Am I crazy for wanting to tear out an old gas fireplace?

April 24, 2019 10:13 PM

We have an old broken gas fireplace in our living room. Is it going to hurt our resale value if we remove it? How much is a fireplace worth, real estate wise?

The house inspector mentioned that it is super inefficient. I don't really care for gas fireplaces as I find they can make the rest of the house freezing cold by warming up the thermostat so it doesn't cycle (our thermostat is located near the living room).

Is it going to hurt our resale value a lot if we tear it out? That would be my first choice. I guess we could also consider replacing it with a newer, more efficient fireplace. I also thought about building some custom builtin bookcases to hide it for the time being.

We're not planning on moving any time soon, but I'm not sure we're going to live here for the rest of our lives. This is in the west coast of Canada, where winters hover around 0 Celsius and are mostly rainy.

posted by beepbeepboopboop to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

Replace it at the lowest possible cost, and don't use it until you sell it.

"Home and hearth" - the hearth is a powerful subconscious symbol of home. It is usually the focal point of a decorating scheme - seen in any issue of Architectural Digest. It could very well clinch a sale even if the buyer is unaware of that innate pull.
posted by dum spiro spero at 10:25 PM on April 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

Wouldn't you have to tear it out if you were going to replace it anyway? Why not just take it out, cover up the space with the bookcases, and cross the resale value bridge when you get to it?
posted by bleep at 10:47 PM on April 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'm not understanding what you gain by removing it rather than just ignoring it, but that's just me. If it makes you happy to remove it, I agree, you could remove it now and then decide later whether to replace it or not. Personally, I agree with you (I think) -- my preferences are a contained high-efficiency wood stove, a regular wood burning fireplace, or a gas fireplace - in that order.
posted by slidell at 11:18 PM on April 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you did decide to custom-build bookshelves to hide it, perhaps with that project it wouldn't be too much more work to do a section with hinges and secret book-pull latch to turn the fireplace into the classic secret-compartment hidden behind a section of bookcase. Secret compartments probably don't compare to a gas fire in the marketplace, but perhaps it offers some charm for some, perhaps it's useful and fun for you in the meantime.
I don't know much about gas but I would think that the gas line can be capped and kept in place, with just the grill/burner removed (put in storage?) and the bricks/tiles cleaned, so that it's a useful space but returning it to a gas fireplace is a quick option for the future and your bets are hedged.
Since you're going to live in it for the foreseeable future, I think you should make it a place that makes you happy.
posted by anonymisc at 11:50 PM on April 24, 2019

I think a nice functional fireplace does have a certain emotional appeal, but in my experience they only add about $2000, plus or minus, in appraised value. The impact could be a bit higher if fireplaces are very standard in your market, but they typically are not deal breakers. I would do whatever works best to make the space liveable for you; you can always repair or replace later if you do decide to sell.
posted by tinymojo at 12:12 AM on April 25, 2019

If you have electric heat, I'd get it fixed so you could use it as a backup in case of a power outage.

Even if you don't have electric heat I'd bet it would be very welcome during a blackout.
posted by jamjam at 12:19 AM on April 25, 2019 [6 favorites]

Fretting about minor impacts on resale value makes it much harder to enjoy your home, especially if you don't plan to sell within the next couple years. Do what you think makes the most sense for you, not theoretical future owners.
posted by metasarah at 6:04 AM on April 25, 2019 [8 favorites]

I live in a city with a ton of old houses in the housing stock. When we were looking, nearly every house had a fireplace, but they'd all be converted to gas or bricked up, and the gas ones were nearly always kind of iffy on whether or not they actually worked. Each one of those houses went from a possibly lovely home to just another rehab for us because we definitely wanted a fireplace. We eventually purchased a house with the 1911 stone fireplace intact. Additionally, we paid extra on the home inspection to ensure the fireplace worked before we bought the house. To me, a fireplace that works and that isn't gas is worth the extra work and money. But I am one buyer out of thousands that don't care. Because every single house we looked at with non-working fireplace still sold.

Also, I'm a oddball who likes bathtubs so maybe don't listen to me.
posted by teleri025 at 6:53 AM on April 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

You live in the house right now. Make it the house you want to live in, not the house some stranger in the future may or may not want. Why spend money on something you don't want? Tear out that fireplace!
posted by fimbulvetr at 7:06 AM on April 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

A gas fire that can be run when the power is out seems awfully useful. Also, keeping the living room cozy and allowing the rest of the house to be chilly is one of my energy saving habits, especially in the evening. Down comforter means the bed warns up promptly. So I'd say replace.
posted by theora55 at 8:47 AM on April 25, 2019

Fireplaces are generally assumed to add value to a home; that's why homebuilders add them to new construction, after all. Some estimates say they can raise a home's sale price by 6-12%, although I'm personally suspicious of those numbers (they mostly are cited by manufacturers of fireplace inserts and the like). This page cites a National Association of Realtors survey which puts the value of a fireplace at around $1200, which seems reasonable for an otherwise-identical house.

In terms of resale value I think you are better leaving the fireplace in-place and when you go to sell, just noting that it's "as-is" and may or may not work. It still ticks the 'has fireplace' box, but punts on the repair cost to the next owner (or maybe they'll want to negotiate on it during the sale, whatever, you can decide what you want to do then).

I would probably not pay for a replacement if you don't care about having a fireplace yourself, since it won't have positive ROI.

I would also not remove it completely, although if you really don't like it for whatever reason and it's worth the possible $1200 or whatever down the road to not see it today, then sure, it's your house—do what you want.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:28 AM on April 25, 2019

If you have electric heat, I'd get it fixed so you could use it as a backup in case of a power outage.

Many gas fireplaces require electricity to operate. if you decide to replace the fireplace and heat during a power failure is important to you keep that in mind.
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:30 AM on April 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

To my mind a gas fireplace is just an appliance, while a wood-burning fireplace is a real fireplace that adds value to a home. I would never recommend tearing out a wood-burning fireplace.

A broken, old, and inefficient gas fireplace could have a negative impact on resale as that is an item the buyer could use to negotiate down price. Replacing the thing is going to cost more than $1200. If tearing it out is your first choice, go for it, you'll be ahead of the game in the long run and you don't have to put up with the thing for however long you live there. As long as the gas hookup etc remains, the next person can install their own fake-fireplace gas appliance. You can just put in the house listing that the room is "gas fireplace ready".
posted by fimbulvetr at 12:44 PM on April 25, 2019

Is moving your thermostat an option? Or switching to a wireless model, placed in a new location?
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:45 PM on April 25, 2019 [1 favorite]