Questions for the resident chimney sweep

[Pilgrum]

Originally Posted by Ferd

See a big part of my reasoning is the fireplace itself is just not attractive and is more of a inconvienience than it is a part of the space.

it was almost an afterthought. kind of "oh no, we forgot the fireplace so lets just build it into the room" kind of thing.

I am pretty much set on the idea of knocking the whole thing down and putting in a stove.

so for stoves, what do you like? nice, attractive and value adding while being a useful item to heat the house?

My previous house had a Hearthstone stove which I installed and was really my primary heat source in the winter. I loved it and miss it. My current house has a very nice fireplace which my wife and I like a lot and use often. But for heating purposes it's pretty useless. I am considering putting in an insert.
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It will add value to the house if a perspective buyer appreciates it. As far as heating the house they certainly have enough heat output to do so. One question to ask would be is the layout of your house such that the heat from a stove can circulate throughout.

Good stoves out there from Hearthstone, Jotul, Vermont Castings, Lopi. I recommend staying away from stoves with catalytic converters.

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by Pilgrum

My previous house had a Hearthstone stove which I installed and was really my primary heat source in the winter. I loved it and miss it. My current house has a very nice fireplace which my wife and I like a lot and use often. But for heating purposes it's pretty useless. I am considering putting in an insert.
,
It will add value to the house if a perspective buyer appreciates it. As far as heating the house they certainly have enough heat output to do so. One question to ask would be is the layout of your house such that the heat from a stove can circulate throughout.

Good stoves out there from Hearthstone, Jotul, Vermont Castings, Lopi. I recommend staying away from stoves with catalytic converters.

Thanks. the livingroom, dining, and kitchen are all open. the back part of the house where the bedrooms are are less so.

other than the catalytic converters needing replacement over time, is there anything else that is a negative?

[Pilgrum]

From reading I've heard that they are prone to damage and premature failure if you put anything in the stove other than good clean seasoned firewood. For example, you use recycled lumber as kindling to start your fire and you don't pull out every nail. I guess the nails being in there can damage them. They are expensive to replace. There are a lot of good efficient stoves out there that don't have them.