Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have only just noticed the death of the chimney!

61 replies

Foxyloxymoxy · 08/09/2025 19:43

I was driving home and through an area full of new housing estates and I’ve only just noticed that there’s no chimneys. I don’t know why this has only hit me now as I live in a new build with no chimney 🤣🤣 but it really changes the skyline completely! Anyone else notice this?!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
SUPerSaver721 · 09/09/2025 20:38

Ive noticed a lot of new builds around here dont have chimneys. I think the roof looks odd without a chimney. I love an open fire in the winter.

Murfmeister · 09/09/2025 20:37

We have a pretend chimney stack on our new build. In fact it wasn't until we had been here a year that I noticed there are five chimneys for four houses (small development of four semi-detached).!
It does look more symmetrical though 😊

Plastictreees · 09/09/2025 20:33

soupyspoon · 09/09/2025 20:23

Ive come home and the firsgt thing I do is open the back doors in the kitchen and also in the conservatory so air blowing in from all angles. The windows are open all year round in any case, they're never shut.

Same! It drives my DH a bit mad but it feels so much better having fresh air in the house.

BettysRoasties · 09/09/2025 20:30

No I love a chimney we have two, ones for the two fireplaces and one for the old boiler.

I hated our old house without one would of been such a pain to do a log burner as it would of had to come out the side of the house and up, that ruled the livingroom as it would of been in the small front garden basically on a window.

soupyspoon · 09/09/2025 20:23

Ive come home and the firsgt thing I do is open the back doors in the kitchen and also in the conservatory so air blowing in from all angles. The windows are open all year round in any case, they're never shut.

Plastictreees · 09/09/2025 20:20

I tend to find new builds stifling, not pleasant at all. It must have just been the ones I have been in. Then again I am a bit obsessed with fresh air, and I’d take my old Victorian draughty house over an airtight box any day!

DifficultMiddleChild · 09/09/2025 20:06

Our 25 year old house has a chimney. Purely cosmetic as there are no flues or fire places.
Wouldn’t call our street upmarket in any way though 😁

Original poster
Foxyloxymoxy · 09/09/2025 20:06

Wishing14 · 09/09/2025 19:57

It’s very sad. Hate to see most new builds and the way they are being constructed.

but that’s life…times change and industry changes, construction materials change and so does construction. We can’t stay in the Victorian era forevermore…it’s not required. We have modern day heating systems now we don’t need fireplaces in every room.
same theory with cars they are bigger and more efficient now because times have changed! We need to move forward!

OP posts:
Wintersonata · 09/09/2025 19:59

We don’t have central heating upstairs so Dh lights the fire in our bedroom when he gets up at 7am. During cold spells our bedroom gets so cold and the fire makes a difference and it’s lovely getting dressed in the morning in front of a log fire.

Wishing14 · 09/09/2025 19:57

It’s very sad. Hate to see most new builds and the way they are being constructed.

Original poster
Foxyloxymoxy · 09/09/2025 19:47

Boohoo76 · 09/09/2025 19:39

No it’s not crazy if you live in a rural area where the power often goes out when there is a storm. Our new build house has a log burner which we use in such circumstances.

Show quote history

No electricity wouldn’t change the temp that much in my house, it’s so well insulated that it’s at a consistent good temperature. I have a gas camping stove in the shed for cooking in the case of an outage.

OP posts:
Original poster
Foxyloxymoxy · 09/09/2025 19:45

Boohoo76 · 09/09/2025 19:39

No it’s not crazy if you live in a rural area where the power often goes out when there is a storm. Our new build house has a log burner which we use in such circumstances.

Show quote history

I’ve lived rurally before and I’ve only been without power twice…it never lasted more than 48hours.

OP posts:
Boohoo76 · 09/09/2025 19:39

Foxyloxymoxy · 08/09/2025 20:09

That’s crazy that they require them. Here we are encouraged against them for energy efficiency standards as open fires and chimneys create large heat losses and we are moving towards Air-tight construction
Modern homes are designed to be highly insulated and airtight so a chimney would constantly draw warm air out, undermining this airtightness.
Most new houses here now use heat pumps, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR), or other renewable/low-carbon heating systems instead of solid fuel or oil.
We are phasing out carbon emissions so it has to be done.
houses must get at least 20% of their primary energy from renewable sources here now. So solar panels and heat pumps are standard with new builds.

Show quote history

No it’s not crazy if you live in a rural area where the power often goes out when there is a storm. Our new build house has a log burner which we use in such circumstances.

Original poster
Foxyloxymoxy · 09/09/2025 19:33

HangingOver · 09/09/2025 09:19

We don't use ours because the jackdaws live in it 😊

I couldn’t live with that…

OP posts:
HangingOver · 09/09/2025 09:19

We don't use ours because the jackdaws live in it 😊

Original poster
Foxyloxymoxy · 09/09/2025 09:00

I don’t get the push to have them to be in keeping with the area…times change! It’s 2025!

OP posts:
EveryDayisFriday · 09/09/2025 08:16

I live in an estate of 60s houses and the majority of residents are retired and use their fires. Actually our house has a massive chimney jutting out front as part of the architecture. Purely decorative in our case as we boarded up the chimney, the cold air flowing down made the house colder. We've also had a number of leaks from the roof/ chimney join so I totally get why new builds don't bother with them.

Riverswims · 09/09/2025 08:16

“my” house (I’m a tenant) is 4 years old with a chimney in keeping with the area

Original poster
Foxyloxymoxy · 09/09/2025 06:50

soupyspoon · 08/09/2025 22:32

I would absolutely hate an airtight house.

Having lived in both there’s really no difference other than it’s warmer and cheaper to run.
1 electricity bill of 80 vs an electricity bill of 120 and still being cold and having to buy heating oil or gas and coal etc to light a fire. And use my time to actually light the fire.

OP posts:
AmIHumanOrAmIAYeti · 08/09/2025 22:52

We have the only chimney on our estate. Houses are about 25 years old. Quite a lot of those metal chimneys where people have had wood burners fitted.

vipersnest1 · 08/09/2025 22:51

My last house had a working open fireplace, my current one is a modern build with no chimney at all.
I’m about to move to an older house with a working wood burner. I’m looking forward to it as nothing beats a real fire on a cold winter’s night. It will remind me of my DDad who loved a good fire. 😊

soupyspoon · 08/09/2025 22:33

Suffolkposy · 08/09/2025 21:48

We have hundreds of new houses going up behind us and they have fake chimney’s! It’s so weird, they just create a small stack on the roof with a couple of chimney pots and that’s it. Why bother?

Because our architecture has a cultural identity, why would you not try to preserve that.

soupyspoon · 08/09/2025 22:32

I would absolutely hate an airtight house.

Nourishinghandcream · 08/09/2025 22:28

Buxusmortus · 08/09/2025 21:29

I agree it looks very strange to see hundreds of roofs with no chimneys. There are far too many new builds near me, not one has a chimney.
The houses built in the 60s, 70s and 80s all have working chimneys.

Our NB has a fake chimney and is very in keeping with the design of the house.
Neither our previous 70's house nor my sister's 80's house have a chimney (fake or not!). The nearest to it was a metal flue on the roof for the oil fired central heating.

Original poster
Foxyloxymoxy · 08/09/2025 22:14

SeaAndStars · 08/09/2025 21:40

I only ask because I'm reading Sarah Beeny's book and she's very interesting on the subject of air tight houses. She says that heat pumps and other systems that are designed for air tight houses only work economically, efficiently and effectively if windows are never opened. Seems strange when most people like to open windows.

Show quote history

Day-to-day it’s best to let the ventilation system handle air quality as it’s designed to run 24/7.
But you can open windows when you want, you just know that you’ll waste a bit more energy if you do it all the time, especially in winter. It doesn’t damage the system either.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread