorative logs are more for looks than for heat, so if warming the room is the goal, I'll steer you to a true insert.
Get a written plan for your fireplace insert
Send the form and we'll reply within one business day to set a time. I'll come out for a free on-site estimate, measure your fireplace and put what I'd do in writing, with no obligation.
(603) 314-0526- Based in
- Manchester, NH 03104
- Hours
- Mon–Sun: 8 AM–9 PM
What happens when you call about a fireplace insert in Manchester?
Here's how an insert job runs from your first message to the last walk-through, and what you'll have in hand before you decide anything.
Call or send us a message
Call (603) 314-0526 or use the form and tell us what kind of fireplace you have and which fuel you're leaning toward. We'll get back to you and set a time for me to come out.
I measure and check the chimney
I measure the opening, figure out whether the fireplace is masonry or factory-built and look the chimney over for anything that needs fixing first. You get a written write-up of what I'd install, what I'd fix and why, with the price, before you commit to anything.
We sort permits and install
Once you say go, we sort out the permit side with your city and put the work on the calendar. Our crew sets the insert and liner, and the licensed trade we bring in handles any gas or electrical hookup.
Walk the finished job together
When it's done, we walk the finished fireplace with you and show you how the doors and controls work. That way you know what you're looking at before the first fire.
Why Manchester homeowners call Capstone Manchester Concrete and Masonry for fireplace inserts
I measure it and I install it
I come out to see the job and write the estimate, and I'm on the crew that does the work. The measurements I took are the ones we build to, so nothing gets lost between a salesperson and an installer.
Trained on older chimneys and brick
I learned the trade doing upkeep on a lot of older buildings, patching brick, chimneys and foundations, and we've run this business since 2023. That's why I look hard at the chimney behind the insert, not just the box in front of it.
Licensed and fully insured
We're licensed and fully insured on every job, so the work in your living room is covered. If a smaller fix makes more sense than a new insert, I'll tell you that too.
Rentals done to the city's rule
A lot of our calls come from landlords, and Manchester requires a licensed New Hampshire master electrician on electrical permit applications for multi-family homes and single-family homes the owner doesn't live in. When an insert in one of those houses needs power, we bring that electrician in from the start.
If you're weighing wood against gas, or just want to know whether your fireplace can take an insert at all, send us a message or call (603) 314-0526 and I'll come take a look.
Fireplace and chimney work in Manchester
In Manchester, the city's Building Division approves permits, reviews plans and inspects work. Its list names building, electrical, heating and plumbing permits but doesn't name fireplace installation, so whether your particular job needs one isn't settled until someone asks. We check with that office before work starts and take care of the permit paperwork when the job needs it, so you aren't the one chasing forms.
Around the city we see plenty of older open brick fireboxes and a fair number of factory-built units in newer houses, and telling which one you have is always the first step. We see the same mix on jobs in Bedford and Londonderry.
Questions about fireplace inserts in Manchester
Will a fireplace insert heat my home better than an open fireplace?
Usually yes, by a wide margin. The EPA calls an open wood-burning fireplace very inefficient for heat, because drafts pull warm air up the chimney and cool the other rooms, and your central heat works harder while the fire burns. An insert's closed door and insulated body burn the fire hotter and more completely, and the hearth industry's trade group says many run above 65 percent efficient.
Does my chimney need a liner for a fireplace insert?
Most insert installs need a chimney liner, and its type and size have to suit the fuel you burn. Depending on the fuel, an insert vents naturally up a working chimney, is direct vented or is vent-free, so choosing wood, gas or electric decides how much liner work there is. With a masonry chimney it's fair to ask any installer how they'll make sure the flue liner goes in correctly, and I'll walk you through ours at the estimate.
How often should the chimney be inspected after an insert goes in?
Once a year. The hearth industry's guidance is a yearly inspection by a sweep certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America, whatever insert you choose. An insert generally has to come out for that maintenance, so plan for that step when you book the sweep.
How do I know if my fireplace can take an insert?
Start by finding out whether it's a masonry fireplace or a factory-built one, sometimes called zero-clearance, because that decides what can go in it. The EPA says a factory-built fireplace must use an insert designed and tested for that specific unit, since the matched insert is what makes it more efficient and cleaner burning. That's the first thing I check when I come out.
Which Manchester office handles permits for fireplace work?
The city's Building Division handles permits, plan review and inspections. If you have a question for them, the city's customer service line is (603) 624-6450, or you can email pcd@manchesternh.gov, and we check with that office ourselves before any work starts.
How much does a fireplace insert cost in Manchester NH?
The cost comes down to your fireplace and your choices, so I give you a written figure after I've seen it. A sound chimney and a straight swap into a masonry firebox cost less than a job that needs chimney repair first, a long new liner, a gas line or new stone around the opening. The free on-site estimate puts the number for your house in writing.
Work that often goes with a new insert
If the brick around your fireplace looks tired once the new insert is in, a stone face over it changes the whole room without rebuilding the chimney.
When a new hearth, a chimney chase or an outdoor fireplace base needs solid support underneath, block walls give it a level, sturdy core to build on.
Cities where we install fireplace inserts
Capstone Manchester Concrete and Masonry is based in Manchester, New Hampshire, and we work in many of the cities around it, including Nashua and Methuen just over the line in Massachusetts. These 12 cities have their own pages, and they aren't the only places we go.
Manchester, NH
Measure your fireplace, then give us a call
Insert size comes mainly from the opening, so if you jot down its height, width and depth at top and bottom, the rear width and the hearth depth before you call (603) 314-0526, we can talk real options from the first conversation.