Wood heat and home insurance can live together. Most Canadian insurers will cover a home with a wood-burning appliance. But there are rules, and people tend to learn them late — usually the day the insurer asks a question they can't answer. This guide walks through what insurers commonly require, so nothing catches you off guard.
We sell masonry heater kits, so here's the honest version: none of this is a reason not to heat with wood. It's a reason to do the paperwork properly the first time.
Will insurers cover a home with a wood appliance?
Yes — with conditions. Insurers cover wood-burning homes all the time. They're just more cautious than they are with a gas furnace, and they get more cautious when wood is the primary heat source.
The condition you'll run into most often: wood cannot be your home's only heating system. Many insurers want a secondary conventional system — electric, gas, oil, or a heat pump — that can keep the house above freezing on its own. If your masonry heater or wood stove is the sole source of heat, some insurers will decline the risk or attach conditions. This isn't universal, and it varies by company, so confirm the specific rule with your own broker before you count on anything.
The takeaway: a wood appliance as part of your heating plan is normal and insurable. A wood appliance as your entire heating plan is where questions start.
The WETT inspection is the gatekeeper
WETT stands for Wood Energy Technology Transfer. A WETT inspection is a check of your wood-burning system — the appliance, the clearances, and the chimney connection — carried out by a certified inspector. It confirms the installation meets code and is safe to run.
For most insurers, a valid WETT report is the gate. Without one, you may simply be unable to bind coverage on a home with a wood appliance. Insurers want the report because it's independent proof that the finished install was done correctly. That matters for any wood appliance, and it matters more on a DIY install, where the chimney connection and clearances are exactly the things an inspector is trained to verify.
Plan on keeping the inspection current. A common cadence is a WETT inspection every 12 months, alongside annual cleaning and maintenance. Keep the records. If a claim ever happens, the paperwork proving your system was inspected and maintained is what protects you.
You have to disclose it
This is the part that quietly ends policies. You must tell your insurer that you have a wood-burning appliance. It's a material fact about the risk they're covering.
If you don't disclose it — or you disclosed it but can't show that it was inspected and maintained — the insurer can deny a claim and cancel the policy. That's the worst-case outcome: a fire, and then a denied claim on top of it, because the appliance was never on the record. Disclosure is not the risky move. Non-disclosure is.
So put it in writing when you get a quote, hand over the WETT report, and keep your maintenance records where you can find them.
How much does it cost you?
Honestly: a wood appliance can raise your premium. A common figure is around 10% or more, depending on the insurer, your location, the appliance, and the rest of your policy. Some homeowners see a smaller bump; some see more.
We're not going to quote you a dollar figure, because anyone who does is guessing. Premiums are priced per household. What we can tell you is that the increase is usually modest relative to what you save heating with wood, and that a clean, compliant, well-documented install is the version an insurer prices most favourably. If you want a real number, ask your broker to quote your home with and without the appliance declared.
Permit + WETT = insurable
Two documents do most of the work of keeping you insurable: your building permit and your WETT report. Treat them as a pair.
An unpermitted install can void coverage the same way a missing WETT report can. If you added a wood appliance without the building permit your municipality required, an insurer can treat the whole installation as non-compliant — even if the workmanship was fine. Permit first, install to code, then WETT-inspect the finished result. That sequence is what makes the appliance insurable.
We cover the mechanics of a compliant install, including where the WETT inspection fits, in our masonry heater installation and WETT inspection guide, and the permit side in our guide to masonry heater permits in Canada.
What your insurer will typically want
- A valid WETT inspection report for the wood-burning system
- Proof of a building permit for the installation
- A secondary heating system that can keep the home above freezing on its own
- Written disclosure of the appliance at quote or renewal
- Records of annual cleaning and maintenance
- Confirmation the chimney and clearances meet code
Every insurer words these differently, so treat the list as a starting point for the conversation with your broker, not a guarantee.
A note on masonry heaters specifically
Masonry heaters are a clean, high-efficiency, well-regarded way to burn wood. They store heat in mass and release it slowly, which is part of why they burn efficiently. From an insurance standpoint, though, a masonry heater is treated like any other wood-burning appliance: permit it, install it to code, and get it WETT-inspected, and it's insurable like any other compliant install.
We sell masonry heater kits, so take this as our honest position rather than a sales pitch: we don't claim a masonry heater earns you a special insurance discount. What we can say is that a properly permitted and inspected masonry heater meets the same requirements insurers apply to any wood appliance — and that the clean, code-compliant install we point every customer toward is exactly the version insurers are comfortable with.
The honest close
Wood heat and home insurance is a manageable combination. Disclose the appliance, keep a secondary heat source, pull the permit, get the WETT inspection, and keep your records current. Do those things and you're the low-friction file an insurer is glad to write.
One caveat we'll repeat, because it matters: rules vary by insurer and by province, and nothing here is a promise of coverage or a substitute for professional advice. Confirm the specifics with your own broker before you build. When you're ready to look at a system that's built to pass a proper inspection, you can browse our masonry heater kits.
