Marsh's Stoves & Fireplaces

Alan is a consummate professional --he listens carefully, is respectful of his customers' wishes, is highly knowledgeable, solves problems creatively, and is clearly enthusiastic about his work. The installation proved to be more difficult than he or we had anticipated, requiring two visits and many more hours than planned. Graciously and generously, Alan refused to charge us more for the additional labour. The end result: a beautifully installed gas fireplace nestled into the original 135-year-old Victorian tile fireplace with all of the surrounding decorative tiles intact. An extremely difficult and frustrating project masterfully handled by an expert, efficient and courteous installation team!

When buying, Alan was very attentive to our needs and would not recommend until he had seen our house. The price he provided was very fair. John, who installs the fireplaces, was an amazing representative for this business and I would highly recommend buying at Marsh's if only so that you can experience the wonderful service John provides and the great follow up from Alan.

It was enjoyable dealing with John Slaven at Marsh's. He appreciated the picture and details I provided and based his recommendations on that information. We went with a 'Morso' product and I am very pleased with it. It has a high environmental rating for clean burning and lower emissions. The fire starts up quickly and the unit is easy to clean. The controls are simple and effective but best of it all it really works beautifully. The fire roars if you want it to or smolders slowly. The view is great; it adds wonderfully to the ambiance of the room. John arranged for a custom face-plate, which enhances the aesthetics of the mantle cleanly.
The installers John & Aubrey where very professional. They made certain the job was done correctly. This included installing a 20-meter liner and carving the back of the hearth to accommodate the unit. The were quick, clean and provided very helpful information on possible trouble-shooting. I am pleased to say we have had no problems at all; just wonderful warm fires.
Note: Marsh's total price was slightly higher (4%) but well worth the professional, courteous & knowledgeable service.

The showroom probably has the largest selection of gas, wood, and pellet burning stoves, fireplaces, and inserts in Toronto.

The staff were very informative (actually wanted me to buy a smaller unit, as it will be more efficient) and took their time to explain all the details about the units.

The installation was good and very timely, but there was some mess left, and one of the installers swore, which detracted from the experience.

I would though definitely recommend Marsh's fireplaces.

This past August, my wife and i purchased a new Valor fireplace insert from Marsh's fireplace. They had the best selection of "working" gas fireplace inserts in their showroom in Toronto. We were thrilled with the installation especially the custom made surround that Marsh's were so kind to measure up for us so accurately. We particularly liked their two installers John and Brendon who worked quickly, efficiently and carefully.

We had two gas fireplaces installed by Marsh's in July of 2012. They are very friendly, knowledgable and responsive. I was impressed with their service and products and would recommend them without hesitation. Willem was fantastic to deal with, as was the team that did the installation.

We had Marsh's come out and install a Valor fireplace in our previous house about 8 years ago. We loved the Valor because it was a top-of-the-line unit that you could adjust from a roaring fire, medium flame, or down to a small flame with very realistic looking logs/brick background. It was so much better than the basic units you could get elsewhere where it's either full blast or off. My parents' new house had one of those installed by the builder and because the unit operated on full blast it was always so incredibly hot, so they ended up not using it anymore. We adored our Valor and Alan suggested we could use it to heat the whole house in spring and fall, since our home was open-concept. He was right! We saved a lot on heating bills, and in the winter we kept it on a low setting so we could use our furnace less. We always got great compliments on it. When we moved 4 years ago we were sad to leave our Valor, so in our new house we replaced the wood-burning fireplace with another Valor fireplace. We love it! And the Marsh's staff are phenominal. I remember how helpful they were (at both houses) when they came to install the fireplace. Polite, accommodating, helpful, very knowledgeable, and they clean up when they are done so you don't even know they were there. We also had gasline for our BBQ installed outside our home and we love it; no propane tanks to constantly refill!

The fantastic thing is that they have excellent service AFTER the fireplace has been installed. You know how sometimes you purchase something and if you have questions, issues, etc. you just cannot get in touch with the company after that? Not Marsh's. They respond quickly and stand by their products. We had a small issue with a battery running out on the receiver (for our remote control) and Alan got back to us right away and helped us solve it. He sent someone out the next day to do a service call, and the man even came back a few hours later to clean our fireplace for us! Very impressive.

My husband and I checked out several places before we decided on Marsh's (it was recommended by my father-in-law) and are so glad we went with them. This is a family-owned business; the old-fashioned kind where service reigns king. I would highly recommend them.

The service and quality of product recommended by Al at Marsh's has been superb. There have been little items that we've been too frightened to tamper with, such as relighting the pilot light on several occasions, and Al has taken the time to come to our home to re light it. He has been courteous and always reassuring us as to how safe it is. It means so much! I highly recommend Marsh's Stoves and Fireplaces as the first place to purchase your gas fireplace, bbq, or wood stove. Excellence in all aspects.
thanks! Kathryn

Marsh’s installed 3 fireplaces in our 100 year old, 1½ story house.

The 2 existing coal fireplaces are too small and shallow to use for wood fires. This was confirmed when our home insurance provider told us not to use them and to seal them up.
The basement was recently converted from storage space to living space and perfectly suited for a wood fireplace.

Main goal: Functional, heat producing fireplaces.
Secondary goal: aesthetic; must blend into space.

We approached our local neighbourhood fireplace shop and our furnace installer who also sells fireplaces. Both were disappointing. They didn’t listen to what we wanted and therefore they couldn’t offer creative ideas of their own or, they simply handed out brochures and price quotations.

We found some other fireplace shops but they had the same lazy response, as if their work is just a hobby or as though they had better things to do.

We almost gave up on the fireplace project to start concentrating on a different part of our home renovation when I cold-called Marsh’s Stoves and Fireplaces. Robert took the call and within a minute of talking to him, I knew I was finally talking to an intelligent human being who was probably interested to help. That brief phone call motivated me to visit Marsh’s later that day to check them out. I met with Robert who amazed me. I described our home and our wants the same way as I did to the “lazy” staff at the other fireplace shops. He understood immediately what I was talking about and proceeded to describe all the possibilities and challenges ahead of us. He then gave me an education on almost every wood and gas fireplaces in the shop. Within 20 minutes, I realized that our original plan was narrow and that we had to open up our minds to the wide range of fireplaces and options.

Robert arranged for Alan, the owner, to do a Site Inspection particularly for the wood fireplace in the basement as he is WETT certified. Upon entering the space, Alan immediately saw that our original idea of installing a traditional “hearth-style” built-in fireplace in the basement would not have fit in to the architectural style we were creating. He said he will install it if we insist but he made good arguments for why we shouldn’t. The choice of a modern, efficient woodstove with less heat output than we had originally planned, took a lot of family discussion, but was the most logical decision for that space and for the whole home, as was the choice of gas fireplaces for the 2 upstairs fireplaces. Having always had a prejudice against gas fireplaces, I wouldn’t have imagined that there would be 1, let alone 2, gas fireplaces in my home.

After using them for several weeks now, I can sincerely say that they are the smartest choice for filling up those old coal fireplaces, and none of the charm of having a fire is lost; they can really crank out the heat. They actually add value through their multi-function, programmable remote controls and if your electricity goes out, they still work! One of them was available in a choice of either polished cast iron front or black front. Either would match the space and we liked both and couldn’t choose. Alan showed how classy he is by sending over both fronts so we could live with both of them in the space for as long as we needed until we could choose. Is that customer service or what?! The wood stove is both charming and “old-school”, and a modern sleek and efficient heat producer all at the same time. We had it going for days and the furnace never came on.

Having watched the installations, I saw that each fireplace had to be custom installed for each space. This custom work is precise and high end. Some parts had to be specially fabricated at the shop and communication between the shop and the installers is excellent: real teamwork. Speaking of teamwork, the installers are the best. Hardworking, calm, good listeners, good humoured, and able to solve the problems of dealing with an old quirky house with creative solutions.

The only bad part came when I called our home insurance providers to inform them that the new fireplaces have been installed. No issues for the gas fireplaces but they added a 15% surcharge on the policy for the wood stove. This is something I am going to have to work out with them just before policy renewal time.

Everyone at Marsh’s: those in the shop, the ownership, the installers, are all true professionals who are tuned in to the customer. As I told Alan: I wish I could send some of our renovation contractors and trades people to him to take some lessons on customer relations. He and his team made sure the job went smoothly and the education we received meant we got the right sized fireplaces that match the architectural style of the space they are in.

On straight price comparison, Marsh’s prices were all lower. If we were to have stubbornly gone with our original plan, the equipment cost alone would have been about double and the installation would have required much more labour thus making it almost cost prohibitive. Add that to their extensive knowledge and customer service, it equals great value.

When you shop for your fireplace, do what we did: 1. research what you want, 2. Go to your local fireplace shop and HVAC dealers who sell fireplaces and prepare to be disappointed, 3. Go to Marsh’s and have fun.

We had heard of Marsh's but checked them out on Homestars before seriously considering them. We had two gas inserts done at the same time and needed the job done in a tight time frame before our hardwood installers were scheduled to come in. They arrived a bit later than expected on the scheduled day, but sent two teams of installers so that the job would be done on time. The downstairs fireplace posed a challenge to them because of the S-shaped flue. At the end they said it was one of the more challenging installs they'd done in a while, but they managed it. Everyone from the sales guy (Willem) to the installers was professional and helpful. We love our Valor fireplaces and would definitely recommend Marsh's.