Keep Your Family Warm and Safe—No Matter What

It can be, but it's a minority choice here. Concord's winters are moderate compared to the northern Midwest—average lows sit around 25°F and the heating season is shorter than what you'd see in Minneapolis or Bismarck. Most homes rely on gas furnaces for primary heat, and gas fireplaces or inserts are far more common than wood units in this part of St. Louis County. Homeowners who do install wood stoves in Concord usually have a specific reason: an existing masonry fireplace they want to make functional again, a desire for heat during ice-storm power outages, or simply a preference for a real wood fire over gas.

Nationally, a wood stove or insert installation typically runs $3,000 to $8,000, depending on whether you're inserting into an existing masonry chimney, adding a stainless liner, or running new Class A pipe for a freestanding stove in a home without an existing chimney. Because wood installs are less common in Concord than gas, fewer local dealers stock a deep wood inventory—expect your installer to special-order the stove or insert and schedule the chimney work separately. Get a firm quote from a local hearth retailer after an in-home evaluation of your existing chimney or venting path.

Often, yes—this is actually the most common wood project in Concord. Many homes here have an original open masonry fireplace that's inefficient and rarely used. A wood-burning insert slides into that existing firebox, uses the current chimney with a new stainless liner, and turns a drafty, heat-losing fireplace into a real heat source. The catch is that some of these older builder-grade chimneys weren't built to modern clearance or flue-sizing standards, so a local installer will need to inspect the chimney before quoting the job—not every existing fireplace is a straightforward insert candidate.

Concord is unincorporated, so building permits for wood-burning appliance installations typically go through the St. Louis County Department of Public Works rather than a city building department. Requirements generally cover chimney and hearth clearances and confirmation that the stove meets current EPA emissions standards. Most established hearth retailers in the St. Louis metro handle this paperwork as part of the installation, so you're not left tracking it down yourself.

This part of Missouri grows some of the best firewood hardwoods in the country. Oak and hickory are the local standards—dense, high-BTU woods that burn long and hot once properly seasoned (six months to a year is typical). Walnut and maple are also common and burn cleaner with less spitting than some softer woods. Since St. Louis County has no national forest land for self-cut permits, expect to buy seasoned cordwood from a local tree service or firewood supplier rather than cutting your own.

The CSIA (Chimney Safety Institute of America) recommends an annual inspection for any wood-burning appliance, and that guidance holds here even though wood use is lighter than in colder climates. Because many Concord installs involve older masonry chimneys that predate current codes, a Level 2 inspection is worth requesting the first time you install a new insert or stove—it includes a camera scan of the flue interior, which catches liner damage or deterioration that a visual inspection alone would miss.

Given Concord's moderate winters—average lows around 25°F rather than the sustained deep cold of a place like Bozeman, MT—most homes here do well with a small to medium stove rated for 1,000 to 1,800 square feet, since wood is usually supplemental rather than the whole-home primary heat source. An oversized stove in a mild climate like this tends to run smoldery and inefficient because you're constantly damping it down. A local retailer can size a unit correctly based on your square footage and how much of the heating load you actually want the stove to carry.

For most Concord homeowners, gas wins on pure practicality: natural gas service is widely available in this part of St. Louis County, gas fireplaces and inserts require no wood handling or ash cleanup, and installation is generally simpler and less expensive than a full wood setup. Wood makes sense in narrower situations—you have an existing masonry fireplace worth restoring, you want a heat source that works during an ice-storm power outage, or you specifically want a real wood fire for ambiance. If you're weighing the two, a local hearth retailer can walk you through both options for your specific fireplace or room.

Since Concord doesn't see the extended sub-zero stretches that demand a 20-hour catalytic burn, you don't need an oversized cold-climate workhorse. Mid-size non-catalytic stoves from brands like Pacific Energy, Lopi, or Vermont Castings are well suited to supplemental heat and occasional-use burning in a climate zone 4A home. If you're converting an existing fireplace, ask your local dealer about insert-specific models sized to fit a standard masonry firebox rather than a freestanding unit.

Open fireplaces suck—literally. As the fire burns, it consumes air your furnace already paid to heat and pulls it out through the chimney, so the house is actually colder after the fire goes out than before you lit it. An insert fixes this: it seals the chimney, puts fixed glass across the front, and turns that hole in your house into a real heat source.

An insert is a fireplace that slides into a pre-existing wood-burning fireplace—if you don't have one, there's nothing to insert it into. A zero-clearance fireplace is built into a framed wall, which makes it the answer for remodels and new construction. Simple test: existing masonry fireplace means insert; blank or framed wall means zero-clearance.

Yes—by creating a comfort zone. A furnace heats every square foot of the house just to warm the one room you're in; a gas fireplace on low burns roughly a sixth of the gas a typical furnace does. Set the furnace around 55–60 degrees as a baseline, then heat the rooms your family actually uses. Families who heat this way commonly save $20–$60 a month.

If you're putting a fire in your house on purpose, it's best to work with an expert. Unless you're genuinely experienced in framing, gas line, vent pipe, and the national code on clearances to combustibles, have a professional do it—and ideally the same company that sells you the fireplace, so warranty, service, and liability all live under one roof.