# which cost more?



## Guest (Dec 8, 2003)

Hi, this is my first visit to this (or any) chat room. Wondering if someone could give me some insight on which cost more- moving a staircase or moving a fireplace? The fireplace is on an internal wall and we'd like to take the wall down and move the fire place to an external wall. The staircase would have the same location at the top, but the stairs would come down in a different room. Know this is a ball park, but could somebody help me? thanks


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## hatchet (Oct 27, 2003)

Off the top of my head.. I would say the fireplace will be much more expensive. Stairs are relatively inexpensive to build but a fireplace has quite a bit of labor involved.


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## Grumpy (Oct 8, 2003)

I would say it depends if the firepalce is a prefab or custom built masonry? Is the fireplace wood or gas?

I'm going to agree with ahtchet until we have more details.


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## hatchet (Oct 27, 2003)

HAHA.. I didn't even think about an insert or freestanding fireplace. Being that it was an internal wall I figured it was some type of masonry fireplace. With an insert you wont have as much labor other than patching the roof and possibly replacing the hearth. Either way there are a bunch of variables that we don't know about at this point.


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2003)

thanks for your input. Just how easy is it to move a staircase? The stairs themselves are the exact size for the new location. Seems like all you'd do is to cut a hole in the ceiling for the new location, patch up the old one...


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## hatchet (Oct 27, 2003)

You've about got it. Depending on how easy it is to remove the staircase will depend on if you can re-use the staircase. Most likely you will not be able to use it so you will need to remake it. The actual construction of the staircase is not all that difficult - a little math and you've got all the cuts.


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## orto (Dec 14, 2003)

Floor joist locations and directions, bearing points, headers and other structural facts need to be ascertained before an accurate reply can be given as to cost. If it is an interior masonry fireplace and the structure is of some age, chances are that it bears the floor at multiple points and all directions.. Prefab - fireplace - move it!!!!


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## Guest (Jan 8, 2004)

*anwser*



Jen said:


> Hi, this is my first visit to this (or any) chat room. Wondering if someone could give me some insight on which cost more- moving a staircase or moving a fireplace? The fireplace is on an internal wall and we'd like to take the wall down and move the fire place to an external wall. The staircase would have the same location at the top, but the stairs would come down in a different room. Know this is a ball park, but could somebody help me? thanks


 It depends on the type of fire place.


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