What to do with fireplace?

[CrazyOldBagLady]

We’re in the process of doing up our doer upper. We think we’ll likely sell it and move on at some point down the line, but probably not for a few years. With that in mind, we are trying to decide what to do with our fireplace.

At the moment we have a gas fire that doesn’t work, and needs removing. It has a fairly traditional orangey pine coloured mantel piece and a cream marble surround.

Me and DH have differing opinions. I would like to close it up altogether allowing us to reconfigure the furniture layout of the room.

DH thinks boarding it up would decrease the saleability of the house and would instead like to open up the fireplace more and add a wood burner/natural edge mantle.

Has anyone any experience of doing either of these who could recommend a course of action?

If you were buying a house would it put you off if there was no fireplace at all?

Has anyone any experience of fitting a more cheap and cheerful burner rather than the type you might put in your ‘forever home?’

I doubt many are put off my not having a fire place, but it's a definite selling point. I'd agree with your husband and where as it may not add value, it would improve saleability.

Forgot to add, there is an attic space that has been converted into an additional bedroom. At the moment the chimney goes through the middle of it and we have the option of removing it from this floor to create a large open master bedroom. Obviously if we did this then the fireplace would be completely redundant.

If the age and/or style of the property dictates that you'd expect a fireplace I'd be very disappointed if one had been boarded up!

Keep the fireplace, get on of those fancy "looks like a roaring fire" thingies and remove the chimney breast upstairs. Done! No-one really needs them for the heat output these days; not with decent central heating.

*ONE of those

Is it a period property? If so I would be put off if no fire place. You can get cheap burners from b&m places. I doubt they work very well but they give you the desired look.

It’s a 1940s social housing style semi, not a country retreat

We're living in our rental property until we move and it has no fire. I hate it and would never purchase another house without one (new one has one 😀 I'm so excited)

...but where will people put all their knick knacks and useless tat if not on the matle piece??

We blocked up and boarded up our fireplace and installed a free standing wood burner in a different part of the room. Looks much more modern and is more heat efficient. It also allowed us to reconfigure the room. I think it's actually a selling point now as the room is much more flexible

There would be room for a nice sideboard if it weren’t for the fireplace 🙂

HeyMicky where does the smoke from your burner go with no chimney?

Sounds interesting but it’s a small room and not sure that would work in here.

I think photos would help.

In a period property it would certainly put me off if there were no fireplaces. But in a modern house then no it wouldn't.

To give you another option I've seen it done where a gas fire was removed and the hole and surround was boarded and then tiled in metro tiles. It makes a really nice feature without the expense of buying a wood burner. there's some examples on Pinterest. I think wood burners are pretty redundant in houses with central heating and having a wood burner would put me off.

RatRolyPoly I like your idea but DH not keen on those ‘flatscreen’ fires, or whatever they are. Personally that sounds like a good cost effective solution to me!

By the way removing the chimney breast is not necessarily as easy said than done and you may need to add extra support.

By the way removing the chimney breast is not necessarily as easy said than done

YY to this; chimneys are often structural.

There would be room for a nice sideboard if it weren’t for the fireplace

Hmm, you've almost convinced me... except where will people keep their vases full of sticks? No, I'm just not having it, there needs to be a fireplace - if only for one's collection of antlers.

The idea to remove the chimney came from viewing another house round the corner that was identical to ours. Admittedly the work there had been done by a guy in he building trade, rather than two bumbling amateurs. It might be a job to consider if we were to decide to stay here, rather than sell on perhaps.

Points take around twigs in vases and antler collections!

We had the (much smaller) chimney pipe put through the wall in the new location.

I hope " two bumbling amateurs" are not going to remove the chimney breast because I bought a house where someone had. The builder wouldn't even stand under it or look at it until the scaffolding was up. It was worse than thought with two planks of pine supporting the chimney in the two storeys above. Bedroom and loft.
This was in a listed building! We rebuilt it in the kitchen and put a electric wood burner in with a beautiful( hand picked) arched beam over as mantle. It looks great. It could have caused a death in that house and brought down next doors connecting wall too. Terraced.
Personally I with your DH but I think secretly he wants to chop wood and play. I have a wood burner that does all our hot water and central heating😃 so I am biased. My son has opened up two fireplaces in his Victorian terrace and it wasn't very expensive. He had slate put in the back of the recent one. Like those stacking bathroom tiles. It looks amazing. It was a 70's gas fire before.

I personally like a fireplace, and a chimney breast without one can look a bit odd. It wouldn't put me off buying a house as you can always put one in if you want one.
I think you have to do what suits you for the time you are living there, unless you are selling in the very near future in which case it wouldn't be wise to spend a lot of time and money doing anything personal.
Could you paint it or do something to spruce it up for the time being?

Woodburner. Definitely. We wouldn't consider a house without a chimney. It was one of our dealbreakers.

We had the same. Got a gas man to cut off the supply and a company to line the chimney and fit a woodburner and hearth. Cost about £1k. Definite selling point. We also had a 1950s ex council house. Had it for 5 years and made £65k on it. Though you have the room upstairs to consider.

Or a cheaper option would be to fit a gas pretend woodburner.

Thanks everyone, this thread has convinced me that a good proportion of people would expect some style of fireplace, so we’re going to go with the burner idea.