Need to tear out ugly lava rock style 1983 stone with wood burning insert and built in heat a lator that blows out warm air. It is awful. We want to plaster top of wall to match the rest of walls and have a mantel high, raised hearth fireplace...can we do this ourselves? In CA...do we need permits..??? We have a gas line in already and do not want to remove it...just take out insert and maybe cover/seal heat-a-lator vents and disconnect the electricity to the air blower. It is antiquated and not ecologically sound.
HELP!!!