I have never used a wood-burning fireplace. Is it a pain/awesome? Tell me all about it!
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I have never used a wood-burning fireplace. Is it a pain/awesome? Tell me all about it!
Gas. No cleanup. Easy to start so more likely to use.
Catherine
Wood. But we have a woodstove insert in our fireplace, which makes it a little easier to build and sustain a fire. Before it got it, it was a pain. That said, my ideal would be to have a gas fireplace to get it started, but use wood to continue. Unfortunately, no gas lines here!
Gas! Out east, everyone had wood. The smell is nice, but I think it causes indoor airpollution and doesn't really warm up the house. Plus, DH would like to burn a fire and then never clean up the ashes, so the house would end up smelling like ash and I'd eventualy have to clean it out. You can also get a lot of bugs that take up residence in wood piles. I know some people really love them, but I don't.
ETA: Actually wood buring and pellet stoves emit a lot of heat. I wouldn't mind one of those in my basement. Gas fireplaces are quite expensive to run.
I'll say wood- we have cut huge firs down in our yard- that are still sustaining our wood burning!
We also have a FP insert- it has been priceless for when we have lost power to heat our home- we usually lose it 1-2 days every winter- hasn't happened yet (knock on wood!)
We usually get our FP cleaned annually too- and I have DH clean up the ash-
Wood with an insert all the way.
Gas. Wood fireplaces bother my asthma. They have to be cleaned and just generally maintained. Gas -- just turn it on and you are good to go.
We've had both. The gas one got a lot more use since it's so much easier to start and no clean up. The wood one seems more "romantic" and I love them, but it's a pin to get them started so we never used it.
With all the quick light firewood available in stores, we enjoy our wood fireplace with insert. Dh dosen't seem to mind the clean up, it takes him a few minutes the next day.