Does removing a fireplace reduce house value?

spaceraiders

Hi,

I have a single bedroom house with a small kitchen/bathroom and a decent sized living room and bedroom. We currently have one of those screw on fireplaces with a electric heater in front of it. It doesn't look great. We're trying to decide whether to 1) replace it with a proper fireplace or 2) just to get rid of it.

Option 1 means the room get a nice looking focus point and I've read fireplaces are good for resale value.

However, the living room is about 5m by 3.5m and is the only place a small dining table will fit. At the moment, we just have a sofa and tv cabinet in there. If we get rid of the fireplace, we'd have room for somewhere to eat.

Practicality wise, removal seems like the better option. However, I wouldn't want to lose an opportunity to easily increase the house value if that's what a fireplace would do. Having somewhere nice to eat seems a big plus to me though and I could see people paying for that. When we bought the house for example, the choice of houses available meant you had to compromise on something and some flats had pretty severe compromises e.g. tiny kitchen or bathroom. I think my house value is such that you'd expect compromises but I'm not sure what to do.

What would you do? Thanks.

ormus

any buyer is already compromising by looking at a one bed house. im sure a fireplace or none isnt going to make a hapenny o difference.

McKneff

We had a fireplace just like yours, with a gas fire but because we never used the gas fire we took the whole lot out, hearth, screw back mantle and had the gas pipe capped. The room looks so much bigger and we have a big original
picture on the wall as a focal point. Never regretted it, we have more room, more wall space so i can agree with your point.
Take it all out, keep the surround and the fire, when you want to sell, put a couple of flagstones to make a hearth, tile it, put your surround and fire back.
you will have spent all that quality time in your now bigger living room. Then sell it. Bet you wont regret it.
Of course, the other option is not to replaceit at all and explain things to your prospective buyer.

Regards


Annie

macman

Not clear what you mean by a 'screw on fireplace? Is there an actual hearth/chimney or is is just a fixed electric heater with a mantelpiece on it? If the latter, it makes no difference, as any buyer can easily put it back or remove it.

McKneff

I think the OP means just a wooden two uprights and a mantelpiece (which is what we had) which you just scew back to the walls, when he says 'fireplace'

spaceraiders

Yes, it's just a wooden upright thing that's screwed onto a flat wall (it's got a vent on the wall where a fireplace use to be). There's a hearth made of tiles on the floor, but it's not very nice.

Yes, I suppose I could just get rid of the hearth and the screw on thing and, if it makes any difference when selling, build a fireplace later. I'm going to be laying new floors and plastering so I thought it would just be good to put in a fireplace now if I was going to do it but I suppose it doesn't make much difference.

never_enough

Take it out & use the space. If someone wants to do something else later they will. Fires may add value, but I'd say that's for a real fire not an electric one so don't worry on that score.

spaceraiders

never_enough wrote: »

Take it out & use the space. If someone wants to do something else later they will. Fires may add value, but I'd say that's for a real fire not an electric one so don't worry on that score.

Thanks. What I mean though is that I'm happy to spend the extra money to put in a real fire and it might make sense to do it all now seeing as I'm redecorating anyway. Thinking about it though, I can't see how putting in a fire will mess up a decorated room much, unless you need to dig into the floorboards a bit to lay the hearth.

macman

But how are you going to install a 'real fire' if you have no proper fireplace or chimney/flue? To install a hearth you need to remove the floorboards to create a fireproof concrete base, it's not just decorative work.

rachbc

yes a fireplace will add value in lots of properties, but it sounds like space is a premium in yours and anything that makes it look or feel bigger and gives more usable space can only be good right?

On another note - unless this is specifically an investment property that you don't plan to live in, treat your house like a home, live in it how suits you best rather than worrying about what its worth. If you like to have a fire, have a fire, if you prefer to have somewhere to eat, have somewhere to eat.

spaceraiders

macman wrote: »

But how are you going to install a 'real fire' if you have no proper fireplace or chimney/flue? To install a hearth you need to remove the floorboards to create a fireproof concrete base, it's not just decorative work.

There's a vent on the wall where the old chimney used to be. I'd have to look into getting it opened up again.

If I got a fireplace though, it would be for a gas fire and not a wood burning one I reckon. Wood burning isn't very economical.