Outdoor fireplaces are becoming more and more popular. Who can resist the idea of, well, the title of this blog? just like you’d never see a home built without a fireplace, in many areas, outdoor fireplaces are becoming the staple on new screened porches. One hundred years ago, or even 50 years ago, people would have never imagined a fireplace that burned anything but real wood. These days, there are other great options. In fact, likely the greater percentage of indoor fireplaces built are gas fireplaces. If you’re having a new porch with outdoor fireplace built for you, the type of fireplace is your choice and it’s not always an easy choice. Customers often ask us for advice about whether wood burning or gas burning is the best fireplace for a new porch. Here are some of the things we tell them.

• How important is the sound of a crackling fire to you?
• Do you want to use your fireplace on week nights?
• Do you want to be able to start the fire in minutes or are you willing to spend the time lighting the fire?
• Do you want to see and hear the burning logs fall?

A wood burning fireplace is more expensive. But, there’s nothing that smells like a wood burning fire except a wood burning fire. There’s nothing that sounds like a wood burning fire except a wood burning fire. If you love watching over a fire in your fireplace including the tasks of stoking the fire and getting more wood when necessary, you can only do this with a wood burning fireplace. But, if you’ve ever watched and waited for a fire to extinguish at the end of an evening, you know that care and attention needs to be paid to ensure the fire is out. For this reason, you’re probably unlikely to use the fireplace on work nights.

Enter the gas fireplace. Flip a switch and it’s burning. Too hot? Turn the dial and the fire burns cooler. Ready to turn in for the evening? Just flip the same switch. If desired, you can even get a remote for your fireplace to make adjustments at any time. Less expensive? Yep. You can probably see the tradeoffs here. A porch is something you will use for many years to come so it’s important to make your decision not based on how you want to use your porch over the next year, but on how you want to use your porch for the next 5 or 10 years or longer.

Whether you choose a wood burning or gas fireplace, the rest of the design options are up to you. You can choose the veneer, whether you have a hearth, and choose if you want a TV mounted above the fireplace. The great thing about working with a custom builder is they will design each component of your new outdoor space to your liking.

If you are considering building a screened porch with an outdoor fireplace for your Macon or Warner Robins area home, give us a call for a free consultation.

Stephen Denton
Owner, Archadeck of Central GA

Call: (478) 745 – 2000

Email: centralgeorgia@archadeck.net

Visit the screened porch photo gallery on our website for more great design