The Lemon Fool

zico wrote:There's central heating in the rooms, so lack of a fire won't be a problem.

Ahh, from the point of basic practicality, but we had ch in our previous house and yet here are or were the fireplaces in dining room, sitting room, library, one bedroom (never lit), main bedroom, and the gas fire in the bathroom which certainly was lit.... I installed all but the bedroom fires.
Nothing beats the ambience of a fireplace.













V8

88V8 wrote:

zico wrote:There's central heating in the rooms, so lack of a fire won't be a problem.

Ahh, from the point of basic practicality, but we had ch in our previous house and yet here are or were the fireplaces in dining room, sitting room, library, one bedroom (never lit), main bedroom, and the gas fire in the bathroom which certainly was lit.... I installed all but the bedroom fires.
Nothing beats the ambience of a fireplace.

Indeed! It seems self evident that the mantlepiece and surround are the traditional homes for a lot of "stuff"
living rooms just don't feel right without that area
- and what would you lean against when explaining stuff to your offspring?

You haven't seen my fireplaces! All with horrible old fires, not fitting, and none of the fireplaces are a thing of beauty.

I would take a middle ground:

Add a Cap to the top of the chimney
Add a Chimney Sheep for insulation (https://www.chimneysheep.co.uk/what-is-a-chimney-sheep/)
Rip out the current ugly fireplace.
Install a basic reproduction wood surround.
Block up the hole with a thin sheet of plywood painted to match the walls.

That removes the mess, hassle and the ugliness but when you come to sell you can say there is still a fireplace which would be easy to open up again should the buyer want to. Also if you get any issues in the future, like a bird getting in and falling down, a plywood board is much easier to get access.

In bedrooms no-one wants a fire so those I would brick up permanently.