Has anyone put in a new fireplace? Any recommendations, hints or tips?

[cece]

WE have been to firplace shops - want open fire so bit nervous about setting house on fire if we don't sort it properly. But they seem so expensive - got quoted £1700 this afternoon for fireplace etc and fitting. Was limestone though...

Any experiences or advice greatly appreciated!

perhaps it is too warm for this sort of talk?

probably, sounds nice though!, especially on those chilly nights

Have a wood burning stove - they are lovely and much safer than an open fire - very efficient too and you can heat your hot water in the winter with one

ummm wood burner sounds nice but we won't be lighting our fire every night so not sure want to start heating wtaer from it and so. Just want to be able to light it when cold to supplement central heating on cold evnwings.

We got one about 6 months ago - a living flame thingie. It was about £1100 for wooden mantel, steel grate, tiled surround and slate hearth. (honestly, it's nicer than it sounds!)That price included taking away the old thing and installation. We also had to pay about £500 to get the chimney lined. Does your cost include this? We bought in July, because it's apparently the quietest time in the fireplace trade, and we got quite a good discount. We couldn't get an open fire because we have a wooden floor underneath the hearth, and it would have cost a fortune to take out the wood and replace it with something - concrete maybe? Sorry for being vague. I guess what I'm trying to say is buy in the height of summer, and haggle.

We've put one in - but had to rebuild our chimneybreast (including making the funnel bit behind the fireplace), as well as fitting a fireplace, new grate etc.
You need to get either a chimneysweep or a fireplace fitter to check out your chimney first (they blow smoke up it and send someone onto the roof to watch for leaks) - you may need to have it lined (we were quoted £1500 for lining ours, but in the end they decided that it was ok without).
Our fireplace was over £1K then we added on granite hearth and fitting, think it came to about £1800 for fireplace, bits, and fitting, but can't quite remember (blotting the pain out )
All that done, and months later we still haven't actually lit it! - we had other building work to do in that room which lasted til March, and it's been too warm since...Looks great though, so I'm glad we did it. Good luck Cece.

Thanks.

We have decised we like Portugese Limestone, now all we need to do is choose a style and save some money

One of the shops did say they would come out and do a free survey so may give them a call...

Whereabouts ar you?

Surrey

Ah. Was going to recommend my fireplace guy but he's in Inverness so won't bother!

LOL might add quite a bit for travelling expenses!

so what the best way to get rid of the old mantle piece and back bit??? do you go at it with a sledgehammer want a new surround etc and wondered whether we would need to get some in to take the old one out

What is it made of? We had a brick surround which dh removed using a SDS drill (like a mini=pneumatic drill)..but our new one is cast iron with cast iron mantelpiece, and it has 2 bolts that attach it to the wall, so would be much easier to take off, just use a chisel to find the bolts then undo it.

ours seems to be all stuck to a wooden back board so hoping it will come off in one peice. Then can sell it on eBay! They buy all sorts of tat on there!