Tired of fighting smoke every time you light a fire?

An open masonry fireplace is a large hole in the wall connected to a tall pipe, and how well it behaves depends on a long list of things outside your control. The flue has to be warm. The house cannot be pulling air the other way. The wind cannot be pushing down from above. The opening has to be in proportion to the flue. Miss one and smoke curls into the room. An insert takes most of that list off the table. It is a firebox of its own, with a sealed glass front, set into the old fireplace, and its exhaust travels up a stainless liner run the full height of the chimney. The room no longer supplies the air the fire burns, or in the case of direct-vent gas inserts, outside air comes down one channel while exhaust goes up another. A cold evening in Pacific Palisades, a kitchen fan running or a gusty Santa Ana night stop mattering nearly as much. For houses where the fireplace has smoked for years and nobody wants to rebuild the chimney, this is often the cleanest way out.

Gas, wood and electric inserts each fit a different household. Gas suits people who want a fire at the push of a button, no ash and no smoke, and it keeps working on South Coast AQMD no-burn days when wood fires are off limits. A gas insert set into the fireplace you already have is $2,900 to $5,800 with the liner and connection. Wood inserts appeal to people who love a real log fire; they burn far cleaner and hotter than an open fireplace and give back much more heat, though they still fall under the no-burn rules. Electric units need no venting and suit condos and apartments in West Hollywood or Santa Monica where running a liner or gas line is impractical. We ask how often you light a fire, if you want heat or mostly the look, and what the chimney can take, then suggest one or two models that fit. If the old fireplace can be repaired instead, we tell you that too.

Inserts are sold by size, and fireplaces are rarely the size they appear. Before quoting, we measure the firebox front and back, because many taper toward the rear, and we measure the depth, the height of the damper throat, and the flue from the top. The liner diameter has to match what the insert maker calls for, and the clay tiles inside the chimney have to leave room for it to pass. Where an earthquake has shifted tiles or the flue has an offset, the liner may need to be oval or flexible to clear the bend. We also check the hearth in front of the opening, because many inserts sit partly proud of the wall and need a protected floor beneath that part. If the masonry has a cracked crown or loose bricks at the top, we point that out before the install, since the liner cap seals onto it. Everything we find goes into a written quote with photos, so you are not surprised on installation day by a part nobody mentioned.

On installation day the old damper usually comes out or is fixed open, the liner goes down from the roof, and the insert slides in and connects to it. Gas units get a new or extended line with a shutoff valve within reach. A surround panel closes the gap between the insert and the old opening, and we seal the top of the chimney around the liner so rain and birds stay out. Then comes the part that matters most to us: we run the unit, watch the flame, and measure carbon monoxide at the face of the insert and across the room. In Malibu and along the coast, where salt air chews through steel, we use liner caps and fittings that hold up to it. In Brentwood or Beverly Hills homes with several fireplaces on one stack, we check that lining one flue has not changed how the others draw. If you want a measuring visit, the call button on this page reaches the office directly, and you can send photos of the opening ahead of time.