Keep Your Family Warm and Safe—No Matter What

Yes, though it's genuinely uncommon. The large majority of St. Ann homes heat with natural gas, and most local hearth retailers focus their inventory on gas fireplaces and inserts because that's what sells. A smaller number of dealers serving the greater St. Louis market still carry EPA-certified wood stoves and inserts, typically for homeowners who want backup heat during ice-storm power outages or who simply prefer a real wood fire. If you go this route, expect fewer options on the showroom floor than you'd see for gas—but the equipment and installation quality can be just as solid.

For a straightforward freestanding wood stove with new Class A chimney pipe running through an existing roof line, expect somewhere in the $4,000 to $8,500 range in the St. Louis metro area, depending on the stove model and how much venting work is required. Converting an existing masonry fireplace to a wood-burning insert is often less—commonly $3,500 to $6,500—because it reuses the existing chimney with a stainless liner. Because wood installs are less routine here than gas conversions, get a firm in-home quote from a local installer rather than relying on a national average.

Yes. New solid-fuel appliance installations require a building permit through the City of St. Ann's building and code enforcement office, and the stove itself needs to meet current EPA 2020 NSPS emissions standards—older uncertified stoves generally can't be newly installed. Most hearth dealers who handle wood installs in the St. Louis area will pull the permit and schedule the inspection as part of the job, which is worth confirming up front since it's a less routine request than a gas permit here.

If your home has an existing masonry fireplace—common in some of St. Ann's older brick ranch construction—a wood-burning insert is often the better path than a freestanding stove. It uses your current chimney (typically with a stainless steel liner) and converts a drafty, inefficient open hearth into a sealed, high-efficiency heat source. The catch in a lot of St. Ann housing stock: older chimneys need an inspection first to confirm they're structurally sound and properly sized before a liner and insert go in, so budget for that evaluation as step one.

Unlike rural parts of Missouri near Mark Twain National Forest, there's no cutting-permit program convenient to St. Ann—firewood here is purchased, not self-cut. Local and regional suppliers throughout the St. Louis metro deliver seasoned cordwood, with oak and hickory the most sought-after species for their high BTU output and long burn times, and maple and walnut also common in the mix. Expect to pay roughly $180 to $300 per cord depending on species and seasoning, with oak and hickory typically at the higher end.

For the vast majority of St. Ann homeowners, gas wins on convenience: instant on-off operation, no ash or wood handling, and a fuel source (natural gas) that's already run to most homes in the area. Wood makes sense in a narrower set of cases—homeowners who want a heat source that keeps working through a winter ice storm and power outage, or who specifically want the experience of a real wood fire and have a suitable chimney or clearance for a stove. If you're weighing both, a local dealer can walk you through what your specific home and lot will actually support.

Yes, and that's the main practical reason wood still comes up in St. Ann. Winter ice storms across the St. Louis area occasionally knock out power for Union Electric (Ameren Missouri) customers for a day or more, and a wood stove or insert will keep producing heat with zero electricity required—no blower, no igniter, no thermostat. That's a real advantage over most gas fireplaces, which typically need battery backup for the ignition system, and over electric fireplaces, which stop entirely without power.

Most St. Ann homes are single-story ranches or bungalows in the 1,000 to 1,800 square foot range, which generally calls for a small to medium wood stove rather than a large whole-home unit. A small stove works well as supplemental or backup heat for a living room or open floor plan, while a medium stove can cover most of a modest single-story home if it's reasonably insulated. Because these homes weren't built with wood heat in mind, a local installer should confirm floor protection and wall clearance requirements before sizing the unit.

Often, yes. Many homeowners insurance carriers in Missouri ask for documentation that a wood-burning appliance was installed to code, sometimes specifically requesting proof of a permitted installation or a certificate from an NFI-certified installer. Because wood stoves are a less common request in a gas-dominant market like St. Ann, it's worth asking your insurer directly what they require before or after installation, and keeping the permit and inspection paperwork from your installer on file in case it's ever requested.

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 does two things: it seals the chimney completely, so you stop losing air you already paid to heat, and it radiates warmth into the room through the firebox and glass. Most add a heat-exchange fan that pulls cool room air underneath, wraps it around the hot firebox, and pushes it back out warm. Your home is more efficient before you've even lit the first fire.

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.

It's a visit where a hearth professional measures your space, confirms the model you picked actually works in your home, and walks the specs—framing, gas line, venting, finish work—before anything is ordered. Some details you just can't know until you see the house. Never make a down payment without one; it's the single most-skipped step that burns buyers.