Getting rid of gas fireplace?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Everybody I've asked in real life has just tutted and told me "you can't get rid of a fireplace because tradition/focal point/resale value" etc, so I'm hoping that somebody will be able to advise me please!

It's a small gas fire with a marble surround and a wooden mantel, against an external wall. The wall is slightly proud with alcoves either side so it looks as though there's a chimney breast, even though there isn't an actual chimney (and the protrusion in the wall doesn't continue upstairs). It's against an external wall so presumably vents straight to outside. House is under 30 years old.

I really, really want the fireplace gone completely and bricked up so that we're less constrained in terms of living room layout. However, I'm crap at DIY so wouldn't dare to remove anything or make good myself.

Can somebody please tell me which tradesperson I should start by calling, and how much a job like this is likely to cost? I know that disconnecting the fire is Corgi-registered gas guy's job, but not so sure about the surround or making good...

Thanks in advance!

I would just contact a plasterer once the fire is disconnected. I can't picture exactly what you are describing but a plasterer should be able to frame and gyproc then plaster so you have a flat wall.

Our plasterer took ours out (after gas registered man had capped the gas supply). He then bricked up the hole to the outside, added insulation and plasterboard and then plastered over it inside and rerendered the outside to match the rendering. Can’t remember exactly what it cost but wasn’t that expensive.

Here’s some photos

We took out the fireplace in our previous 1980’s house as it just didn’t belong there, modernised the whole house and it sold very quickly afterwards. I think it depends on the style of the house.
I just found out someone ripped a fireplace from one of our upstairs bedrooms in a barn style house, I wouldn’t have done that.

Ours you could see the vent on the outside wall.

I would contact a local property maintenance company initially for some advice.

We’re lucky in that the guy we use knows every single trade under the sun (or if he can’t he has a good network of people who can)

If the fireplace is just for show I would get it capped off (definitely need a gas safe engineer for this) and remove the protrusion (unless you like the alcoves) and get it plastered.