<p>Artlovers - it is a Gas fireplace insert in an Existing Wood burning fireplace. To convert back to wood burning You would just take the gas insert out. I’m personally getting too old to lug around wood logs and chase the bugs away they bring in with them. Lol</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>
<p>ilovec,</p>
<p>Can you disclose how much you had to pay to have it rebuilt?</p>
<p>I’d put the gas in - they aren’t *that *expensive.</p>
<p>I think it is very personal. Fireplaces mean nothing to me. I have had at least on in every house I have owned and I rarely used them. Never used one at all in one house. I grew up in a house that was heated only with fireplaces so they hold no charm at all for me. Unless they are updated, they suck more heat out of a house than they provide.</p>
<p>I think most like them for the decorative impact they have in a room–not as a heat source. A family room or living room without one looks like there is something missing.</p>
<p>Our home is in an all-electric neighborhood. The fireplace was a plus when we bought it because in this part of Maryland the power is certain to go out for several days some winter when there is a big snow. If the home had a gas line I wouldn’t have cared at all.</p>
<p>artloversplus,</p>
<p>We recently converted our full masonry, wood burning fp to gas. We paid $298 for a beautiful log set from Lowes (has glowing embers which enhance the reality), and $700 for a plumber to tap our gas line in the basement and run it up through the clean out to our family room fp. We also needed to get a fire permit from our township for installation.</p>
<p>fyi…Log set from Lowes was convertible from LP to natural gas and is ventless.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine people paying less for a house with no fireplace. It’s just not that big of a deal for the vast majority of home buyers. Sure, there will be buyers that will only look at houses with fireplaces, but there are buyers that will only look at homes with a pool or only granite countertops or what have you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not true in our case. We converted a wood burning fireplace (with gas starter system already in place) to a gas log setup without doing anything to our chimney system.</p>
<p>So much of this is market driven. In my neighborhood (almost completely converted to new construction by virtue of tearing down older homes), there is probably not one home here without at least one fireplace. Most of them have 2, 3, or even more. It would be a mistake to build a new home in this particular neighborhood without a fireplace, even though our winters are relatively mild. In a neighborhood 30 minutes away, it might be a completely different story.</p>
<p>I’d pay less for a wood fireplace - it would have to be professionally cleaned from time to time and I don’t want to have to deal with soot and ashes and lugging wood around. I don’t know if I’d pay more for a gas fireplace - just give me a modern, efficient HVAC that requires little to no maintenance.</p>
<p>Seem to remain pretty popular among buyers.</p>
<p>[Fireplaces</a> and Home Value](<a href=“http://www.fireplacesmagazine.com/fireplace-buyers-guide/fireplace--home-value.html]Fireplaces”>http://www.fireplacesmagazine.com/fireplace-buyers-guide/fireplace--home-value.html)</p>
<p>^ I agree, but the link is from Fireplace Magazine. Don’t think they would say otherwise. They do reference a survey.</p>
<p>We have a Direct vent sealed gas fireplace…NO CHIMMNEY needed, so much cheaper than s regular fireplace. It is rated as a furnace and puts out lots of heat very efficiently…great for when the electricity goes out, since ours has a pilot light that we light every winter when it starts to get chilly. if the electricity is out, the regular furnace won’t work ( electronic ignition), but our fireplace will!!! It has a glass front, and does not use any of the air from in the house, so no fumes at all. Just the heat stays inside the house. Ours is very realistic looking and everyone is surprised that it is not real, but just push the button and it lights. No ashes to clean up. We have had it for 13 years and love it!! Ours is a heatnglow…</p>
<p>In a house as small as OPs not having a fireplace would give tenant use of a whole nother wall. although changing the roof line would be a pita.</p>
<p>I prefer a wood fireplace. With a modern wood burning stove or insert, it can be very energy efficient and low pollution. Wood is a renewable resource and while natural gas is cheap, it comes with fracking these days, which as an extraction technique should end and may raise the price. </p>
<p>Then again, I live in Maryland too, and need an alternate heat source for winter. We have gas heat, but the furnace system is complicated and won’t start without electricity. If I got a gas fireplace, I would make sure it could start without electricity. </p>
<p>For where you are, I think you should just remove it. If I was looking at a home and longing for a wood burning FP, nothing would be worse than thinking I had found one and then discovering that the whole masonry chimney needed replacing. That’s the worst expense and biggest heartbreak. They can be added without a masonry chimney and a determined buyer could just do that. </p>
<p>If it has a pretty mantle and tile work, maybe rebuild it as a cheaper gas fireplace or use it just to burn candles or display things.</p>
<p>3. In a neighborhood housing average of $220-$250K, would you think no fire place will recude the value of a house? If so by how much?</p>
<p>Do these other homes have fireplaces or not?
How fast are homes selling in that area?
is the size & condition of the home comparable to other area homes?
If I was buying it just to flip, I probably wouldn’t do anything & let the new buyer decide.
( put a nice dried floral arrangement in it for the time being)</p>
<p>Where would you hang the Christmas stockings and how would Santa get into your house…if you had NO fireplace :)</p>
<p>Our chimney cannot be used with wood. Period. It can only be used with gas. I’ve had both. The new gas firelogs actually look like wood when they are burning…at least enough so that it doesn’t bother me. I used to have wood and to be honest…it was a bit of a mess. Now I can have the fire going with the flick of a switch. If I were doing it again…I would get a remote!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Which game you would watch the most? :)</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>You don’t have the FireStart App?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, I’d say most of the houses have a fire place. The houses are moving pretty fast, as is in general Bay Area, a house priced under the market can go into contract in 7 days. I probably will take door 4 (do nothing) as well, but I would have to reduce the price of the house, not sure by how much though. Perhaps Barron’s $10K suggestion is good. I will see when the estimates come in.</p>