We just got news from our builder that the fireplaces we had chosen won't work given framing clearance issues. In essence, the framing in the chase is 17" wide and the fireplaces (both Heatilator Icons) at 42" require 18.5" clearance due to a bigger vent pipe than her usual fireplace (Heatilator Accelarators). She did say that we could go with the Icon but only 36" wide.

We don't like the look of the Accelerator due to it being only 23 3/8" tall versus the 28.5" for the Icons. It looks too contemporary and we wanted a bigger fireplace.

A couple questions:

- Does anyone know a fireplace that has a 42"W x 28.5" tall (or taller) that use the smaller vent pipe?

- Any creative solutions for a framing issue like this? She and the framer think the only solution is to tear down the whole chase and restart. We are well past just the framing stages and I'm not sure that it is completely her fault, so expense will come into play.

- Other options that might work?

Best,

tm