What It Takes to Have an Outdoor Fireplace Built in West Michigan

An outdoor fireplace looks like one structure. Behind it are three or four separate jobs: something solid to sit on, a firebox, the stone or brick around it, and often a gas line. Each one has its own rules and, sometimes, its own trade.

This post is for the person about to hire. It covers the kinds of outdoor fireplace you can have built, what goes under one, how close it can sit to the house, the permit, the gas line, and the order the work happens in. For styles and ideas, see popular types of outdoor fireplaces. For quick answers on permits and venting, see backyard outdoor fireplaces: all your questions answered.

VanderWall Brothers sells and installs outdoor fireplaces across West Michigan. What the company supplies, installs and coordinates is on its outdoor fireplace installation page.

Key Takeaways / Summary

• There are three ways to build one. Laid up stone by stone by a mason, assembled from a precast kit, or built around a factory-made gas unit.
• It needs a footing or a slab. Michigan's residential code puts exterior footings 42 inches below grade, and your building official decides how that applies to your fireplace.
• The manual sets the clearances. For a factory-built unit, the distances to anything that can burn are printed in its installation manual.
• Expect a permit. Ask your township's building department before anything is ordered.
• Gas work is licensed work. Running a gas line to the yard falls under Michigan's mechanical licensing.

Which Kind of Outdoor Fireplace Are You Building?

A site-built masonry fireplace. A mason lays up the firebox, the smoke chamber and the chimney from brick, block and stone. It is the most custom option and the heaviest. When a project calls for a lot of masonry, VanderWall Brothers matches you with a local mason it works with and coordinates with them. The stone, brick and block come from the company's own yard and showrooms.

A precast modular kit. Isokern is the example VanderWall Brothers carries for wood burning. The ICC Evaluation Service describes Isokern fireplaces and chimneys as modular refractory units designed for field assembly: interlocking precast parts, made with volcanic pumice aggregate, fitted together with a mortar supplied with the kit. The kit is the fire-rated core. Stone or brick goes around it.

A factory-built gas unit in a surround. These are metal fireboxes made for outdoor use, set into a stone or brick enclosure. The company carries outdoor models from Napoleon, Majestic and Superior, plus stainless steel see-through gas fireplaces. A gas log set can also go into an outdoor firebox. Its technicians install the fireplace, the burner and the logs.

Wood or gas often comes down to your township. Some limit open burning, and gas avoids that question. Gas vs. wood covers the trade-off in more detail.

What Does an Outdoor Fireplace Sit On?

A fireplace is heavy and it stays outside all winter. Ground that heaves under it cracks the masonry and can pull the chimney out of line.

Michigan amends the residential code on this point. Rule 408.30522 says all exterior footings and foundation systems shall extend 42 inches below actual grade. The same rule lets the building official change that depth for soil type, groundwater, freezing degree days, snow depth and exposure. The City of Grand Rapids' residential deck guide applies the same 42 inch minimum, citing section R403.1.4.

Whether a freestanding outdoor fireplace needs a full frost footing or can sit on a reinforced slab is your building official's call, so ask before the concrete is ordered. The manufacturer's instructions also set requirements for the base under a kit or a factory-built unit, and the ICC report for Isokern says installation follows the manufacturer's published instructions.

Can it go on a deck? A wood deck is combustible, and it was not framed for a stone chimney. Factory-built gas units say where they may go. Napoleon's Riverside outdoor gas fireplace manual, for one, says it is intended for installation on an outdoor patio or in your yard. Read the listing for the unit you want before planning one onto a deck.

How Close Can It Sit to the House?

Three things set the distance, and the strictest one wins.

1. The unit's own listing. An outdoor gas fireplace such as Napoleon's Riverside is certified to ANSI Z21.97 and CSA 2.41, the standards for outdoor decorative gas appliances, and its manual lists the clearances to combustibles. The Riverside manual, for example, requires noncombustible material over the front face and limits how far that facing can project from the opening before the side and top clearances grow.
2. Your township's zoning. Setbacks from the house, the property line and other structures are local. Ask the zoning office for the figure that applies to your lot.
3. Overhead. Pergolas, roof overhangs and tree limbs all count. A covered patio changes the rules for a gas unit, so the manual's enclosure section matters there.

The FAQ post gives a general rule of thumb of 10 feet from the house, the property line and structures like a fence. Treat that as a starting point, not the answer for your yard.

Do You Need a Permit?

Plan on it. A built outdoor fireplace is a structure, and a gas line is mechanical work, so most jobs involve the building department and an inspection. The rules change from one township to the next, so the call to make is to your own township or city building department, with a sketch of where the fireplace will go.

Burning has its own rules. Spring Lake Township and the Village of Spring Lake, for example, require a burn permit and do not allow burning within 1,400 feet of Ferrysburg or the village. Ask whether your township's burn rules reach a backyard wood fireplace before you settle on wood.

Before anyone digs, Michigan's MISS DIG law requires notice at least 3 business days ahead. When a contractor does the digging, the contractor places the ticket. Utilities mark only the lines they own, so private lines such as sprinklers, a power line to a garage or a septic system need a private locator.

Who Runs the Gas Line?

A gas fireplace in the yard usually means a new line from the house. In Michigan that is fuel gas piping, and a licensed mechanical contractor installs it and pulls the permit. Who installs gas fireplace inserts in Michigan lays out the license classifications, the narrow homeowner exception and what to ask whoever quotes the gas side. The same questions apply outside.

The Riverside manual says installation and service must be done by a qualified installer, service agency or the gas supplier. It also notes the appliance runs only on the gas shown on its rating plate unless a certified conversion kit is used, so decide between natural gas and propane before the unit is ordered.

VanderWall Brothers is licensed and insured and holds a mechanical license to install fireplaces. Its installers are on its own payroll and hold NFI and CSIA certifications.

How Does the Job Run, Start to Finish?

These are VanderWall Brothers' steps for an outdoor fireplace, with the permit and site work added where they fall:

1. Bring a photo of the yard. Pictures at either showroom are the quickest way to see which size and shape will fit.
2. Home visit and measurements. Someone comes out to confirm measurements and look at utilities and access.
3. A True Up estimate. You get an estimate you can count on. If the job comes in under it, the savings go back to you.
4. Permits, locates and the base. The permit is applied for, MISS DIG marks the lines, and the footing or slab goes in and is inspected where your township requires it.
5. The masonry. If the design needs a stone or brick surround, VanderWall Brothers supplies the material and coordinates with the mason doing that work.
6. Install and inspect. When the materials are in and the prep is done, the fireplace, burner and gas connection are installed and any inspection is booked.
7. Light it and service it. The technician lights it with you, shows you how to run it, and services it afterward.

How long that takes depends mostly on steps 4 and 5: the permit review, the locate window, the base, and how much masonry the design has. Ask for the sequence in writing with the estimate.

The Riverside manual also calls for a yearly inspection by a qualified service person, and VanderWall Brothers services every brand it carries.

Start With a Photo of Your Yard

VanderWall Brothers has served West Michigan since 1922. Bring a photo of the spot you have in mind to the Spring Lake or Grand Rapids showroom, send it through the contact page, or call (616) 842-4500. The outdoor fireplace installation page shows the units the company carries and its own finished projects. For an older look at fire pits, fire tables and fireplaces side by side, see outdoor fire plans heating up your backyard.

Sources

• Michigan Administrative Code, R 408.30522, minimum footing depth, for the 42 inch rule for exterior footings and the building official's power to modify it.
• City of Grand Rapids, Residential Deck Guide, for the 42 inch minimum from the bottom of a footing to grade under MRC R403.1.4.
• ICC Evaluation Service, ESR-2316, Isokern Fireplaces and Chimney Systems, reissued October 2024, for Isokern units as modular refractory parts assembled in the field with supplied mortar, and installation to the manufacturer's instructions.
• Napoleon, Riverside RSS36NE Outdoor Gas Fireplace Installation and Operation Manual, for ANSI Z21.97 and CSA 2.41 certification, the patio or yard location, noncombustible facing and its projection limit, the qualified installer requirement, the rating plate gas type and the yearly inspection.
• MISS DIG 811, homeowner introduction, for the 3 business day notice, the contractor's duty to place the ticket and private lines needing a private locator.
• Village of Spring Lake, burn permit, for the burn permit and the 1,400 foot limit near Ferrysburg and the village.
• Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, mechanical contractor licensing, for licensed mechanical contractors installing fuel gas piping and securing permits.
• VanderWall Brothers, outdoor fireplace installation, for the units carried, the local mason arrangement, the license and certifications, the True Up estimate and the steps of the job.

Footing, clearance and permit rules vary by township and by unit. Your building department, the unit's own manual and a licensed installer govern your project.