Would a real open fire put you off a house

[OneSugar1]

Gearing up to put house in market. It’s a 70s house with an open fire in living room which hasn’t been used for yonks. It’s not needed to heat the room - just atmosphere/cosmetic/extra heat if needed.

Wondering whether to fix it up or replace with an electric fire.

I like real fires as they are very atmospheric but wondering if they are off putting for others. Cons of fixing up the real fire is that a new surround is needed and there’s not many nice ones for real fires. Would be a bit of a pain in the neck to source and might open a Pandora’s box if the glue is no longer up to scratch?

The alternative would be to replace it with an electric fire but not sure if there are nice ones at a reasonable cost. Not wanting to shell out loads.

Have ruled out any gas options due to cost of pipe work etc.

Oh dear, when we bought our house we found old boarded up fireplace so we opened it up and reinstalled it, it's not essential for heating though, just nice at Christmas etc

Honestly I'd just get someone in to board it up with a small grill for ventilation and plaster over it.

Otherwise - board up but leave an alcove and a ventilation grill - put a reclamation mantle piece over it - there's always loads on our local facebook site - and put some flowers or candles in it.

The next person can decide, get the chimney survey etc.

If you really want to do it then our local wood burning stove installer also does real fires. There'll be someone like him around.

OP I know when I was a teen my mum got a chimney sweep in and he inspected all the chimneys before sweeping some of them. (The house was an old Victorian house with an Edwardian extension.) However as you are moving it is best to do what NormallyFairlyLevelHeaded said as who ever buys it will still have to get their own person out to inspect and then sweep them before using them.

ive got an open fire and kicks out some heat
all my friend's love it
and it may come in very handy this year
but make sure you get it sweeped either way

Thanks all. Is evidence that it has recently been swept sufficient documentation for a house sale do you think?

Have you had it swept recently ( remember crows and rooks can nest in them) if not ask your local fire brigade if anyone does it. Ours does I think it was £30 last time. They will give you advice too and if you need it you might get a free alarm.

It depends what you are going to next and you might not want to spend this much but Everhot have a small stove and you could take you with you as it is electric. It might hide the hole.

A local fire shop should have a list of people and get a free estimate my DS1 did this and reopened the fireplace. It is just small and he fitted a fire into it with door that closes rather than an open fire. If you have done the homework and kept the details it won’t put people off as the leg work has been done. Make sure you leave the details.

I would love if

I wouldn’t buy a house without a fire.

Have you actually used it as a fire in the time you've lived there?
Surely the easiest option is just to make sure the hole is tidy, put some candles in it and pick up a mantle or mantle shelf to give the room a bit of focus?
Then advertise as suitable for reinstating as open fire or wood burner?

Huge plus point for me!!

Domestic wood burning is a bigger source of PM2.5 air pollution (fine particulate matter - ie tiny soot particles) than vehicles in the UK. Really wish more people knew this.

static1.squarespace.com/static/60fe62a6c0eb074f99a31664/t/613bbfdb825b45154811dea6/1631305691216/Woodburning%2Bflyer_M4L_digital.pdf

We just have freestanding electric fires in ours, I can't see how they would put anyone off buying our house as you can just remove them, we never use them for heating though, they are only for filling the gap, plug for them is wrapped up at the back so lead doesn't show. I just measured the gap and bought appropriate sized ones from Argos or Amazon and put them in the space

I’d leave it. We had two open fireplaces here which we have fitted wood burners into. The main reason is that the flues needed lining and it’s the most pragmatic solution. They look great and work well for heating a big old cold house in winter. We had to do all sorts of work to surrounds etc but I wouldn’t have wanted anyone to bother with an electric or whatever just to make it look better.

Please don’t put in one of those awful looking electric fires you see sometimes on ‘Homes under the Hammer’.

If you can sort out the surround, an open fire would be far preferable IMO.

I would just leave them, then they have a choice what to do, if they don't like the gap they can easily rectify it with electric fires like we did

Our electric fires are very plain so quite unobtrusive, no idea what they look like switched on though and we never have any visitors round to judge them

I would only buy a house with a fireplace, anything else lacks soul. If I were you, I would get the fireplace up and running, it would prove very attractive when showing potential buyers around the house

Oh and don’t replace with an electric fire! Dreadful idea

I wouldn't use a fire as so polluting as asthma inducing but would love an empty open fire nonetheless!

[quote mortgagemusings]Domestic wood burning is a bigger source of PM2.5 air pollution (fine particulate matter - ie tiny soot particles) than vehicles in the UK. Really wish more people knew this.

static1.squarespace.com/static/60fe62a6c0eb074f99a31664/t/613bbfdb825b45154811dea6/1631305691216/Woodburning%2Bflyer_M4L_digital.pdf[/quote]
People do know this. People still love wood burners

People also know that having children is terrible for the environment. Yet they continue to procreate 🤷🏻‍♀️

We can't have a wood burner because of DH's asthma, maybe I should get rid of him and have a nice fire.

If you are hungry together then chimney checked make sure you use a member if the Guild if Master Sweeps or National Association of Chimney Sweeps. They will issue a certificate that will be recognised. But you will need to book very soon to get s decent Sweep out before Christmas. DH is booking December now.

I wouldn't buy a house without the option to have an open fire or wood burning stove.

[quote mortgagemusings]Domestic wood burning is a bigger source of PM2.5 air pollution (fine particulate matter - ie tiny soot particles) than vehicles in the UK. Really wish more people knew this.

static1.squarespace.com/static/60fe62a6c0eb074f99a31664/t/613bbfdb825b45154811dea6/1631305691216/Woodburning%2Bflyer_M4L_digital.pdf[/quote]
Yawn!!

Thanks for all the input.

On the whole it seems that an electric fire is probably not good for use or ornament unless megabucks are spent on a very fancy one, which might not suit a buyer anyway.

I think the choice now is between renovating it as a working fire, or non-working fire.

The fireplace has been used, but not for 5 or more years. It’s possible that it’s absolutely fine, and just needs sweeping.

The other difficulty of renovating it as a working fire are that the surrounds I’ve seen online invariably have some amount of cast iron in which really don’t suit the house. I can see how they would work in a period property, but they wouldn’t work in this one.

I think that leaves me with granite or marble, both of which are quite expensive and the buyer might want to install a wood burner or something else anyway.