Gas Fireplaces vs. Wood Fireplaces
With summer rolling right around the corner, what better way to decide on whether a gas fireplace or a wood fireplace is best for your home. Summer is one of the best times to get a fireplace installed but the ultimate question is do you want a gas fireplace or a wood fireplace? Both have their advantages so it will be up to the homeowner to decide what they value more.
Difficulty of use
Advantage: Gas
This is pretty self-explanatory. For a gas fireplace, all you have to do is basically flip a switch. Then your warmth will be waiting for you. You can easily turn the heat up or down with a gas fireplace.
As far as a wood fireplace, you will have to get the wood and create your own fire. Not only do you have to make your own fire, but you have to maintain it as well. You will have to pay more attention to maintaining the fire if you have a wood fireplace as opposed to a gas fireplace.
Maintenance
Advantage: Gas
We can take a look at two different sides of maintenance. The first side is just maintaining the fire in general. For a wood fireplace, you have to maintain how big you want your fire with the logs. For a gas fireplace, you do not have to worry about that as you will have a switch to do that.
The second side of maintaining is the aftermath of the fire. Cleaning up a wood fireplace may be very messy. With the soot created from the fire, it may be difficult to clean up. For gas fireplaces, it is as easy to maintain as it is to operate.
Fuel Cost
Advantage: Wood
Free is cheaper than not free. A wood fireplace creates its own fuel while a gas fireplace uses natural gas to get its fuel. Even though natural gas is not too expensive, it is not free. In this case, we are talking about the process of creating the fuel and not the materials such as the wood logs needed to make the fuel for a wood fireplace.
The Decision
Advantage: Homeowner’s Preference!
Deciding on whether you want a wood fireplace or a gas fireplace may seem like a difficult one however, as you the homeowner, it is up to you to decide which one you will prefer. Wood fireplaces will have more responsibilities, however you may feel more comfortable with a wood fireplace as opposed to a gas fireplace!