Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Should we keep this surround for our wood burner?

71 replies

Callmegeoff · 02/10/2016 14:13

We've just knocked a wall down to create a kitchen diner. We're about to install an 8kw clear view wood burner. I'm finding it hard to decide whether to keep what I think is the original surround. I think a simple oak mantle might look better - any views?

Should we keep this surround for our wood burner?

OP posts:

Thread gallery

dotty2 · 03/10/2016 09:44

Ask your fitter, obviously but we were told we couldn't have wood burners in any of the fireplaces we have with wooden surrounds because of the rules about proximity of combustible materials. Even the simple wooden overmantles you see are usually fake wood for that reason.

shovetheholly · 03/10/2016 11:29

Your house is gorgeous!

I think the deciding factor here has to be the dimensions. It looks to me like the gap in your hearth is quite small, even though the hearth itself is quite a large feature. I suspect you may not be able to fit a 5kw in it, let alone an 8. But it's so hard to judge from pictures alone.

Maybe make a rough drawing of it, with all the dimensions of each section, and take it into a stove shop and ask? As dotty says, the wood may be an issue. My fire surround gets very hot indeed.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 03/10/2016 11:36

It seems a bit strange to rip out original features to put in something like a stove, which is a bit of a fashion thing to be honest. What not just have an open fire?

dotty2 · 03/10/2016 11:43

Because an open fire heats mainly your chimney and stoves are vastly more efficient and less work - hardly need cleaning out.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 03/10/2016 13:00

But if all you are concerned about is efficiency then you'd rip out most of your period features wouldn't you? I mean old floor tiles require regular sealing and more maintenance than contemporary ones, old wooden floors are also more work than laminate.

I dunno, personally to me it harks back to the seventies to rip out old features. A stove is a fashion choice. Yes they are nice but no one with central heating really needs one.

Original poster

Callmegeoff · 03/10/2016 13:01

Thankyou holly

anotherday thanks for the link, I don't think the hobbit stoves as nice as they are would heat the room adequately. I know I'll have to lose the metal insert and tiles, the hearth tiles I'm hoping to keep, but they may not be big enough.

tinkly the house is freezing in the winter and a stove would be much cheaper than central heating.

The fitter is coming this Thursday, will keep you all posted.

OP posts:

YelloDraw · 03/10/2016 13:22

tinkly the house is freezing in the winter and a stove would be much cheaper than central heating.

Including buying the stove and installation costs? What is the payback period?

GinAndOnIt · 03/10/2016 13:29

I kind of agree with you tinkly - I've recently discovered that a previous owner somewhere down the line has boarded up and plastered over a fireplace in our bedroom :( the chimney works as it's directly above the kitchen which has a functioning open fire, and the floor still has the tiled hearth. Though these are the same people who removed a gas fire to install an electric one.

We are planning to knock out the gas fireplace and replace with an open fire, and I've been wondering whether we should risk hammering on the bedroom wall to see what's left of that fireplace underneath...

shovetheholly · 03/10/2016 13:39

geoff - are you still having central heating, or are you wanting the log burner to heat the whole place? Am nervous about the second idea, because while they are powerful they aren't THAT powerful. And on a cold morning, you could be waiting a while for the house to heat! They're great to have in addition to CH, though.

You can get ones where you run the whole central heating off them, but this is a more specialist thing I think - you need a particular model/specialist link up.

I am of your place- it looks like you have so many lovely period features!

Original poster

Callmegeoff · 03/10/2016 14:32

holly We're still having central heating but I'm hoping to just have it on briefly in the morning.

When we first moved in it was a cold winter I had the heating on most of the time till we got the bill

A wood burner in the lounge has made a huge difference but I do tend to huddle just in that room. Wood here is plentiful cheap and often free.

It will be expensive to fit but worth it .

70s fashion reminded me of my parents they painted our claw foot bath purple and boarded up all the doors . Come the 80s everything wooden got stripped and varnished but the doors had lots of nail marks I don't think I'm in that league we love our house and don't want to change it very much.

gin I bet it's still there, I found a boarded up fireplace in my first house, I was so excited.

OP posts:

GinAndOnIt · 03/10/2016 15:14

Annoyingly, they also built a little cupboard for a toilet (no sink) half over where the hole is. Bizarre! I'd willingly sacrifice the cupboard loo for a bedroom fireplace

shovetheholly · 03/10/2016 15:51

Wow, a purple bath. That is an adventurous look!

I think if you can get the wood at very low cost, this is a no-brainer. Yes, you have the installation cost but given the cost of running heating, you will recoup that in a very few years.

It still works out cheaper for me than heating, but given the cost of wood, it won't pay for itself for really quite a lot longer than yours will. However, there's a cosiness factor to it that is just lovely and that needs to be factored in - I get so much enjoyment from it.

OliviaBenson · 03/10/2016 16:02

I also think it would be a crying shame to remove the fireplace.

I also would think carefully about saving on central heating- we have a wood burner and central heating. To be honest, we love our burner but unless you have a free and plentiful supply of logs, it really isn't that cheap. And it is far more effort.

We upgraded our central heating and have tvrs so we control which rooms are heated and when.

OliviaBenson · 03/10/2016 16:05

Sorry, just seen your other comments. I'd still be wary, but I love Victorian buildings and hate them when they've had features ripped out!

How old is your boiler?

Original poster

Callmegeoff · 03/10/2016 17:51

Quite old I think, it's a Potterton. Works well touch wood !

OP posts:

OliviaBenson · 03/10/2016 20:09

To be honest I'd spend the money on getting a really decent and efficient boiler and nice rads

shovetheholly · 04/10/2016 08:42

I'm going to play devil's advocate and say - why not have both?

So assuming the fireplace is too small for a log burner, as some of us have surmised... You could remove that fireplace and flog it on ebay, or to a reclamation yard.

Then you could get a larger one that does fit around your burner, and install that - you might even be able to reuse the tiles around it, and almost certainly the hearth ones too. (There is a minimum hearth distance I think, but it's not that large).

You therefore keep the authentic Victorian look, just with a different surround.

???

shovetheholly · 04/10/2016 08:43

Oh, and by the way, I have massive floor envy. Both your parquet and your tiles are sensational.

Original poster

Callmegeoff · 04/10/2016 09:05

The floor tiles are about 10 years old and look nicer in the picture than they actually are so are being covered -probably charcoal laminate. The parquet floor is also new -put down by the previous owners. Annoyingly the parquet falls short at the window seat which I am in favour of removing but Dh likes. I'd rather have a sofa in the window and the Christmas tree

If anyone's interested I'll post more pictures once the kitchen is in, the builders have disappeared for a few days

OP posts:

shovetheholly · 04/10/2016 09:20

Ahhh, yes, sometimes things look great in photos that are horrible in real life. I took a picture of my front door surround, which is awful, and it came out looking elegantly dishevelled rather than a right old mess, which is what it is in real life!

I would LOVE to see more pictures, this is like house porn!!

PickledLilly · 04/10/2016 09:32

Ooh I hoping more people post pictures of their lovely burners. Ours arrives this week but I haven't made any decisions on hearth and fireplace/mantle yet so I'm enjoying seeing what everyone else has!

GinAndOnIt · 04/10/2016 10:09

I'd show you a picture of our fireplace if someone hadn't boarded it up

shovetheholly · 04/10/2016 10:20

gin - That looks like your interior has really been reconfigured too!

Your wall colour is very elegant, tho.

Kidnapped · 04/10/2016 10:26

We've got a Little Thurlow 5KW stove (put in by the previous owners). We have this sort of arrangement with no mantle, beam or surround at all. This is not a pic of our actual house but the picture gives an idea.

We have beams on the ceiling and I think it would look 'too much wood' if we had a beam or surround.

I think it looks okay like that.

Original poster

Callmegeoff · 04/10/2016 11:02

gin I love your wall colour.

pickled this is my lounge wood burner , we took out a really ugly 1930s fireplace to install it. The guy who fitted it put the mantel on (excuse clutter) it's from the other room.

It's 3 slate tiles for the hearth.

The other picture better shows the window seat- it does have a cushion ( not comfy ) the dog loves to sit on it and bark at everyone.

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3