Fireplace Remodel in Sherman Oaks, Designed Inside the Clearances

A remodel looks like a design project, but the fireplace rules settle much of it before anyone picks tile. For a masonry fireplace, the noncombustible hearth extension has to stay at its full size, which can limit how far new wood flooring runs toward the opening. Combustible mantels and trim must sit at least 6 inches from the opening, and anything within 12 inches may project only an eighth of an inch for each inch of distance, which rules out a deep wood mantel hung low. Tile, stone and brick facing are noncombustible and can meet the opening, though the backer behind them matters too. For a factory-built fireplace, the listing label sets these distances instead, and some units allow less than the masonry rules while others ask for more. We measure and set those limits first, so your designer works inside them.

Changing the appliance changes the paperwork. Swapping in a gas insert, converting to gas logs, or adding a direct-vent gas fireplace on a wall that never had one means gas piping and venting, which in Sherman Oaks and the rest of the City of Los Angeles needs a permit from the Department of Building and Safety, and in Burbank, Glendale and the other cities a permit from their own departments. A new wood-burning fireplace is a harder case: the South Coast AQMD's Rule 445 restricts wood-burning devices in new development, and that rule holds in every city on our list. We tell you what applies at your address before you commit to a design. That avoids the costly version of a remodel, where the finished fireplace fails its final inspection.

The most flexible remodel is a direct-vent gas fireplace. It needs no chimney. It draws combustion air through a sealed pipe and vents through a wall or the roof, so it can go into a family room, a bedroom or a primary suite that never had a fireplace. Its listing sets the framing, clearances, vent length and termination location, which must stay clear of windows, doors and walkways by set distances. In a new location, a direct-vent gas fireplace runs $4,450 to $8,950, covering the unit, framing, venting and the gas line to the unit, with the permit and inspection shown as their own line on the quote. The range follows the unit size, the vent route, how far the gas line runs and the finish around it. Stone or tile surrounds and custom mantels are quoted with the design.

With an existing masonry fireplace, the remodel often starts with the firebox and chimney. Before new stone goes over old brick, we check the firebox, damper, smoke chamber and flue, because a remodel that covers a cracked liner only hides it until the next inspection. If the fireplace stays wood-burning, it needs a sound flue and a cap with a spark arrestor. If it becomes gas, an insert in the existing opening runs $2,750 to $5,550 installed and needs a liner sized to it. Every remodel gets a written scope before demolition: what comes out, what goes in, which inspections the city will do, and how the finished fireplace measures against the clearances. Sherman Oaks owners getting ready to sell often find a plain, code-correct surround photographs better than an ornate one.