Our Process

The details behind installing your Whites Landing gas fireplace

Horizontal vent caps on an outside wall

A direct-vent cap on an outside wall has to stay clear of openings people breathe through. Florida's fuel gas code, in Table 503.8, sets it at least 12 inches above the ground, a porch or a deck, and away from any window or door that opens by 9 inches for units over 10,000 up to 50,000 Btu/h, or 12 inches for units over 50,000 up to 150,000.

The manual for a given model can ask for more, and when it does, the larger number wins. Our installers measure the cap position on your Whites Landing home against both before the hole is cut.

Framing the opening for a new gas fireplace

The framed opening has to fit the unit and its finish. One direct-vent manual notes that if the inside of the framed cavity will be finished, the framing dimensions must include the finished surface, and that framing or finishing material on or in front of the unit closer than the listed minimums must be entirely noncombustible, such as steel studs and concrete board.

Our crew frames to the maker's instructions, sets the standoffs where the maker shows them and checks every clearance before the wall is closed in your Whites Landing home.

The first burn of a new gas fireplace

For its first few hours, a new unit gives off a smell as the paint cures and manufacturing oils burn off. One maker's manual describes a break-in of three to four hours on high, then a full cool-down and glass cleaning, then up to 12 more hours of burning, with windows open because the smoke can set off smoke alarms.

Our crew starts that first burn with you and leaves written break-in steps for your Whites Landing fireplace, so the rest of it is easy to finish. Plan it for a day when the room can be aired out.

Replacing an old gas fireplace with a new one

A new gas fireplace does not automatically fit the old one's opening, vent or gas connection. Each unit's listing and manual set their own vent type, pipe size, framing and clearances, so the old vent may or may not suit the replacement.

The old unit's rating plate is read, the existing vent and framing checked, and you learn what can stay and what must change for the new model. The removal and haul-away of the old fireplace from your Whites Landing home is on its own line.