I have a wood-burning one but would probably prefer a gas one because it seems like less of a pain in the ass. I do love the smell of a wood-burning fire, though.

A wood burning fireplace was a must-have for me when we house shopped in DC. We got one and put in an insert, so now it's a wood stove that actually heats. It's great.

Gas is just fake to me (remote controlled fireplace, seriously?).

Love, love our gas fireplace. We dont have to turn on our central heat until december. Our gas fireplace heats the kitchen / family room nicely. Gas fireplace has a remote which sets the temp and then turns itself on and off to regulate.

Wood fireplaces cause cancer as well

We have a wood burning fireplace with a wood stove insert. I love it. I've never lived in a house without one. My parents have 3 wooden pot bellied stoves in their house and heat almost exclusively with those all winter.

Last winter our HVAC gave out a the end of Feb. and we were able to limp through the rest of the winter with just the woodstove heating the house.

Our house is on the market and I will admit to being bummed at the number of houses we are seeing that either have no fireplace or have walled them off in DC.

Everyone keeps telling us to convert our fireplace to gas. I'm not doing it because we live on a wooded lot and every year or two we have a down tree (or two) that can be burned. It saves us money to not pay for the tree to be hauled away. Plus I get the fire!

Anonymous wrote:There are some people, like me, who just love wood burning fireplaces. I love coming home from work, pouring myself a glass of wine, opening up the flue, arranging the logs just right, and starting the fire. It's very soothing to keep tending to it, poking, feeding, etc. I just love it. It helps me de-stress from a long day.

Not having a wood burning fireplace would totally be a deal breaker for me. Unless, of course, I lived in the tropics!! It's a must in a cold climate.

So you want to spend an hour getting a fire going while sipping a glass of wine, sounds terrible.

Our home has two wood burning fireplaces and a gas fireplace, which we had installed when we did an addition.

We use the gas fireplace several times a week November - March. The one we have actually heats up the room really well (not all do though). Unlike our furnace, it can be used when we lose power, which is a real risk in DC.

The original wood burning fireplaces don't draw well and don't give off any heat. They provide nice ambiance, but actually seem to make the house colder, as all the warm air goes up the flue (but not all the smoke). Add to that the fact that you need to leave the flue open until all the embers have gone out (in other words, over night), and you lose even more heat.

Having a fireplace was a definite plus when we were looking to buy a home. I'm not sure we would have fallen in love with the house if it didn't have one of some sort.

As for the ash removal door, I don't think many fireplaces have those.

When I was growing up our fireplace had a place outside where you could remove the ashes and such. Do most homes with wood burning fireplaces have this?

I ask b/c I am fairly certain our fireplaces have been converted to be just gas but there is no such outside place to gather ashes so maybe I am wrong.

We're having 2.5 cords of wood delivered tomorrow.

Otoh, we're seriously considering one of our fireplaces to gas--it's in the kitchen and it would be nice to be able to flip a switch and have a fire to take the chill out of the room in the mornings.

a gas fireplace is a reason for me not to buy a house (when I see one I ask an agent if there was a real fireplace there, trying to see if it could be ripped out). A wood fireplace is a huge plus for me.

But then, I'm also the person who doesn't like granite countertops or stainless steel fridges.

I love a wood burning fireplace. In my last house I used the fireplace constantly. It was a fabulous fireplace that could heat the entire house with some kind of vent system.
One thing I hate about our current house is that there's no fireplace at all.

Gas fireplaces just don't cut it. On a night like this, though, I'd take anything. Going to go wave my hands over a candle. . . .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some people, like me, who just love wood burning fireplaces. I love coming home from work, pouring myself a glass of wine, opening up the flue, arranging the logs just right, and starting the fire. It's very soothing to keep tending to it, poking, feeding, etc. I just love it. It helps me de-stress from a long day.

Not having a wood burning fireplace would totally be a deal breaker for me. Unless, of course, I lived in the tropics!! It's a must in a cold climate.

I share your love of poking at a fire! And for PP, here's the solution to your trail of wood debris from carrying logs in from outside.

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/42721?feat=510044-GN1&page=dura-tough-standing-log-carrier

We had one of those. It was still messy.

Anonymous wrote:There are some people, like me, who just love wood burning fireplaces. I love coming home from work, pouring myself a glass of wine, opening up the flue, arranging the logs just right, and starting the fire. It's very soothing to keep tending to it, poking, feeding, etc. I just love it. It helps me de-stress from a long day.

Not having a wood burning fireplace would totally be a deal breaker for me. Unless, of course, I lived in the tropics!! It's a must in a cold climate.

+1

Anonymous wrote:There are some people, like me, who just love wood burning fireplaces. I love coming home from work, pouring myself a glass of wine, opening up the flue, arranging the logs just right, and starting the fire. It's very soothing to keep tending to it, poking, feeding, etc. I just love it. It helps me de-stress from a long day.

Not having a wood burning fireplace would totally be a deal breaker for me. Unless, of course, I lived in the tropics!! It's a must in a cold climate.

I share your love of poking at a fire! And for PP, here's the solution to your trail of wood debris from carrying logs in from outside.

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/42721?feat=510044-GN1&page=dura-tough-standing-log-carrier

There are some people, like me, who just love wood burning fireplaces. I love coming home from work, pouring myself a glass of wine, opening up the flue, arranging the logs just right, and starting the fire. It's very soothing to keep tending to it, poking, feeding, etc. I just love it. It helps me de-stress from a long day.

Not having a wood burning fireplace would totally be a deal breaker for me. Unless, of course, I lived in the tropics!! It's a must in a cold climate.