macv - he was talking about using isokern for our other 5 fireplaces (2 in basement, one screened porch, one den, one keeping), not the fireplace in the small study, which is 12 x 12, where there is currently not one. I think he was talking about the depth difference between traditional masonry and isokern standard - he did say the fireplace was 2 feet (?), and the back to back isokern (in keeping and screened porch) is 4 feet. As one is on an interior wall and one is a back to back fireplace, we don't have the option of pushing the chimney outside, and our rooms are not very big so the 2 feet for the fireplace and 20 inches for the hearth make a difference I am finding! I think the plans are getting very close to being finalized and we were able to put two doors in the study (one from entrance hall and one connecting den and study with walk through butler's pantry like bar in the short hallway, which is a great place for the bar which we have been struggling with). I am going to have an interior designer look over the plans to be sure about room size as far as furniture placement, sight lines, flow, etc. and I will have her weigh in about the fireplace as well. How deep is a traditional b-vent? If we just have to find a foot for it that is less problematic. . . The hearth doesn't bother me as you can easily push an ottoman right up to the hearth (it will not be raised) if you need to. I still would like to have one but now that the room is not a dead end I feel much better about it not being necessary.

Sorry, forgot to post a followup after it was all installed! We've now had our two fireplaces (a small one upstairs in the bedroom and a 3-sided peninsula unit in the living/dining area) installed and operating for two years. As I mentioned before, I ordered Lennox units from Stoves Direct. The downstairs unit is wonderful. I had to play around a little with the log placement to prevent sooting, and it doesn't NOT soot entirely, but it's pretty good, especially considering how much we use it (it's our primary heat source for downstairs in the winter). It's very attractive, seems extremely well-built and sturdy, and puts out a lot of warmth. The louvers don't allow see- through between the rooms and the entire unit is a showpiece for the room (I'll try to figure out how to post a photo!) However, when I was doing my local research, a Seattle dealer talked me into getting a much smaller unit for our upstairs bedroom, and, alas, it doesn't even begin to heat up the room. Part of the problem may have been the way the gas man (from Northern Energy) adjusted the flame, so I might have it loooked at next time they're out that way. All in all, I'm happy with the Lennox units I bought from Stoves Direct, and am sorry that some people have had problems with either the product or the dealer. All I can say is that my own experiences have been positive.

This is an old thread and I wish I had seen it before we built our house in 2019. I tried to persuade our builder that I wanted a vented gas fireplace but he said they only did vent free. Long story short, we’ve never been able to use it because of the terrible, sickening smell (propane). We looked into having it changed to a vented fireplace and that was going to be prohibitively expensive. We ended up buying a Dimplex OptiMyst electric log insert so we could at least have some kind of operational fireplace. It is surprisingly realistic looking; the light looks like fire and the mist looks like smoke. Frankly, it looks more like a wood burning fireplace than our original vent free gas logs did.

We got this one: Town and Country " GDV42" gas burning fireplace. The quote is for 5k installed. It is not in yet. We chose it because we liked the looks of the flames the best. When it is on, it looks very real. We have three other real fpl in the house, this is in our most formal room and i wanted it to be easy. One thing I noticed is that they look most fake when they are off and you can see the glass. A good trick is to buy a nice, large fireplace screen (I found an old beehive one) to keep in front of it, so that when it is off you dont see shiny glass.... I also recall that some burned tooooo hot. Never occurred to me they could be too hot, but the guy said if you want only supplemental heat, make sure you get one that has good flames even on low.