Fireplaces: Not Always the Best Decision for Homes

(Page 2 of 2)

January/February 2002
By Linda Ligon 
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Meanwhile, there were years of no-burn days when the air quality was poor, then a ban on wood fires altogether in parts of the county. Our active solar system had grown old and hard to maintain, and the living room was too cold for comfort. So we broke down and had the fireplace plumbed for natural gas. It was a humbling decision. We’ve always scorned those artificial logs and the casual ease of turning a knob instead of building a proper stack of kindling. But I have to admit, sitting by the fire these cold winter evenings, reading or knitting, I can enjoy that dancing flame and its gentle warmth almost as if it were the real thing, so long as I don’t think much about it.

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But now we get another chance. We’ll be leaving this thirty-year-old fireplace behind, moving to a new house we’re designing from scratch. What we’re finding is that the choices are daunting. Wood-burning fireplace? It will have to meet stringent code requirements, and there are still a lot of no-burn days. And do we really want to be burning wood anyway? A pellet stove gives good heat and saves the trees, but where’s the romance in a bucket of pellets? Maybe we should just skip the fireplace altogether. There are better ways to keep a house warm. We’re paying a lot of attention to siting, thermal mass, insulation, air flow. We’re including thick walls and trombe walls and triple glazing. It will be a warm house, if not cozy. Maybe we could put up a fake chimney for the coons.

Linda Ligon is the publisher of Natural Home. This is part two of a series of stories that will chronicle her adventures in building her own natural home.

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