Woodburning Stove in place of hideous gas fire

[OllyMo]

Hi,

I've just bought a new house (victorian terrace) and in the living room a hideous gas fire is currently residing where the original fireplace/chimney was.

Essentially, I would like to remove the horrible gas fire, shut the gas off, and see what state the fireplace and chimney are in behind it. At that point, I'll either install a proper fireplace/hearth again, or get a wood-burning stove fitted.

Who else has done this recently? I assume I need someone gas-safe registered to come and switch off the gas supply on removal of the current gas fire.

Does anyone in the Reading area have a recommended handy type for this sort of thing that could help/quote for both the removal and installation?

Obviously I have had a scout around online but would much rather speak to someone recommended from PH.

Haven't moved in yet, so please forgive the beercan and 'dirty' look - it was occupied by students until a couple of weeks ago.



Cheers all

[OllyMo]

Cheers. I'm hoping that the hole in the wall behind the current gas fire is in decent shape. I think I'm leaning towards a wood burner currently - am I right in thinking these are slight safer (when it comes to chimney fires etc) than a normal fire? Does the pipe from the burner usually go all the way up to the top of the chimney?

Edit: That looks great MonkeyBusiness

[OllyMo]

Cheers chaps, this is all very helpful.

Thanks for the recommendations in Reading as well.

Having just checked it seems I'm not in a smokeless zone which is good. In the Conservation area in Reading by the Royal Berks so it's all listed buildings etc. I assume that might have something to do with it. It is surrounded by smokeless zones though!

[OllyMo]

Craikeybaby said:

RizzoTheRat said:

Craikeybaby said:

The scary thing is someone paid for that in the 1960/70's and thought it was great

1972 - It was my girlfriend's granddad and he wrote the purchase date on the book. What is even scarier is that the MIL thought we were mad to swap it out for a combi boiler and wood burning stove.

That's great. I'm moving from a 1960s maisonette into this new victorian terrace, so quite looking forward to being able to have some period features that aren't storage heaters and bobbly-wallpaper...