Keep Your Family Warm and Safe—No Matter What

Most installations run $6,000 to $12,000 CAD. An insert dropping into an existing masonry fireplace—common in London's older neighbourhoods around Old North and Wortley Village—tends to land toward the lower end, since the chimney chase is already in place. A freestanding stove in a newer home without an existing flue needs a full Class A chimney system run through the roof, which pushes the project toward the higher end of that range. Your municipal building department permit and any hearth pad or electrical work are typically included in a dealer's quote.

With winter lows averaging -9.2°C and most London homes already heating with Enbridge Gas, a lot of local installs are sized as a strong supplemental unit rather than a full-house primary heater—something small-to-medium that can comfortably carry a living area or open-concept main floor through a cold snap or a power outage. Homes using wood as the sole heat source, more common on larger rural properties around Middlesex, generally need a medium-to-large stove built for longer, unattended burns. A local dealer will size against your actual layout and insulation rather than square footage alone.

Yes. New installations go through the municipal building department, and the work has to meet the CSA B365 installation code. Most insurers also require a WETT inspection before they'll add a wood-burning appliance to a homeowner's policy, so it's worth booking that inspection as part of the same project rather than treating it as a separate step later. A dealer who installs regularly in London will typically walk you through both the permit and the inspection.

A freestanding wood stove sits on a hearth pad and vents through new Class A pipe, which suits London's newer subdivisions in areas like Hyde Park or Summerside where many homes were never built with a masonry fireplace. A wood insert slides into an existing masonry firebox and reuses the chimney that's already there, which is the more common upgrade in older London neighbourhoods with open fireplaces built decades ago. Inserts also tend to land toward the lower end of the $6,000-$12,000 CAD range since less new venting is required.

Unlike homeowners in northern Ontario who can pull a free Crown land cutting permit through the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for up to 10 cubic metres a year, London sits well south of the Managed Forest and Northern Boreal permit zones, so most local wood comes from private woodlots and firewood suppliers rather than Crown land. That's not a drawback—Middlesex and the surrounding region have a genuinely dense hardwood supply, and sugar maple, red oak, and white ash split and stacked locally are considered some of the best-burning species available anywhere in the province.

Because London's winters are moderate compared to places like Thunder Bay or Winnipeg, most homeowners here don't need a stove built purely for marathon sub-zero burns—a well-built mid-size stove from a manufacturer-authorized dealer, running on seasoned sugar maple or red oak, comfortably handles the -9.2°C average lows and the occasional deeper cold snap. Households planning to lean on wood heat during winter power outages, which do happen during southwestern Ontario ice storms, often step up to a stove rated for longer overnight burns so it can carry the house through a multi-day outage without constant reloading.

An annual sweep and inspection before the heating season starts, ideally in September or early October, is standard advice—and in London it's not just good practice, it's usually a condition of keeping wood-burning coverage on your home insurance. Most insurers ask for a current WETT inspection when a stove is first installed and periodically afterward, so scheduling the sweep and the WETT check together each fall saves a second appointment and keeps your policy current.

Some municipalities in central and eastern Ontario, including parts of the London area, require certified low-emission appliances in new construction rather than allowing older uncertified models to be installed. In practice this means any new wood stove or insert bought through a trusted local dealer will already be CSA-listed and compliant, so the requirement rarely changes what you'd choose anyway—it mainly rules out installing a secondhand pre-certification stove pulled from an older home.

With Enbridge Gas serving most of the city, gas is the practical default for day-to-day heating in London, and it's what powers central heat in the majority of homes. Wood earns its place as a backup: it keeps working without electricity during the ice storms that occasionally take down power across southwestern Ontario, and burning local sugar maple or red oak costs a fraction of running a furnace on the coldest nights. Many London households end up running gas as primary heat and adding a wood stove or insert specifically for outage resilience and lower operating cost on peak-demand days.

Because a fireplace is an iceberg—there's more behind the wall than in front of it. A low quote often covers only the unit; the full scope includes vent pipe, gas line or electrical, framing, and the tile or stone that has to come off and go back on. Make every bidder price the whole job. If a dealer can't speak to the full scope with confidence, that's your signal to keep looking.

Louvered fronts have grill work above and below the glass for airflow, move heat a little better with a fan, and suit traditional mantels. Clean face designs drop the louvers entirely so finish work runs to the fire's edge—they fit both modern and traditional rooms. When we did our own home we chose clean face: a big viewing area beat a little extra airflow. It depends on your room, not on a rulebook.

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.

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.