Wood Stove and Wood Insert Installation

Most people who add a wood stove in the metro aren't replacing their furnace. Wood is the main heat in well under 1% of homes in every metro city in the American Community Survey. They want a fire that actually warms the room, a backup if the power goes out, or just something better than an open fireplace that sends most of its heat up the chimney. On a night like January 30, 2019, when MSP dropped to −28°F according to the Minnesota DNR, a stove that keeps one room warm is worth a lot.

A stove or insert is only as safe as its venting and clearances. We size the flue to the stove, line the chimney or run listed chimney pipe, set the hearth protection and clearances from the stove's listing label, and check what your city requires before work starts.

Signs you need this

• An open fireplace that makes the room colder
• You want heat during a winter power outage
• An old stove that's rusted, cracked or hard to control
• A fireplace insert that smokes or doesn't draw
• You're adding a stove to a house that has no chimney

How we do it

1. Site visit and quote, freeWe look at where the stove will go, the chimney or the route for a new one, the floor and the walls, and write the price.
2. Check what your city requiresWood stoves are mechanical-permit work in places like St. Paul and Brooklyn Park. We check what your city requires before scheduling.
3. Prepare the flueA masonry chimney gets cleaned and lined to suit the stove; a house without a chimney gets a listed chimney system.
4. Set the stoveThe stove or insert goes in on the right hearth protection with the clearances from its label.
5. Fire it and walk you throughWe light it, check the draft and show you how to run it cleanly.

What it costs

National 2026 guides give these ranges for wood stove work. Your number depends on the stove, the chimney and the space.

• Replace an existing wood stove: $3,000 to $5,000
• Stove into an existing masonry chimney: $4,000 to $8,000
• Wood insert in a fireplace: $3,000 to $8,000+
• Most installs overall: $3,000 to $8,000

Permits in St. Paul and Brooklyn Park

St. Paul's Department of Safety and Inspections treats a freestanding wood stove as mechanical-permit work, and its page notes the stove must be UL approved and that permits expire if work isn't started within 180 days. Brooklyn Park lists wood stoves, chimneys and chimney liners on its homeowner mechanical permit list. Other cities have their own rules. We check what your city requires for your address before setting a date.

Liners, shared flues and clearances

The current Minnesota Residential Code says a masonry chimney's lining must suit the appliance connected to it (IRC R1003.11), and the space around a liner may not vent another appliance (R1003.12.2). For a stove or insert going into a masonry chimney, that usually means a stainless liner sized to the stove's outlet. A furnace or water heater can't share that flue, and in Minnesota no appliance may be connected to a flue that serves a fireplace (amended IFGC 501.7).

Before you light the first fire, make sure you have working smoke alarms and a CO alarm within 10 feet of every room used for sleeping, as Minn. Stat. 299F.51 requires. On days when the MPCA issues an air-quality alert, it's worth holding off on burning.