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Original poster

'Real' fires - good or bad?

50 replies

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 08/12/2004 14:51

Hi everyone :) Our front room has a huge fireplace with an open fire but has a stone slab put over the front of it by the previous owner so we've never used it. The whole house has Economy 7 storage heaters and they are crap!!!
I'm tempted to phone the landlord and ask them to get the chimney checked out so we can have a proper fire as all the other houses have them. Question is I havent had a real fire since i was little and was wondering if they are worth the hassle?

OP posts:
snowmeltsonthebeach · 08/12/2004 19:09

West, near Bognor, with real fire..... yum yum....

JanH · 08/12/2004 19:10

Kate, I thought you were from Nottingham? That is so not North!

Lewes is lovely.

MarsselectionboxLady · 08/12/2004 19:11

Would love a real fire. No space for one. Only central heating here. Love the idea of roasting chestnuts and singing around it at Christmas (btw did the whole roasting thing at a friend's house, couldn't bear the taste YUK!!!!!!!!)

Tinker · 08/12/2004 19:28

Love them . Have 3 that work (one in a bedroom but you're not allowed to use those any more)

snowmeltsonthebeach · 08/12/2004 19:30

why aren't you allowed to use them in a bedroom and who says?

KateandtheElves · 08/12/2004 20:18

Nottingham is so North.

We use short 'a' sounds up there!

Tinker · 08/12/2004 20:22

Think it's fire regs. It's in daughter's room anyway so probably not a good idea. Still got fireplace in my bathroom. If that still had a chimney would be very tempted to sneak some coal up to that one

JoolsTide · 08/12/2004 20:27

Sorry Kate - Nottingham is East Midlands but you can be an honorary Northerner if you like? its a very exclusive club Wink

Frizbe · 08/12/2004 20:33

If your North of the Trent it's north!

hana · 08/12/2004 21:38

we have a small woodburning stove and I love it. A little piece of home!
But the logs are v v v v expensive here Sad

bonniej · 08/12/2004 21:41

my sis had a real fire and we stayed with her last christmas. It was a pain in the bum to be blunt. Someone always had to be on hand with logs, it always needed cleaning and sometimes got very smokey. She had quite a lot of soot on the ceiling. They lived in a cottage in the country and thought central heating would spoil the look. It was nice on a cold evening but I was very pleased to get home to my radiators!

KateandtheElves · 08/12/2004 21:41

Yipee! I qualify! I grew up in the part of Nottingham north of the Trent.

My parents are both from West Yorkshire. I was born in Grimsby, and before we moved to Nott'm when I was 5 we also lived in Sheffield and Bury.

Please, please, please Jools.

hollyandlavenderwreath · 08/12/2004 21:44

are you still talking to me KateandtheElves as think upset you a little with my ranting ...no bad feeling on my part only lots of love and luck to you allSmile

OldieMum · 08/12/2004 21:45

I hope you do manage to get a fire going, but do make sure that you get a chimney sweep to clean it first (yes, they do still exist). You don't know what will be up there (eg old birdsnests) and there might be something that would cause problems.

JanH · 08/12/2004 22:01

You are much more of a northerner than me, Kate (born and raised in Middlesex!Wink)

JoolsTide · 08/12/2004 22:47

Bury? why didn't you say so in the first place! of COURSE you're a Northerner! Grin

joashiningstar · 08/12/2004 22:49
Envy

We used to have an open fire in the first house we ever owned .... now got crappy gas in one room and electric in the other...so jealous Envy

pixiefish · 08/12/2004 22:51

so jealous. closed mine up years ago cos the chimney was full of holes and everytime you lit a fire in the kitchen the bedrroms were full of smoke

Starofbethlibbhem · 08/12/2004 22:55

Yes to real fires, it was my duty to light ours from the age of 15 whilst little sis put the dinner on, we then did a quick tidy round - looking back Mum and Dad were taking the proverbial!

My ex and I had a real fire in our old house (our living room was even painted fireside red!) and it was fantastic at Christmas with the cats fighting for space in front. I miss the house more than ex tbh.

It cost us about £50 to have the chimney swept if that helps? huge batch of logs and 4 bags of coal about £40-50 again but last the whole winter . . . very hot so if you have efficient heating then compensate the thermostat (etc) and also remember that it will heat your bedroom too if the chimney stack passes through that way . . .

JanH · 08/12/2004 23:10

Had our chimney swept last week - £35 + VAT. Suspect this was a bit of a rip-off due to our postcode (lots of money round here). Don't know where you are, Z, but £30 should do you really.

SilentBite · 08/12/2004 23:11

oooh yes we have them all the time. The trick is to get well seasoned logs, it makes such a difference. I just get my Dad to order me an extra half load (he lives in Hampshire) and then I get them from him.

JanH · 08/12/2004 23:15

And then keep them under cover so they can dry out if they're wet. Damp logs are so depressing. (And smoky.)

Starofbethlibbhem · 08/12/2004 23:23

£30?! I was clearly ripped off . . .

Original poster
OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 09/12/2004 09:33

we're just outside andover on the hampshire/wiltshire border. THere are a lot of old houses and cottages around here who all have fires - as soon as you step out side anywhere you can smell the chimney smoke!!
Will have to investigate the chimney sweeps - wood should be fairly easy - loads of people sell it from their houses. Where abouts does your Dad get his SilentBite?

OP posts:
SilentBite · 09/12/2004 23:19

zephyr he lives in the Itchen Valley nr Winchester and gets them locally, CAT me if you really want to know and I will ask him!

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