Fireplace conundrum!

[loveka]

In our new house we have the original Victorian fireplace. It is really beautiful.

However, it is made totally of wood. It is painted to look like marble, it is amazing... but it is just not practical- nor safe maybe as the whole thing is wooden apart from.the grate. The grate is also very small, so I can't imagine it making much heat.

It seems like sacrilege but I think it needs to come out.

I would love a wood burning stove, but I think it would look really incongruous, as the room.had picture rails, the original ceiling rose and high ceilings.

Has anyone put a wood burner in a house like this? I could get a reproduction fireplace I suppose, but I like the convenience of the stove.

We also have the original range (which works but is dangerous apparently! Our stove man said it can't even be refurbished.) in the dining room. Again, it is beautiful and it is amazing it is still there. But totally impractical.

We are in a very rural area, and part of this for me is having fires and log stores etc.

I can't help but I would love to see pics, I love seeing the originals in old houses. I once uncovered an old cast iron fireplace and surround from behind a fake wall. House was built in 1850 and it looked original. I couldn't afford to make the flue functional but neither could I get rid of the fireplace. It was bored over in the 70s or thereafter because that back wall was covered in the wildest floral display that era head to offer! There was another fake wall in that room but I never got around to seeing what was behind it!

Fitting a wood burning stove could be expensive-lining the flue and adding a large hearth as required in 2018, air bricks for building reg ventilation & etc. The actual stove is the cheap bit. Budget for it.. and if you decide to go ahead you could move the pretty stuff upstairs or sell to put towards the costs..

Yes, I know it will be expensive. I have done it before and it ended up costing nearly 8k!

Hoping this will be cheaper... I'm thinking around 3.5 k.

We would need to have the chimney lined in any case.

I am.more wondering if a stove will look weird surrounded by Victoriana! The stove is attached.

How big is the room? We knocked out a plastered up fireplace and uncovered some remnants of original cast iron, which we wanted to keep. A Salamander hobbit stove is small enough that we could leave the parts of the original fireplace in situ and still fit in the hobbit. If you look online you can see them fitted into existing full fire surrounds - I know you said yours is wood and has to go, but you might be able to fit a replacement that's in keeping with the room and still have a woodburner inside it.

We only had the hobbit fitted a few weeks ago so I'm sure you'll understand when I tell you it hasn't really been tested yet! Can't, therefore, give feedback on performance.

The range is gorgeous! I'd be tempted to keep it, whether it can be restored or not, but appreciate that if you need heating that probably doesn't work.

Why is the original fireplace unsafe? If it's been there that long and has been used then I dont see why you need to get rid?

I'd keep original features where possibleto be honest.

tentative3 you had a hobbit fitted? How cool is that?

Best typo of the day.

I want to keep both, but I also want at least 1 open fire.

I agree that the fireplace has probably been used. But I do think for safety we would have to have the chimney lined. The whole thing is wood, even the interior, no metal of all except the grate.I don't know how it has worked really! We have been told we wont get building regs sign off for the liner if we keep it, as it is considered dangerous!

I have a woodburner in our Georgian house, in a wooden surround. We have picture rails and very high ceilings, original shutters etc. I think (in our case at least) the surround is the feature rather than the woodburner, if that makes sense.

I also have a range in the dining room, and a Victorian bread oven too!

We live in a smallish Victorian terrace with high ceilings. It was badly done put in cheap laminate and hideous gas fire place with stone surround. We had the fire taken out and a simple wood burner fitted with an oak mantle. I love, love, love it! I'll try to post pics before and after.

Not very good after pic but you get the idea.

Are you 100% sure it's completely wooden? It's quite common to have slate painted to look like marble in Victorian fireplaces.

Adorabelle. Hobbit isn’t a typo. The Salamander Hobbit is a style of stove.

Yes, it's wood, painted to look like marble.
The painting is so good I thought it was marble until we moved!

I love that stove. That is what I would have!

AlexaAmbidextra you’re kidding? Brilliant. I want a hobbit in my house.

Our wood burner is in a similar fireplace to Bezm’s. But the wood lintel was very thick and too near the flue, to comply with regulations.
The HETAS installer put a thicker flue coming out from the burner that solves the problem of insulating the hot flue from the wood.
Is it possible to tile the fire opening and surround to keep just the mantle and vertical supports?
I love the range and would definitely keep it.

The range is lovely, op. I can't see a flue? Perhaps it is the angle of the photo, but are you sure it has actually ever been used and is not just ornamental? If you want a range, I would be tempted to replace it with a refurbished/secondhand Aga or Rayburn, which would be a lot cheaper than new. I used to have a solid fuel rayburn in my kitchen diner (last house) and I loved it, although it was hard work to look after, what with humping all the coal around. (It also heated the water).
I don't think I would ever want to light a fire in an apparently wooden fireplace, it is surely against all common sense and regulations.
Why don't you sell both these items and get something you can actually use? There are some lovely woodburners that wouldn't look out of place I'm sure.

Yes, there is a flue, it is hidden in the chimney breast. The old estste agent photos show it burning merrily away!

It also has the old bread oven in it.