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Purchasing property with wood burner

13

Comments

  • Davesnave wrote: »
    Those are the sort of prices my sweep would charge. It might be different where you are. His first hour is £45 and he doesn't add a lot for climbing on roofs either, say £20.

    But
    he's good. The ones I had before him were relatively inexperienced and one wasn't physically able to go up ladders onto roofs. A HETAS certificate isn't enough to guarantee a good sweep, I'm afraid, but it ought to be possible for most sweeps to see if there's nothing major wrong with the install.

    Thanks again Dave.

    From reading your comments, I don't see that no certification should stop us from moving forward with the property. I'm just feeling more that I should arrange a sweep pretty much straight after moving in?
  • Murphybear
    Murphybear Posts: 8,087 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Davesnave wrote: »
    It may not be a cop-out. Many wood burners exist which were installed before legislation affecting them was enacted.

    If a purchaser told me they were going to lower their offer if I couldn't supply paperwork for a burner that never had any, my answer would be clear: "Either accept it as it is, get your own report on it, as you would for any other aspect of the house, or alternatively, I'll remove it."

    Bottom line: Wood burners are a current fad, many people don't have enough storage space for the wood and good fuel or kiln-dried etc, isn't cheap.

    Agree, it’s amazing how quickly you get through a big pile of wood. Not to mention they are hard work and if the room gets very warm then you can’t switch it off:(
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Most people buy something of a pig in a poke with existing woodburning stoves. We certainly did. The fire was safe enough, but not economical to run, so we disconnected the water heating parts and ran it dry for a few years. That was better, but it was then oversized for the room.

    When the time was right, we replaced fireplace, fire and flue. By that time we had decided it was something we wanted and we had more free wood than before.
  • Davesnave wrote: »
    Most people buy something of a pig in a poke with existing woodburning stoves. We certainly did. The fire was safe enough, but not economical to run, so we disconnected the water heating parts and ran it dry for a few years. That was better, but it was then oversized for the room.

    When the time was right, we replaced fireplace, fire and flue. By that time we had decided it was something we wanted and we had more free wood than before.

    The house we're purchasing actually has a fireplace and wood burner and we'd like use of at least one of them when the time comes. :D
  • hazyjo
    hazyjo Posts: 15,475 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Bought a house in Nov with a log burner. OMG the cost of wood! Ours is quite wide and uses a lot of wood - one batch (£7.50-ish near me) seems to only last 2-4 hours.


    We paid £60 for someone to check it all over once we moved in, including replacement of a seal which had worn away.
    2024 wins: *must start comping again!*
  • Niv
    Niv Posts: 2,566 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I find buying the wood by the flatbed load much cheaper.
    YNWA

    Target: Mortgage free by 58.
  • pinklady21
    pinklady21 Posts: 870 Forumite
    If you have not already found it, here is the HETAS website: http://www.hetas.co.uk/
  • pinklady21 wrote: »
    If you have not already found it, here is the HETAS website: http://www.hetas.co.uk/

    Thank you, we have made contact with them directly :)
  • kinger101
    kinger101 Posts: 6,627 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Margot123 wrote: »
    "If there was no flue liner for example, it might cost a couple of grand to put right......."

    My goodness, where did you get that cost from? My flue liner cost less than £200 for supply and install by a pro.
    That included some repairs to a 250 year old chimney as well.

    There's a difference between "might" and "will".

    We don't know whether chimney of the property in question is one storey or four, and whether it's accessible from a cat ladder or not. I'd run away from anyone who offered to do it for £200, even on a bungalow.

    OP needs to get a HETAS engineer, see what's there, and get a quote if anything is lacking.
    "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance" - Confucius
  • ld123098
    ld123098 Posts: 36 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    Also worth bearing in mind that if the house is in a smokeless zone, and the stove isn't defra approved, you could face a hefty fine.
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