Gas heat in a Laurentian town built on wood and electricity.

Installed gas fireplace projects here typically run $6,000 to $15,000 CAD, and where you land in that range depends heavily on whether you're one of the few addresses near an Énergir main or whether the project needs a propane tank and a new line run by a licensed gas fitter. A direct-vent insert into an existing masonry firebox on a home already piped for gas sits toward the low end. A new built-in unit with a fresh propane tank, buried line, and wall or roof venting pushes toward the top.

Only in part. Énergir's distribution network doesn't blanket the town, and most of Mont-Laurier and the surrounding Laurentides Region sit outside its mains—this is common well north of greater Montréal, where Énergir's corridors thin out fast. Before you plan around a natural gas fireplace, it's worth having a dealer confirm whether your street actually has a main nearby, because for a lot of addresses here the honest answer is propane.

Yes—propane is the standard workaround for most Mont-Laurier homes, and it's how the majority of gas fireplace installs in town actually get done. A propane tank set on the property feeds the fireplace through a line a licensed gas fitter runs to the unit, and most manufacturer-authorized models sold by local dealers convert between natural gas and propane with a simple orifice kit. The install cost lands in the same $6,000-$15,000 range, though tank placement and line length add variability.

You'll need a permit through the municipal building department, and the gas connection itself—whether it's a tie-in to an Énergir main or a new propane line—has to be done by a licensed gas fitter, separate from the general building permit. CSA installation codes apply to the appliance and venting. Most local dealers who work in this area handle the paperwork and coordinate the gas fitter as part of the project rather than leaving you to manage two trades yourself.

Many will, which is worth asking about given how a Laurentian ice storm can knock out power for days at a time in a -21.1°C stretch. Units with intermittent pilot ignition typically run on battery backup for the pilot and controls, while a millivolt or standing-pilot system keeps working with no household power at all beyond a wall switch. If outage resilience matters to you here—and in a region where wood heat is still the norm partly because of this risk—ask your dealer to point you toward a standing-pilot model.

A gas insert is usually the least disruptive choice for the older homes around downtown Mont-Laurier that already have a masonry fireplace built for wood—it slides into the existing firebox and vents through a liner run up the chimney chase. A built-in gas fireplace suits new construction or a full renovation where you're framing a wall from scratch. A freestanding gas stove is the rarer option locally, mostly chosen by homeowners replacing an old wood stove who want the same footprint without splitting hardwood.

In practice, no. Quebec's building code and the municipal building department here call for direct-vent or other sealed-combustion venting on gas fireplaces, not unvented units. That's actually a good match for a cold-climate town like Mont-Laurier, where you want combustion air pulled from outside rather than from an already-tight, well-insulated house built for -21.1°C winters. Your dealer will spec direct-vent as the default, not an upgrade.

Plan on an annual check, ideally before the cold really sets in each fall rather than mid-winter. A technician checks the burner, pilot or ignition system, gas connections—propane lines included, if that's your setup—and cleans the glass. It's a lighter job than the WETT inspection many insurers require for wood appliances here, but skipping it on a unit that's your main heat source through a long Laurentian winter is how you end up troubleshooting an ignition failure on the coldest night of the year.

Wood is still the practical default here—sugar maple, yellow birch, and beech are widely available, and a good stove keeps running through the power outages that hit this part of the Laurentides Region during winter storms. Hydro-Québec's low residential rate, around $0.078 per kWh, also makes electric heat a cheap, low-maintenance backup that most homes already have. Gas earns its place mainly as a convenience upgrade—instant flame, no ash, no reload—for homeowners who either sit near one of Énergir's limited local corridors or don't mind setting up propane to get it.

Most modern gas fireplaces can—turn it on and off from the couch with a remote, or set a room temperature and let the fireplace hold the comfort zone for you. If low maintenance matters to your family, this is the feature set that makes gas the convenience pick over wood and pellet.

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.

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 it was installed more than 15 years ago, probably. Older gas fireplaces keep a standing pilot light burning all the time, and that little flame can cost a couple hundred dollars a year. Newer models use pilot-on-demand ignition—the pilot lights only when you use the fireplace and goes out when you turn it off.