Reactivating a fireplace

[Septemberissue]

We moved into an old Victorian house in the summer & are planning on doing the bulk of the “big jobs” this year, starting with the living room.

We have discovered a huge old fireplace in the room which was long boarded over and I would love to reactivate it but DH says it’s a huge amount of hassle. I googled & in theory it does look to be a big job, but, my thoughts are it’d be totally worth it & it would only be such a major job if the chimney breast is in poor repair, which obviously we don’t know the state of yet.

Has anyone had experience or reactivating an old fireplace & could give some advice on whether it was a mammoth task? How did it go etc..

We removed a gas fire and had a log burning stove put in. The chimney needed lining with a flue which was then attached to the top of the stove. That part took less than 30 mins.

If you want an open fire rather than a stove maybe get a chimney sweep round to give it an initial sweep and ask their advice?

Open fires are very inefficient compared to log burners/multi fuel stoves.

as in 20% efficient opposed to 80% for the log burner. Unless you really really hate the next generation, please don't restart an open fire.

remember log storage, chopping etc etc.

Similar experience for us we moved into a Victorian cottage with a fireplace. Your first job is to find a good local chimney sweep and ask their advice. Our local sweep took 2 sack loads of soot from our chimney (we would have burnt the house down if we had lit a fire). He then lit a smoke bomb to test the chimney and we discovered it filled the bedrooms of the house with smoke! He advised a log burner as it has a flu liner so you don't need to worry about the air tightness of the chimney. We have had our log burner for 5 years and love it! However be prepared for lots of dust and cleaning if you decide to go ahead

Check what you are allowed to burn in your area. Might be smokeless fuels only. I'm going to board ours up because the loveliness occasionally is not worth the environmental impact and mess that comes down.

Much as I love open fires it’s really polluting.

We had a log burner fitted a couple of years ago. The fitters took 2 days to remove the old fire (a gas fire fitted into a Victorian fireplace), renbuild the opening, fit the flue and fire, repoint the chimney externally, plaster and board out the opening and fit a slate hearth. There was barely any mess!

We turned a gas fire into a real one really easily by getting a chimney sweep to come and check the chimney was ok for a real fire (£60) and then calling the gas fire company to come and disconnect the gas properly (£100). Then away we went.

It's brilliant.

We opened ours, had it checked and it was fine but it was just a hole in the wall so paid for new fireplace to be installed. We sweep it annually and have occasional use, burn logs.

You need to make sure the chimney is suitable for a fire, there was a huge biscuit in ours and had we used it would have all died from carbon monoxide.
You need to pay a specialist to survey and then trades person to do the work.
Also, you need to think about carpets, and make sure you have a clear way out for any mess. I lost count of how many burns our carpet had.