Few things match the simple joy of returning from walking the dog through deep and falling snow, to a home with a wood fire burning. Or waking to a cold house, getting up and lighting a fire immediately. Something about drinking your morning tea sitting before a fire, winter storm raging outside.
It just pleases me enormously!
The flip side: birds. My parents were unable to use their fireplace last year because there was a nest of chimney swifts above the damper. Apparently chimney swifts are a protected species and removing them or harming them is illegal under the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918 and can result in enormous fines. So the only solution was to grin and bear it. No fires that year!
I have this bumper sticker on the back of my Hummer.
The two houses I grew up in have fireplaces, which is kind of ridiculous considering I grew up in SoCal. One was wood burning, the other was a gas fireplace. I liked them both, but preferred the wood burning because I’m old school. I like fireplaces just fine, but they’re not on my radar at all when looking for a place.
I’ll bet Smoked Swift would be a tasty treat.
I don’t mind them, but I must say I’ve never used ours!
Ok, that’s not strictly true: we used ours a couple of times the first winter we were there (10 years ago). Not since then - both because you wind up with ashes that must be cleaned up, and because we’ve never had the chimney cleaned.
At our previous place, we were there 13 years and never once used the fireplace.
All in all, it’s nice to have around for resale value but if I were building from scratch I’d have a gas fireplace put in. Same ambiance, almost as pretty, anda LOT less hassle.
From a practical standpoint, a pellet stove would be more useful. Better heating anyway.