Wood heat may have lost some of the popularity it enjoyed during the oil crisis, but many builders still occasionally have a client who wants a wood stove in an addition or new home. If you put in a wood burner, you'll have two options for venting it—an insulated metal chimney or a masonry chimney. Metal vs. Masonry Both metal and masonry chimneys safely vent combustion gases if properly built. Therefore, which type to use should be decided by balancing cost and aesthetics. Metal chimneys install quickly, but their material cost is high. The reverse is true of masonry—their material costs are low, but they're labor-intensive. Since these relative costs can vary a lot from job to job, on
