Buying a fireplace?

milliebear00001

Something I have zero experience of so need as much advice as you good people can give...

I am in the process of buying a house. It is a 60s built house and currently has an old fashioned gas fire in the lounge. The fire is one of those that sits slightly 'proud' of the wall (outset?) rather than being fully inset like more modern and older fireplaces. It does though appear to have a narrow chimney breast (maybe 20-25cm deep?)

My question is what sort of fire I need to get to replace this? Can I go for a normal inset 'living flame' gas? Would i need to get anything checked before buying (the flue?) Presumably I need to make sure the depth of whatever fire I buy isn't too deep for the chimney breast, but would I need to remove the current fire to discover this? Do I get the fire taen out before buying a new one and who would I get to fit it?

Sorry for being so useless...!

Hoploz

You should get a qualified gas person to check it over. It is worth doing when you move to a new house anyway, for safety. This is what we did in our 60s house. He removed the old gas fire and sealed the pipe. This revealed the original firebrick in the aperture. The chimney does not stick out into the room, the wall is flat, but it is on the outside of the house. He said if we decided to replace it with another gas fire then he would need to check the flue was the right type. In the end we went with electric instead though.

milliebear00001

OK, so I will get a gas person out to remove the old one and seal the pipe temporarily. Hopefully, he can then advise me as to what sort of fire I can buy, and whether my chimney is suitable (and come back to fit it!)

As a matter of interest - is an electric one easier to fit? I quite like the wall mounted ones, but how do they manage re. the wiring?

SuzieSue

I have just had my 1990's gas fire replaced by an electric fire. I used these people:

http://www.fireplace-fitters.co.uk/

They did a good, professional job.