Things To Think About Before You Buy A Home With A Wood-Burning Fireplace
In your search for a new home, you may find homes that meet many of your search criteria but include a wood-burning fireplace. If you don't have experience with this type of heat source, it's a good idea to give it some careful consideration before you move forward with buying the home. While the presence of the fireplace can provide numerous advantages for you and your family, it will also involve some extra work and storage demands. Here are some things that you should think about before buying a home with this feature.
Availability Of Time
Using and maintaining a wood-burning fireplace involves a significant investment of your time. It can take several minutes to set and light a fire, and you'll also need to devote time to stacking firewood and transporting it into your home from the yard or the garage. Additionally, you'll need to hire a chimney cleaner at regular intervals, and make sure that you're home with this contractor arrives. If you feel that these tasks would be too much for your schedule, you might wish to focus on homes that don't have wood-burning fireplaces.
Space For Firewood
You'll also need to think about where you might stack your firewood. Check to see where the current owner stacks the wood and evaluate whether you'll be able to follow this lead. For example, the current owner may have a wood rack in the garage, but perhaps you're a car enthusiast and plan on using your garage for automotive supplies. In this case, you'll need outdoor storage. Is there adequate space in the yard? It's not ideal to stack firewood against your home, so you should see if there's another suitable area. This can sometimes be a challenge in small yards, especially if you have children and want to maximize their outdoor playing space.
Cost For Wood
Although burning wood in your fireplace can often help to lower your energy bills, it's advantageous to determine how much money you'll spend on wood each year. Call a local firewood seller to obtain this estimate. You can then decide whether you'll have enough money for this lump-sum payment every fall, or whether setting the money aside would be challenging for you. You can also think about alternate places to get the wood. For example, if you have a family member with a significant amount of property, maybe he or she would let you cut your own firewood.
Keep these ideas in mind as you visit sites like http://www.cbgeorgerealty.com and decide what house to buy next.