Newbie to fireplaces and need help!

[boyle5]

Hi,

I'll start with I don't know anything about fireplaces. We bought our house 7 years ago in Westchester NY and have never lit a fire, by the looks of it not many fires were lit before we bought the place. We're looking into having our fireplace refaced (I think that's what you call it) from brick to stone. Our house was built in 1947 and they made the fireplace massive not only for the size of the room but the opening is oddly sized and it,s so hard to find a fireplace door that fits. The fireplace opening is 36w x 33h our room is 11ft x 17ft with only 11ft x 11ft actually usable. I was wondering if your able to make the opening of the fireplace smaller when we reface it to better fit the room and a fireplace door?

Thanks.

 

[EbS-P]

Are you ever wanting to use it in any burning capacity (wood gas ethanol ect)?

 

[boyle5]

Are you ever wanting to use it in any burning capacity (wood gas ethanol ect)?

Yes, we'd like to burn wood in it and maybe further down the line put gas logs in it.

 

[EbS-P]

Tile and doors could look nice. Making the opening smaller doesn’t give you more space and is probably lots of work ( and $$$$) (might not even be possible and keep it functional clearances will need to be met.) I guess you could redo the whole fire box adding a top operating damper.

The hearth (tile area out in front) has minimum dimensions for a burning fireplace. Tile could be replaced with some other non combustible material.
The brick looks dated. I’ve seen some painted brick that looks good.

I’d suggest this. Get it cleaned and inspected. If all is good build a fire on an average cold day. See how it burns. Do you like the smell? How about the mess? Our fireplace with glass doors spilled enough smoke and I am sensitive enough that I would cough for two days after we had a long fire. We quit burning wood and went with alcohol burners. Then eventually to a wood stove.

Just some thoughts
Evan