Cost of fitting a wood burning stove?

[bungeejumper]

One of our tenants has asked whether she can get a wood burning stove installed in her first/second floor flat? We're not keen, not least because the next people to rent the flat might not be so careful as she is. But it would be great to have a ballpark cost figure, all the same. Any ideas? She'd be paying, incidentally.

Apart from the cost of the stove itself, which I'm sure we can find out, the flue will need to be lined and a hearth will need to be fitted. (There's a flat cement slab under the carpet where the old hearth was taken out.) And then the chimney stack will presumably need to be checked, and a cowl fitted. AFAIK, the lintel is/was OK, but the fireplace is plasterboarded up at present so we can't be 100% sure.

Anything else? Would it raise our insurance premiums? And the flat is in a small town - might there be planning/environmental issues?

Many thanks!

BJ

[Dod101]

I have a large woodburner in my main sitting room but in a first/second floor flat? She may have the energy to carry logs up to it (or maybe you have a lift in the building) but even so it does not sound very practical.

I think I would just say no.

Dod

[redsturgeon]

I would also be tempted to say no for the practical reasons given already, ballpark figure depends on price of stove which can be between several hundred to several thousand. Fitting will be a couple of thousand.

John

[richlist]

Then you have to consider the on going practicalities of having a wood burner in a flat......

You will need to get the chimney swept annually and obtain a certificate otherwise your insurers are unlikely to provide insurance cover for fires.

They can burn through large quantities of wood over the course of a winter. Where would the flat owner store the wood ?

[dspp]

And a location to store the logpile.

Just say no.

(I keep five logburners fed. They are fine in the country, but inappropriate in a town flat)

regards, dspp

[scrumpyjack]

Completely agree that you should say no. We have two but we are in the country. There are so many reasons why it is a bad idea in an urban flat.

[pochisoldi]

One of our tenants has asked whether she can get a wood burning stove installed in her first/second floor flat? We're not keen, not least because the next people to rent the flat might not be so careful as she is. But it would be great to have a ballpark cost figure, all the same. Any ideas? She'd be paying, incidentally.

Apart from the cost of the stove itself, which I'm sure we can find out, the flue will need to be lined and a hearth will need to be fitted. (There's a flat cement slab under the carpet where the old hearth was taken out.) And then the chimney stack will presumably need to be checked, and a cowl fitted. AFAIK, the lintel is/was OK, but the fireplace is plasterboarded up at present so we can't be 100% sure.

Anything else? Would it raise our insurance premiums? And the flat is in a small town - might there be planning/environmental issues?

Many thanks!

BJ

Assumptions:
This is a leasehold flat. The buildings or "block" insurance is arranged by the freeholder.

If I were in your position, taking into account the points you have already raised, in my mind I would be saying "No, because it's a capital expense which gives rise to an ongoing revenue expense, and increases the risk to my rental business". The words that would fall out of my mouth would be "I have spoken to the freeholder, and they won't permit me to install a wood burning stove" or "The freeholder wants me to pay £X for permission to install a wood burning stove" (where X isn't extortionate, but makes the project uneconomic over a short term)

If I was minded to explore the idea further, I would have to do the following before making a decision.

You need to check the lease to confirm the following:
1) The chimney space within your flat is demised to you. (i.e. the lease extends to the back of the chimney, and doesn't end end at the chimney breast.
2) The lease gives you the right to use the chimney space though any flats above, and through the chimney stack itself.
3) Whether the lease requires you to get permission for any modifications. (IMHO installing a flue liner isn't a modification full stop as it doesn't modify the structure of the building, and installing a new terminal on top of an existing chimney pot is incidental to using the chimney stack as a flue.

You need to check the block building insurance
Does it have any restriction on the use of solid fuel?

Check whether the property is in a smoke control zone. (Speak to your local council)
Wood is not a smokeless fuel
You will need a stove approved for use in a smokeless zone

You need to exercise prudence:
Get the thing installed and tested by someone with the right HETAS qualification.
You MUST install carbon monoxide detectors (https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... nd-tenants)
You should ensure that any CO detector is working. (The legal requirement is to verify at the commencement of each tenancy, but for a long term tenancy, that rule seems pretty ineffective for me).
I personally would want the chimney swept annually and the stove checked on an annual basis to ensure that there are no leaks. (Hint: a damaged rope seal on the door will happen at some point...)

PochiSoldi

[TheMotorcycleBoy]

One of our tenants has asked whether she can get a wood burning stove installed in her first/second floor flat? We're not keen, not least because the next people to rent the flat might not be so careful as she is. But it would be great to have a ballpark cost figure, all the same. Any ideas? She'd be paying, incidentally.

Apart from the cost of the stove itself, which I'm sure we can find out, the flue will need to be lined and a hearth will need to be fitted. (There's a flat cement slab under the carpet where the old hearth was taken out.) And then the chimney stack will presumably need to be checked, and a cowl fitted. AFAIK, the lintel is/was OK, but the fireplace is plasterboarded up at present so we can't be 100% sure.

Anything else? Would it raise our insurance premiums? And the flat is in a small town - might there be planning/environmental issues?

Many thanks!

BJ

I think we spent between £1.8k - £2.5k but we used a local guy. I forget the exact sum. We sourced our own reclaimed flag stones for the hearth, and we designed the layout ourselves. The installers also installed a chimney liner and brick slips, and mirrored steel inner sides and register plate.

BJ, if I was you, I'd say no. With log burner installed you still need:

1. storage for logs
2. chimney swept once a year
3. extra CO monitoring
4. facilities for ash disposal (for us that's simple, the Fens are sinking so we use it along with sawdust and various garden waste to refill cracks, and holes in our lawn/yards etc). However the rubbish men insist in our area on *cold* bagged ash you can get it disposed of. They don't want ash chucking in bins as is.

Matt

[bungeejumper]

Many thanks, all, for the solidly common-sense responses. It's clear that there are innumerable problems here .

Not least, that if the tenant commissions a cheapo job from some bodger and then moves out and leaves the flat, it will leave the freeholder (i.e. us) with all the responsibility for the consequences!

Nearly fifty years ago, as a student in Berlin, I was gassed by a malfunctioning coal stove and I was very lucky not to have been killed by the monoxide. (I woke up in time, but I lost two teeth when my head hit the toilet pan, and I had a splitting headache for a month afterwards). Don't think this is a goer, somehow.

BJ

[UncleEbenezer]

Nearly fifty years ago, as a student in Berlin, I was gassed by a malfunctioning coal stove and I was very lucky not to have been killed by the monoxide. (I woke up in time, but I lost two teeth when my head hit the toilet pan, and I had a splitting headache for a month afterwards). Don't think this is a goer, somehow.

BJ

That's akin to what you're inflicting on the neighbours with a woodburner.

Not necessarily such an acute problem (and some people seem insensitive to it), but certainly a chronic one. Not to mention levels of carcinogens 350 times higher than tobacco smoke (from boffins at the university of Durham).