Fireplaces & Stoves MD

Carl was great to work with from initial contact through the repair. He did a great job at talking me through what needed to be done and worked efficiently, cleanly and made sure everything was operating correctly before leaving. I'll definitely use him again to help maintain my fireplace.

Carl did a terrific job on a repair and maintenance call for our gas fireplace. Super knowledgeable, with a high level of professionalism and skill -- and also quite personable. We will definitely hire him again as needed.

Carl did a very good job servicing the unit and was very professional. On the phone I was told that there would be a $120 charge for him to come out and that I would be charged for any parts. When the service was completed, I was given a bill that included the cost of the plug in module and the $120 as expected, but it also had an additional charge for $180 for service which I hadn't expected based on my original phone call with his office. Again, he did a good job, but I was surprised by the additional charge of $180.

Business did not answer phone or respond to emails

Knows his stuff. He's a little gruff and quirky but he's a pro.

They were great. I called them because I needed something done and they came and did it.

Our wood stove suddenly stopped working, and couldn't draw. Smoke just poured into the house instead of up the chimney. We called Carl and he came out the next week (seriously busy guy), and cleaned the chimney cap. He blamed himself for missing the cap the last time he came to visit, (when he repaired and cleaned the chimney), so he gave us an amazing discount. We will only hire him and nobody else now; he is thorough, honest, completely professional, diligent, -- and affordable, of course. We can't sing his praises highly enough.

We needed major chimney repair work after purchasing our home. Another company gave an estimate close to ten times the amount Carl charged us, for the same work. He re-mortared the bricks and the work was done within just a few days. He came to the house with his own generator and did not actually need access inside our home. He came for three days in a row and got the job done efficiently and professionally. He was very friendly and accessible and explained everything thoroughly.

This was a great experience. Carl quoted us HALF the price of another Angie's List woodstove /chimney provider, and we couldn't be happier with the quality of the service, the heat we're getting from the wood stove, and every step of the process. The OTHER provider we found first -- who was more highly rated on Angie's List -- gave us this writeup, after initially telling us it would cost $12,000 (that's twelve thousand!) to make our chimney safe to use with the existing fireplace. When we said we'd like to change to a woodstove because we couldn't afford 12 THOUSAND DOLLARS, we were told this (again, by the other provider): 1. A standard stove such as the Napoleon EPI3C Oakdale will be installed into the fireplace. 2. Existing tiles should be broken out and removed from the inner lining of the system. This is to ensure the proper sized liner to the stove will be able to be installed. Liner will be pre-insulated per the manufacturers specifications and this will help the stove draft in the most efficient way. 3. Ground Scaffolding will be needed to perform this work safely and efficiently. 4. Also note that the chimney does need to be rebuilt on the top 6 course. Although this is not built into the current price, The problem will only worsen if the current issue is not taken care of. Total price of all work to include labor/material - $6240.00 Now, $6000 is definitely better than $12,000 but we still wanted another opinion. So we called Carl, and he quoted us the price we paid ($3400), and he said we did not need custom scaffolding nor anything other than a usual chimney service. He inspected the chimney, installed the woodstove insert and all its components, and we were good to go. It took maybe 2 hours from beginning to end, not counting his first visit in which he did a visual inspection on the roof. The stove is working like a charm, and saving us from oil heat expenses. It smells great, and we love it. Can't sing Carl's praises enough. He was even friendly to our cats. A great guy. We'll be asking him back in the spring for a routine chimney service.

Carl was great!!! He was extremely knowledgeable, prompt, courteous, and it was obvious that he took great pride in his work. We will use him again next year when it is time to get out fireplace serviced. I have already given his name to several friends and family members and I told them to go on Angie's List to get the $15 off coupon.

Carl was prompt, professional, friendly, extremely knowledgeable and reasonably priced. I needed an electric fireplace (that I bought online) installed and he worked with me and my budget to get it done right. He custom fabricated a steel bracket for the unit that was done with professional grade materials and workmanship. I was very impressed that the owner would treat my little project like it was the only one he had.

Carl of Fireplaces and Stoves of Maryland did a great job for us. He suggested several products that would suit us and helped us arrive at a decision. Carl was great. He's very knowledgeable and efficient.

Carl was extremely friendly throughout the job, nearly completed the entire job in one afternoon (I'd expected a few days), and was able to keep the job within my budget by using parts he had on hand and custom-building a fireplace surround with his metalworking skills.

We've had our pellet stove for 5 yrs & never had it cleaned.until Fireplaces & Stoves MD came out. He didn't make us feel like loosers for that but went to work on cleaning the stove out , while explaining ways we need to care for the stove ourselves. We plan on calling him every year for maintenance.

It went fine. This is the second time the ignition switch needed to be replaced. The first time was several years ago and the same provider did the work then. The pellet stove stopped working about 2 months after the provider repaired it. I did not call him back because I did not have the money at the time for another repair, although it is possible he may have considered replacing it for free or giving me a discount because of the short time between the repair and the time it stopped working again. I considered using another provider at the time but I could not find anyone who would work on pellet stoves. Even the ones on Angie's list. Either the providers listed did not call back or said they no longer did pellet stove repairs.

I gave them an F because they told me that the cleaning usually fixes most problems. They were so nice at first. The cleaning seemed to work at first but then the fireplace went out again so I called them back. The woman was not so pleasant on the phone and I'm still waiting for someone to call me back over a year later. Needless to say my fireplace was fixed by someone more interested in my business and my money.

Excellent craftmanship, knowledge of the product and professionalism. We were so satisfied with the quality of the work we contracted to have the Carl (Owner) also perform additional work including the stonework around the fireplace. Highly recommended!

Despite the recent terrible reviews relating to customer service, we decided to take a chance based on their older rave reviews. Unfortunately, it looks like the recent (bad) reviews hit the nail on the head. Attempted to contact via email and got no response. Called and left message and got no response. Called again and got a callback a couple days later saying they were interested in the work. Called again and left message and got no response. You can see the pattern. They are completely unresponsive to customers.

Great job all the way around. Carl came in and gave us solid advice in terms of which fireplace to focus on (we have two) and which model to go with to get the most effect. There were a few snags in the scheduling just due to all the weather we've had this winter. But, to his great credit, Carl got to me as soon as possible - to the point of actually installing the stove while it was snowing just ahead of that big 14" storm we had in February. Great job and a great little wood stove! We had it going all this past weekend and it got the house up to 74 degrees (with the thermostat set at 65).

He told us that he didn't know what the issue was or how to fix it but that he would look into it and get back to us. We didn't hear anything from him so I e-mailed him on January 18th to which he responded that he had the necessary parts to fix the fireplace. Between January 18th and February 5th, I sent several e-mails to ask what was wrong with the fireplace, how much it would cost to fix it, whether or not there was a warranty, and when he would be available to do the work. His responses always took several days and never provided all of the information that we needed. He quoted a price for repair of $475 but never said what was wrong with it. His last e-mail stated that he would be here today to do the repair. As I sit here writing this review, I still have no idea if he is coming or what time he is coming. I have a feeling that I may have taken off a day of work for nothing. The lack of communication is extremely frustrating. I would never use this company again and I would never recommend the company to anyone else.

HORRIBLE...HORRLBLE...HORRIBLE. I called and explained for the first appointment that I was looking for someone to evaluate the pellet stove that's in the home we recently bought, tell me if it was properly installed & safe, service & test it, & show me how to use it. As mentioned above, he was 6 hours late for that appointment, and was so late that all he could do is poke around a bit and say it might or might not work, but either way he'd have to come back another day and determine that. He was friendly & apologized, but said he'd definitely be in touch to schedule something. Well, a couple of weeks went by and I didn't hear anything. And against my first inclination to just go with someone else, I decided to give it another go. So I called back. He apologized & said he'd get me on the schedule & make a point to get here & do the work. Well, the appointment was for today at 3pm. I got a call a few minutes after 3pm saying he was at another site & he couldn't leave there & would be here in an hour or an hour & a half. I told him at that time I'd wait until 4:30, but after that not to bother. So I get the final call at 3:30 saying something has come up and he'll have to reschedule. So I told him to forget about it & I'd go with someone else....and mid-way through that sentence he hung up on me. So DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS COMPANY! They don't really do ANYTHING other than make appointments they don't honor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Set appointment for 5:30 pm. They were a no show and did not call. We left two messages. They called us at 8:30 am the following day to apologize. Stated they had to deal with a gas leak and set up appointment for two days later. Second appointment, 30 minutes late, we called and left a message. They called 40 minutes after they were supposed to be there and said it would be another 30 minutes before they could arrive. Told them we would take business elsewhere and they hung up on my wife. Terrible customer service even after we gave them the benefit of the doubt and set up a second appointment.

We moved into an existing home where the Heat n Glo gas fireplace was not functioning properly. Carl was able to fix it up and get it working beautifully. He also noticed that the remote for the fireplace was not working and discovered that the battery pack behind the wall plate had corroded. He was able to fix that up and get everything into working order. He was extremely friendly and pleasant to be around. We would definitely use him again and recommend him to anyone who needs fireplace services.

Upon reading reviews on Angies List, we decided to get in touch with Fireplaces & Stoves of MD about getting a wood fireplace insert installed. I called back in early October (on a Friday). Carl came that evening (Friday night) to take a look at our setup and fireplace. He was very professional, called that he would be late, and did a good job explaining what a fireplace insert could do for us. He stated that he was very busy, and the installation probably would not happen until the end of October. Around mid October, Carl emailed us some quotes for a couple of fireplace inserts that would work for us. We have an arched fireplace, and while we were disappointed that none of the inserts could be tied into this arrangement, we understood that from an efficiency and heating standpoint, these units would do well for us. We decided on an Enviro Cabella 1700. Throughout November, Carl emailed and called to schedule a date. I could not make the first date, so we replanned for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Poor weather resulted in us having to reschedule for the Friday after Thanksgiving. Carl showed up on time in the morning and we unloaded the stove. He had to go finish another job, and left some of his equipment with us. My wife and I were able to stage the fireplace in the back yard and get things a little bit prepared for his return. Carl returned around 2pm that day, and he and I went to work rigging the ladders (we have a tall roof), installing the chimney liner, and finally connecting the insert. We were running out of daylight, but managed to get the outdoor work complete. Carl came back the next day to take down and collect his ladders. Working with Carl was a pleasant experience. He was a good communicator and as a homeowner and mechanically inclined, I appreciated being a part of the installation, and was able to provide some quality assistance and an extra set of hands ( I think!). The process was pretty straightforward, and at no point did I think Carl was shortcutting or cutting corners during the installation. As Carl had to be high up on the roof late into the evening, I had no problem taking the time to perform the job safely, and he did a very good job! Finally, we connected and installed the insert. We have hardwood floors, and Carl did a good job using moving dollies and towels to minimize the dirt and avoid damage to the house or the insert. We finally manhandled the insert into the fireplace around 8:30pm that night. It fired up properly and Carl double checked his work inside, and one last time outside. Satisfied, we paid him in full (He originally sent us a contract with the payment terms, however we opted to pay in full upon completion and acceptance of the work) He agreed to come back the next day to re-caulk and verify the chimney cap installation as well as take his ladders. He came back on Saturday afternoon, stopped in to see the unit was operating properly, and collected his belongings as well as the remains of the crate and packaging. Overall, Carl was a hard worker, professional, and thorough in explaining the process. I feel I learned a great deal during the installation. As this is such a critical part of our home (both from an operations and safety point of view) it was good to be a part of the installation. -Some people have commented on his scheduling and timliness. Our installation was delayed (due to my schedule on one instance) but seeing as how this is a busy season for this business, I can understand and we were flexible. -While we did not get another quote, Carl's price for the unit seemed fine, and his labor rate was pretty reasonable as well (We received a small discount)Expect to help out on complex jobs, and he is a one man operation. His labor cost for us was ~$900 for probably 9-10 hours of work.

Carl was great . He explained what he was doing while he worked . He gave us helpful hints on maintaining our pellet stove . He did a much better job than the previous service person . His knowledge about pellet stoves was great.