Keep Your Family Warm and Safe—No Matter What

For most Girard homes, no—gas and electric heat cover the job, and that's reflected in how few new wood installs happen in the borough compared to more wood-dependent parts of Pennsylvania. Where it does make sense: older homes near downtown or along the lakeshore with an existing masonry chimney, rural properties outside the borough limits, and anyone who wants heat that keeps working when Penelec or the Borough's electric lines go down during a lake-effect ice storm. If that's your situation, a wood insert or stove is still a reasonable project—just not the default choice here.

Because wood installs are infrequent in this part of Erie County, there isn't a tight local price band the way there is for gas or electric work. Expect a range similar to the rest of northwest Pennsylvania—roughly $3,500 to $8,500 depending on whether you're installing an insert into an existing masonry fireplace or a freestanding stove with new Class A chimney pipe. Because so few local dealers do this work regularly, it's worth getting two quotes rather than assuming the first number you hear is competitive.

Locally, oak, hickory, maple, and cherry are the common species—cherry especially, given Erie County's orchard country reputation along the lake. All four are solid, high-BTU hardwoods once properly seasoned. If you want to cut your own, the nearest Forest Service permits are through the Allegheny National Forest at $20 per cord, but that's a couple hours' drive southeast of Girard, so most local wood burners buy split, seasoned cordwood from area sellers rather than cutting it themselves.

It comes down to infrastructure and convenience, not climate—Girard gets plenty cold, with average winter lows around 21°F and a long, roughly seven-month heating season. But the borough's housing stock leans on natural gas furnaces and electric service from Penelec and the Borough of Girard's municipal utility, both of which are reliable and don't require hauling firewood or tending a fire. Wood heat tends to show up in the exceptions: old farmhouses with an existing chimney, or homeowners specifically prioritizing an off-grid backup heat source.

Yes—a new wood-burning appliance installation requires a building permit, and the stove itself needs to meet current EPA 2020 NSPS emissions standards. Because Girard doesn't see many of these installs, it's worth confirming permit requirements directly with the Borough of Girard or Erie County building officials before you buy, rather than assuming your installer has done one recently. A reputable local dealer will typically handle this paperwork as part of the job.

If your home is one of the borough's older properties with an existing working masonry chimney, an insert is usually the better call—it uses the chimney you already have and turns a drafty, inefficient fireplace into a real heat source. If you don't have an existing chimney, or you're heating a detached garage, cabin, or a room with no masonry fireplace, a freestanding stove with new Class A pipe is the more practical route. Either way, given how uncommon these installs are locally, get a local dealer to look at your specific chimney before deciding.

Yes, and this is the main practical reason to consider one in Girard. Gas furnaces typically need electricity to run the blower and ignition, and electric heat obviously stops the moment the power does. A properly installed wood stove or insert keeps producing heat with no electricity at all—useful in a snowbelt town where ice and heavy lake-effect snow can knock out Penelec or Borough electric service for a day or more at a time. Even homeowners who otherwise heat entirely with gas or electric sometimes add a small wood stove specifically as a power-outage backup.

Once a year, per Chimney Safety Institute of America guidance—and this matters even more for the occasional-use setups common in Girard. A chimney or insert that only gets used a handful of times each winter can still build up creosote, and gaps in use don't reduce the risk of a chimney fire. Plan on a late-summer or early-fall inspection before the season's first fire, especially if the fireplace sat unused for a stretch.

For most homes in the borough, gas or electric is the more practical everyday choice—it's what the local utility infrastructure (natural gas service and Pennsylvania Electric Co./Penelec, plus the Borough of Girard's own municipal electric) is built to support, and it doesn't require sourcing or storing firewood. Wood makes sense as a deliberate exception: a backup heat source for winter power outages, or a way to make use of an existing masonry chimney in an older home. Very few Girard homeowners choose wood as their primary or only heat source anymore, and that's a reasonable read on the local reality.

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.

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.

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.

For an average home—covering the fireplace, the vent pipe, and basic installation—a budget between $3,900 and $5,500 gives you a lot of options across wood, gas, and pellet. By the time you add finish work, gas line, and electrical, the average complete installation lands between $5,000 and $12,000 all-in. In a remodel or new build, a good rule is to put about 2.5% of the total project cost toward the fireplace.