Home › Interior Remodeling › Fireplace Remodeling
Fireplace Remodeling Contractor in Los Angeles
A fireplace remodel gives a dated brick or tile fireplace a new surround, hearth and mantel, and can turn a drafty wood-burner into a gas insert you light with a switch. Los Angeles Home Remodelers, a design-build interior remodeling team, handles fireplace remodeling across Los Angeles, CA.
One project manager runs it: a chimney inspection first, clearances checked, the gas line and venting, and LADBS permits for gas and structural work, then plaster, tile or stone finishes. Most refacing jobs take about 1–2 weeks and gas inserts a little longer. Pricing starts with a free in-home visit and a written, itemized estimate.
Bonded & Insured | Written Workmanship Warranty
We look at the firebox, the chimney and the wall around it, then price the remodel line by line. Free, with nothing to sign.
Thanks — we got your request. We'll call you to set up your free in-home visit.
Fireplace remodeling in Los Angeles
Serving homes across Los Angeles, CA.
Fireplace remodeling in Los Angeles changes how your fireplace looks and how it works: a new surround and mantel, a hearth that suits the floor, and a gas insert where wood no longer makes sense. You get a fireplace makeover that fits the room and runs safely.
Most LA fireplaces are masonry built between the 1920s and the 1960s, from Craftsman clinker brick to mid-century floating hearths. Some are painted, some cracked in past earthquakes, and plenty haven’t held a fire in years.
So we inspect the chimney and firebox before designing anything. A new face on a damaged chimney only hides the problem.
Fireplace services
Change the look, change the fuel or redo the whole wall. All three start with the same chimney and clearance check.
Refacing covers old brick or tile with a new surround: smooth plaster, white tile, thin stone veneer or a painted wood frame. The firebox and chimney stay untouched, so it’s the quickest way to change the room.
A new hearth and mantel go in to match, set at safe distances from the opening.
A gas insert is a sealed firebox that slides into your existing fireplace and vents through a liner up the chimney. You get steady heat from a switch or remote, with no ash and no smoke in the room.
We run or extend the gas line, set the venting and book the inspections.
Some remodels turn the whole wall into a media wall: shelving on both sides, a linear gas or electric fireplace, and a TV recess placed where the heat won’t reach it.
We frame, wire and finish the wall as one design, so the fireplace and storage read as one piece.
How it works
Inspection comes first and design second. Four steps keep the new fireplace as safe as it looks good.
A chimney specialist checks the flue, liner, firebox and crown, usually with a camera, before we design anything.
You choose the surround, hearth and mantel. For gas or structural work, we file with LADBS, or your city’s building department outside the City of Los Angeles.
We clad or strip the old face, set the insert and liner, run the gas line and frame any new wall. The inspector checks gas and venting before finishes go on.
Plaster, tile or stone goes on and the mantel is set. Then we light the fireplace with you and walk through its controls.
Fireplace options
Most remodels change one or two of these. A full fireplace makeover touches all five.
The fireplace surround is the face around the firebox opening. We clad sound brick in smooth plaster, white tile or thin stone veneer, or strip a dated tile face and start fresh, keeping noncombustible material at the opening.
The mantel is the shelf above the surround, and the hearth is the noncombustible floor in front of it. Code and the fireplace’s listing set how far a wood mantel sits from the opening and how far the hearth reaches, so we measure before you pick a size.
A gas insert turns an open masonry fireplace into a sealed heater with a glass front. It needs a gas line, a liner up the existing flue and a permit, and the chimney gets checked first so the liner has a sound path.
Converting a wood-burning fireplace to gas means picking an insert or a gas log set. Logs give the look of an open fire but need the damper open, so little heat stays in the room; an insert actually warms it.
Unreinforced brick chimneys are a known earthquake risk in Los Angeles, and many cracked or fell in past quakes. When the chimney inspection finds damage, we bring in the right engineer or mason and scope the repair before any finish work.
Before we design
A fireplace is a heating appliance as well as the focal point of a room. We check how it works first, so the design suits a fireplace that’s safe to light.
Here’s what we look at:
An insert needs a liner sized for it and a gas line sized for every appliance it shares. We confirm both before you choose a unit, so the unit you pick fits the house.
If the chimney inspection turns up a cracked flue or loose brick, you see the report and the repair price first.
Scope options
The right scope depends on what you want the fireplace to do and what shape the chimney is in.
Scope
Best for
Watch out for
Permit
Reface the surround
A sound fireplace that looks dated
Cladding over cracks hides them
Usually not for finishes alone
Gas insert
Real heat without wood, smoke or ash
Needs a gas line and a full-height liner
Yes: gas and venting
Gas log set
The look of a fire, with little heat
Damper stays open; heat goes up the flue
Yes: gas line
Electric fireplace
Condos and homes with no working flue
Hardwired units need a circuit
Only for new wiring
Rebuild the firebox or chimney
Earthquake damage or a failed firebox
Longest scope; may involve the roof
Yes: structural
The firebox is the lined chamber where the fire burns. Cracked firebrick and mortar joints get repaired before any new face goes on.
Wood trim, mantels and TVs sit set distances from the opening. Code and the unit’s listing set them, and we measure on site.
A tile surround needs a flat, sound base and heat-rated setting materials. Our Tile Installation page covers the tile itself.
Many condo buildings allow only electric fireplaces. We check your HOA rules before you choose a unit.
One visit covers the look you want, the fuel you’ll use and what the chimney needs. There’s no charge, and you aren’t committing to anything.
Questions
Plain answers on cost, permits, gas, chimneys and wood-burning rules.
Call and you’ll talk with the project manager who’d plan your fireplace.
Scope and fuel set the price. Refacing a sound brick fireplace in plaster is the lightest scope. A gas insert with a liner and gas line, or a full wall with built-ins, costs more, chimney repair adds to either, and your itemized estimate lists each part.
For new finishes alone, usually not. Gas lines, gas inserts, venting, new fireplaces and chimney repairs need permits: LADBS in the City of Los Angeles, or your city’s building department elsewhere. We file them and book the inspections.
Yes. Plaster, tile and thin stone veneer all bond to clean, sound brick, and noncombustible material stays at the opening. Cracked brick or loose mortar gets repaired first, and pre-1978 paint gets tested for lead before we disturb it.
Yes. A camera inspection shows cracks in the flue, gaps in the liner and earthquake damage you can’t see from the room. We schedule it before design, and what it finds shapes the scope.
In most existing wood-burning fireplaces, yes, except on South Coast AQMD no-burn days, when burning wood is restricted. Those alerts don’t apply to gas fireplaces. We confirm the current rules for your home before you pick a fuel.
For heat, yes. An insert is a sealed box that sends warmth into the room, while gas logs burn in the open firebox with the damper open, so most of their heat goes up the chimney. Logs win on the classic open-fire look.
Most refacing jobs take about 1–2 weeks, including cure time for plaster or thinset. Gas inserts add the gas work and inspections, and chimney repairs or a full fireplace wall run longer.
Often, if the heat allows. A wood or open gas fire pushes heat up the wall, so we check the unit’s listing, add a deeper mantel or a recess where it helps, and run the wiring inside the wall.
Usually an electric fireplace. Many LA condo buildings don’t allow a new gas line or flue, so we check your HOA rules and build the electric unit into a wall or a new surround.
More interior services
Floors, tile, paint, drywall, doors, closets and fireplaces planned as one coordinated job.
Walls, ceilings, trim and painted brick finished with careful prep and clean lines.
Floor and wall tile, fireplace surrounds included, set flat with clean grout lines.
From the blog
Now booking free in-home visits
Your fireplace should be the best-looking wall in the room and safe to light. Book your free in-home visit for a chimney check plan and a written, itemized estimate.
Mon–Sat, 8am–6pm
We check the firebox, the chimney and the wall, then price your fireplace remodel line by line. Free, with nothing to sign.
Thanks — we got your request. We'll call you to set up your free in-home visit.
