Fireplace installation in Lansing MI - a fire that suits how you use the room
Your fireplace looks nice but the room stays cold, or there's no fireplace yet. We'll help you pick the right setup and put it in.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free on-site estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
Should I put in a new fireplace or an insert?
Fireplace installation in Lansing means building a brick or stone fireplace on site, setting in a factory-built unit or fitting an insert into the fireplace you already have, so the room gets a fire to sit by and some extra heat.
Most calls start one of two ways. Either the fireplace you have looks good and does nothing for a cold room, or there's no fireplace and you want one. The price moves with whether we're building in brick or stone from scratch, setting a factory-built unit or fitting an insert, plus the fuel you pick and what shape your chimney's in. The schedule mostly turns on that chimney, since it may need chimney repair first, and on any permit the city wants. The estimate puts your own number in writing once I've seen the room.
How we handle fireplace installation
The first thing I ask is whether you want the look of a fire or real heat, since that decides between a new fireplace and an insert. If you're adding an insert or switching fuel, we want the chimney looked at before any work starts, because an insert vents through the chimney you already have, usually with a flue liner run up inside it, and most use a blower to push the heat out into the room. For a new fireplace, we build the firebox and surround in brick or stone, or set in a factory-built unit and finish the masonry around it.
A fireplace usually needs a face that fits the room, and stone veneer installation gives the surround a stone look to match. When the fireplace is part of an addition, we lay up concrete block walls for the structure around it.
Brick or stone fireplace built on site
We build it in place, so the size, shape and finish are yours to pick. It suits a room where the fireplace is the centerpiece and you'd rather pay more for something built into the house.
Factory-built fireplace
These are made in a factory and set in place, and they're the lower-cost choice a lot of new homes use. They suit a tighter budget or a newer house.
Fireplace insert
If the room stays cold, an insert goes into the fireplace you already have and works as an efficient heater for that room. It suits owners who like where their fireplace is and want warmth out of it.
Fireplace installation permits and rules in Lansing
In Lansing, building permits come from the city's Building Safety Office, and they're needed before construction or remodeling starts. The city's permit procedures list gas piping and furnaces under mechanical permits but don't name fireplaces, so whether your job needs a permit isn't something I'll guess at. Before work starts I check with the office that covers your address, and if a permit is needed, we work out the paperwork with you before anyone picks up a trowel.
State code covers fireplaces, chimneys and vents, and for houses like yours those rules sit in the Michigan Residential Code. Michigan also requires a mechanical contractor's license in the right class for heating equipment and service work, though an owner who lives in a single-family home can do that work without one. Most fireplaces we're called to around Lansing are older brick ones, and we see the same on jobs in East Lansing and Holt.
Why Lansing homeowners call Craftsman Lansing Concrete and Masonry for a fireplace
Owner on site, start to finish
I come out to look at the job and give the estimate, and I'm on site working with our crew while it gets done. You're talking to the person doing the work, not someone passing messages along.
Straight answers since 2023
We've been in business since 2023, and we're known for telling people what's actually wrong. If your fireplace is fine the way it is, I'd rather say so than sell you an insert you don't need.
Licensed and fully insured, indoors too
We're licensed and fully insured. That counts when we're working inside your house, around your floors and walls, because the risk of our work shouldn't land on you.
Based in Lansing, working nearby
We're based in Lansing and work across the cities around it, including plenty that don't have a page on this site. If you don't see yours listed, call and ask.
On a fireplace, the choice between looks and heat shapes everything after it, so tell me what you've got and what you want and I'll come out and take a look.
Request a quoteGet a free on-site estimate for your fireplace or insert
We reply within one business day. I'll come out, look at the room and the chimney, and give you a free estimate with no obligation, laying out what I'd do first and what can wait.
What happens after you call about a fireplace in Lansing?
Call or send some photos
Call (517) 237-5922 or use the form, and send a few photos of the room and the chimney if you can. We'll set a time for me to come out.
I come out and look
I look at the room, the fireplace if there is one, and the chimney myself. I tell you what I see, what I'd fix first and what can wait.
You get the estimate
All of that goes into an estimate you can think over, with the work spelled out so you know what you'd be paying for. Nothing starts until you say go.
We build, clean, check
Once you say go, we sort out any paperwork, do the work and clean up. Then we look it over with you before we call it finished.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a gas fireplace insert cost to install?
Across the US, putting in a gas fireplace insert usually runs about $2,300 to $8,000 for the whole project, materials and labor included. That's a national range from one cost guide, not our price, and your number depends on the unit, the liner and what your chimney needs. The estimate gives you the figure for your house.
What is the best way to get real heat from a fireplace?
Put in an insert. Most traditional open fireplaces lose over 90 percent of the fire's heat up the chimney, and a good share of the room's warm air goes with it, so an open fireplace is mostly for the look. An insert closes that off and sends the heat into the room instead.
Do I need a chimney inspection before installing a fireplace insert?
Yes, if you're adding an insert or changing fuel. One chimney safety group recommends a more thorough check it calls a Level Two inspection whenever you add a new appliance or switch to one with a different fuel, efficiency or type, so plan for it before the work starts. If it turns up damage, that gets fixed first.
Who pulls the permit for a fireplace insert in Lansing?
In Michigan, a contractor doing mechanical work for you is responsible for the permit, and a homeowner doing their own work gets it themselves. Under Lansing's process, whoever applies books every inspection once the permit is issued, so ask who'll be scheduling them before work starts.
What are the downsides of a vent-free fireplace insert?
The main one is that some of the exhaust comes back into the room, which one national cost guide says raises air quality concerns, and they're banned in some areas. They do skip the chimney and flue work, which is why people ask about them, and I'll talk it through with you if you're leaning that way.
How do I know if an insert will fit my fireplace?
Usually it will, since inserts are made to fit both existing masonry fireplaces and factory-built ones, in wood, gas or pellet versions. Whether yours can take one comes down to the size of the firebox and the shape the chimney's in, and that's what I measure and check when I come out.
Other work that often goes with a fireplace
Stone veneer installation
Stone veneer puts a stone face on a fireplace wall or surround without the weight of full stone, so it works on walls that weren't built to carry it.
Concrete block walls
A fireplace in an addition or on an outside wall needs something solid behind and under it, and a block wall gives the firebox and chimney a sound base to sit on.
Lansing, MI
Tell me about your fireplace and chimney
Call (517) 237-5922 or use the form with your Lansing address, the fireplace and chimney you have now and whether you're leaning toward wood, gas or pellets, so I show up ready to answer the right question.