Keep Your Family Warm and Safe—No Matter What

It's a niche choice, and it's worth being upfront about that. Newark's building stock is heavily served by natural gas, and most new construction and remodels default to a gas fireplace or furnace rather than wood. Where we do see wood stoves installed, it's almost always for a specific reason—an existing masonry fireplace in an older home, a rural property outside city limits with easy access to firewood, or a homeowner who wants heat that keeps working when Ohio Power Co. lines go down in an ice storm. If none of those apply to you, gas is worth a look too. If one does, wood is still a solid, well-supported option here.

For a freestanding EPA-certified wood stove with new Class A chimney pipe through an exterior wall or roof, expect somewhere in the $3,500 to $7,500 range depending on the stove and how much venting work is involved. Converting an existing masonry fireplace to a wood-burning insert with a stainless steel liner typically runs $4,000 to $8,000, and tends to land on the lower end if the flue is already in reasonably good shape. Homes without any existing chimney—common in newer Newark subdivisions—sit at the higher end once full exterior venting is factored in. A local installer can give you a firm number after seeing the space.

Licking County's mixed hardwood forests produce oak, hickory, maple, and cherry, and all four show up regularly from local tree services and firewood suppliers. Oak and hickory are the ones to prioritize if heat output matters most—they burn hot and long once properly seasoned, but oak in particular needs a full 12 to 18 months of seasoning before it burns clean. Maple seasons faster and burns a little cooler, which makes it a reasonable shoulder-season wood. Cherry is popular for its smell and easy split, though it's usually mixed with a denser species rather than burned alone for primary heat.

Yes—a building permit is required for a new wood-burning appliance installation, whether that's through the City of Newark's Building Department for in-city addresses or the Licking County Building Inspection Department for properties outside city limits. The stove itself needs to meet current EPA 2020 NSPS emissions standards, which any legitimately sold new unit already does. Most local hearth retailers pull the permit as part of the installation, so it's rarely something you have to handle yourself. There are no local air quality nonattainment restrictions here, so unlike some western cities, there's no seasonal burn curtailment to plan around.

In many of Newark's older homes, yes, and it's one of the more common wood projects we see. A wood insert slides into your existing masonry firebox and vents through a new stainless steel liner run up your current chimney, which means you're not paying for new exterior venting from scratch. This works especially well in century homes around Buckingham and South Newark where the original chimney is structurally sound but the open fireplace itself throws off very little usable heat. A chimney inspection first is worth the cost—if the flue or crown needs repair, that gets rolled into the project before the liner goes in.

Yes, and this is one of the strongest arguments for wood in a mostly-gas town like Newark. Ohio Power Co. service can go down for extended stretches during winter ice storms, and both gas furnaces and most gas fireplaces with electronic ignition or blower fans stop working without electricity. A freestanding wood stove needs none of that—it lights and heats regardless of grid status. If backup heat during outages is a real concern for your household, that's a legitimate reason to install wood even though it isn't the neighborhood default.

Gas wins on convenience almost every time here—it's instant, it doesn't require hauling or stacking fuel, and Newark's natural gas infrastructure makes installation straightforward for most homes. Wood wins on resilience during outages, lower ongoing fuel cost if you have access to your own woodlot, and the kind of dry radiant heat that some homeowners simply prefer. Given how thoroughly gas has become the default around Newark, we'd only steer you toward wood if you have a specific reason—an existing chimney, a rural property, or a real need for grid-independent heat. Otherwise gas is worth exploring first.

Licking County has a handful of tree services and sawmill operations that sell seasoned cordwood, and prices typically run $180 to $260 per cord depending on species and how well-seasoned it is. Oak and hickory command the higher end of that range because of the longer seasoning time and higher heat output. If you're on a rural property with your own trees, cutting and seasoning your own wood is common practice—just plan at least a year ahead for oak, since burning it green produces excess creosote and poor heat output.

With winter lows averaging around 18°F and a fairly long, moderately cold winter, Newark's climate is moderately cold—colder than the Ohio River valley but nowhere near what a place like Duluth or Fargo deals with. For supplemental heat in a single living area, a small to mid-size stove (rated for 1,000 to 1,500 square feet) is usually enough. If you're aiming to heat a larger portion of an older, less-insulated home as your primary source, a mid to large stove in the 1,500 to 2,200 square foot range is a better fit. A local dealer will factor in your home's insulation and layout during an in-home visit—that's the step where sizing actually gets dialed in correctly.

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.

New wood stoves are 70%+ efficient, so far less heat goes up the flue—which also means less draft to get a fire established. The rule: build a genuinely hot fire for about 45 minutes before you choke it down. Skip that and you get smoke in the room, creosote in the chimney, and a fire that never takes off. Most performance complaints trace straight back to this.

On average, a fireplace adds back to the home about the same amount you spent installing it. Add the monthly savings from heating the rooms you actually use instead of the whole house—often hundreds of dollars a year—and the value case is strong before you even count what a fire does for how your family uses the room.

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.