FIREHOUSE CASUAL LIVING STORE

Background Our house already has natural gas and my wife and I were looking to 1)run a gas line to the fireplace in the finished basement and install gas logs, 2)run a gas line to the living room fireplace but cap it off as we would install gas logs at a later date, and 3)replace the 30+ year old set of gas logs in our family room. After some Internet research, we decided to work with Fire House Casual Living Store on Capital Blvd in Raleigh. Sales The staff was knowledgeable and allowed us to take our time to check out the various options and did a good job of answering our questions. The only ding is they told us, that since we do not have young children or pets, we would not need a fireplace screen. The installer and the instructions that came with the gas logs said otherwise. Gas logs The vented gas logs we got for the family room are working very well. Unfortunately, the instructions that came with the gas logs require the damper to be locked open. This means the damper will be open year-round. A couple of years ago, we intentionally left the damper open and found that in the summer time, when the AC kicked in and starting pulling air into the return, it caused hot, humid air to be pulled into the house. So, you may want to think about using a glass fireplace screen during the summer to prevent this (when using the gas logs, you would want an open wire mesh screen). As one person told me, leaving your damper open is like leaving a window open. Installers We had two installers come out. Installer 1 gave us a written proposal/quote for installing a new set of vented gas logs in the family room and running a gas line to the basement fireplace and installing vent free gas logs in the basement. But he would not run a gas line to the living room and cap it off because he said municipal code would not allow it. Later I called my municipalities’ building inspectors and they said it would be perfectly legal to run a gas line to the living room as long as the line was properly capped off in the living room fireplace. Installer 2 came out and recommended a fireplace insert for the basement. He told us that while the cost to install a cheap insert is the same as the cost of installing an expensive insert, he would not give us a proposal/quote until after we bought the insert. Since I don’t do business that way, this option was no longer considered. In the end, we did not do anything for the basement because of rumored odors using vent free gas logs and I previously explained why we did not go with an insert. We did purchase replacement vented gas logs for the family room and had them installed by Installer 1. During installation, Installer 1 made suggestions that made the appearance of the burning gas logs more realistic. Note: I post my reviews in Google and Angie’s List. If you read this review anywhere else, I did not post it there.

This had to be ordered and at the time of order, we had to pay in full plus a shipping charge to the store (really?) This was ordered and paid for two months ago. I've had to call them twice to check up on the status in this timeframe. They did respond after checking and told me it was misplaced in the Charlotte warehouse and that it would be reordered. On the second call I was told it was in the warehouse and would be sent out right away and that they would no longer use this shipper since they had problems in the past. That was about two weeks ago. This is July 10th. Still no phone call or umbrella cover. Still waiting. Plus, when we ordered the umbrella a few years ago, when it came into the store, it was sold to someone else! This had to be reordered also. Again we waited for an item fully paid for. I am very frustrated and will not do business with them in the future.