Long time lurker, first time poster here. I need opinions on what makes the most sense for our situation.
We live in a 1950s cape that is not well insulated. The house is 1500 sq/ft total over 2 floors. The house itself is very drafty and we have a fireplace that has a damper that doesn’t close all the way. We have oil for heating and no natural gas available. We had a top of the line gas boiler installed last year (87% efficiency when the installer tested it). The last couple of weeks made me realize that I need to spend some time this summer to start caulking and insulating all the little gaps and holes. My question to this forum has to do with what I should do with the fireplace.
The fireplace is 38x28 masonry. It is in our living room that is 14x14. We do not have an open floor plan. When we burn the fireplace we can actually get the living room nice and toasty. Last Sunday morning when it was -4 outside, our living room was 66 and we were able to get it up to 75 or so supplementing our oil boiler with a fire in the fireplace. We don’t burn a lot of wood but plan on getting a cord this spring to start and use the fireplace more. This would mostly be for ambiance and some heat.
The damper for the fireplace will need to be fixed one way or another and we need to install glass doors. I see 2 options:
Option 1: Get a top of the flue damper and glass doors. This will help with the draft of the fireplace. We would still use the fireplace and burn the cord of wood we would get. I realize that fireplaces are extremely inefficient but for how much we would use it I don’t think this is a big deal.
Option 2: Get a small flush insert for the fireplace. I realize that flush inserts are not as effective as inserts that stick out but we have a small room as it is and I am not willing to use up any more real estate for a stove.
Option 1 is cheaper. It might or might not solve our drafty fireplace issue. It allows us to test to see if burning wood is something we are cut to do.
Option 2 is significantly more expensive but is sure to address the drafty fireplace issue. It gives us a second heat source and would allow us to use less oil. If we decide that we don’t like hearing with wood, this is a few thousand dollars we essentialism wasted.
What do you guys think? What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Picture of fireplace:
![[Hearth.com] What would you do?](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/220/220345-ee08976ed9174023dff3321f6226bda0.jpg?hash=5B3w0jYGjT "[Hearth.com] What would you do?")
We live in a 1950s cape that is not well insulated. The house is 1500 sq/ft total over 2 floors. The house itself is very drafty and we have a fireplace that has a damper that doesn’t close all the way. We have oil for heating and no natural gas available. We had a top of the line gas boiler installed last year (87% efficiency when the installer tested it). The last couple of weeks made me realize that I need to spend some time this summer to start caulking and insulating all the little gaps and holes. My question to this forum has to do with what I should do with the fireplace.
The fireplace is 38x28 masonry. It is in our living room that is 14x14. We do not have an open floor plan. When we burn the fireplace we can actually get the living room nice and toasty. Last Sunday morning when it was -4 outside, our living room was 66 and we were able to get it up to 75 or so supplementing our oil boiler with a fire in the fireplace. We don’t burn a lot of wood but plan on getting a cord this spring to start and use the fireplace more. This would mostly be for ambiance and some heat.
The damper for the fireplace will need to be fixed one way or another and we need to install glass doors. I see 2 options:
Option 1: Get a top of the flue damper and glass doors. This will help with the draft of the fireplace. We would still use the fireplace and burn the cord of wood we would get. I realize that fireplaces are extremely inefficient but for how much we would use it I don’t think this is a big deal.
Option 2: Get a small flush insert for the fireplace. I realize that flush inserts are not as effective as inserts that stick out but we have a small room as it is and I am not willing to use up any more real estate for a stove.
Option 1 is cheaper. It might or might not solve our drafty fireplace issue. It allows us to test to see if burning wood is something we are cut to do.
Option 2 is significantly more expensive but is sure to address the drafty fireplace issue. It gives us a second heat source and would allow us to use less oil. If we decide that we don’t like hearing with wood, this is a few thousand dollars we essentialism wasted.
What do you guys think? What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Picture of fireplace:
Last edited by a moderator:
![[Hearth.com] What would you do?](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/220/220359-72e68763007eb24dee3cafab622f099d.jpg?hash=y9TBHmn_dy "[Hearth.com] What would you do?")
. That would sell me!
