I assume this conversion is not easy or cheap. I will hire someone to do it. Any ideas on costs? A wood stove would be fine too.
It depends. Is this a real, masonry fireplace with a gas log set or insert? May be possible, and maybe not that expensive. If it is instead a self contained unit, (an “appliance”), then it’s flatly impossible. Neither the firebox or the flue would even come close to meeting the needs of wood burning.
There are such things as wood fireplaces which use gas to ignite the wood. If we’re talkin’ a masonry fireplace, converting the all-gas to gas ignition should be easier.
not brick fireplace
You’re probably SOL. Most likely it has a 4" or 6" double wall flue which will not work for wood at all. If you have good access to the flue chase and enough space, putting in a wood flue might be possible. You’d be pretty much starting from scratch.
We converted our wood fireplace to natural gas in 2003. No more cold air coming in when there’s no fire and no more heavy outside smoke smell except when the neighbours have their wood fireplaces/ stoves going. Lots of such burning goes on during our cold winters and air quality takes a huge hit. I’ll never have a wood fireplace again.
This. It is not easy to add a masonry chimney if you don’t have one, it’s expensive and requires a foundation. A wood stove is more likely, a stove pipe flue would be reasonable to install.