My husband and I just discussed this topic. We decided if we get one it will be gas. There is nothing like sitting in front of a fire and listening to the crackling of the wood and oh that smokey smell! And if you throw in some copper wire the color of the flames change to the most beautiful greens and blues! Nice if you have a nice piece of property and plenty of space between houses. We are in a corner CYV at the end of the street. I think the smell would not be enjoyable to all your neighbors and I would worry about flying embers since we are so close to other houses. Also, gas would be cleaner. I vote for gas!

Wood would be a poor choice, too messy. You would have to deal with the ash and soot. Gas would be a better choice, it might cost more in the beginning, but wood ain't cheap either. IMHO

I had one up north and after using it a few times we found it was completely useless. There was just too much smoke. We had to keep moving our seats as the wind changed. Seemed like a great idea. The reality...not so much.

That's what my wife calls me! :shrug:

Gas might be the best of two worlds since a wood one might be offensive to neighbors. I know of several folks with breathing issues----asthma, COPD, emphysema etc. that could be affected by this. Especially since you say you live in a villa area.

I guess I'm in the minority here, I miss the smell of fireplaces burning in the fall and winter.

Thanks for all the input. I think we'll start looking at gas ones.

The smell of wood burning..How relaxing
Much more appealing than a neighbor smoking a cigar or cigarettes

This guy is 100% correct.

When we were younger we all enjoyed the smell of burning wood.
To buy homes with real burning fire places was the "dream."

We rarely put ours on now.........even though we still have two or three cords of wood sitting out back.......and some on the front porch.

Of course we will throw some logs on the fireplace over the long Thanksgiving weekend when the grandkids are all here.....they like to tend to the fire and have become quite expert at it.........

HOWEVER, us older folks get "all choked up" from the smell of the burning wood........we have a good outdoor exterior red brick chimney.......it's just we do not like what we used to like. WE are converting it to a gas fireplace.

We had young neighbors in our other home , who never said that our fireplace in that house or our woodstove either, bothered them.
However, their elderly next door neighbors complained that when the young couple began burning wood in the basement (to save money on oil) in the wood furnace (adjacent to the oil furnace)........it WORSENED their bronchitis, asthma, you name it.........wood smoke isn't good for the elderly.......or for kids with asthma.

I just looked at the new "under construction" homes that were sent to me and those villa walls are only a few feet from the back of the house.
Too close for comfort with a fire pit...........a gas one would be nice.
Like a gas barbecue grill. Just a suggestion.

Me too. Remember the oil barrels full of burning leaves? Great for a country acreage. I loved burning leaves and playing with the horses. Sigh. I guess, as we grow older, we have more sensitivities, and we need to be respectful, when living "elbow to elbow".

Either more sensitive or more cranky.

I'd love to still have a real fireplace.

Just my uninformed opinion, but I think a wood-burning fireplace would not affect those with allergies like a fire pit would. The smoke would be coming out of a chimney above the house, where the fire pit smoke would be closer to the ground and might linger.

I love the smell of smoke too, but we're blessed in our family because no one has allergies. I know from friends and former coworkers how much the smoke impacts allergy sufferers. Lots of places up north have banned the burning of leaves because of the allergy sufferers, as well as the fire hazard.

Oh yeah - the smell of burning leaves in the fall. Definitely miss that.

And, yes, love a fireplace and fire pit also.

Oh well !

It's true about having more sensitivities as one gets older.
We always LOVED the smell of wood burning as we'd walk past homes with fireplaces.....in our teens, 20's and 30's.......maybe even into the 40's.

When we bought our first home, it didn't have a fireplace......but in our second home in Vermont we built a floor to ceiling white granite fireplace with raised hearth......burned wood all the time.........loved the smell of the burning wood.

In our next house (after we moved back from Florida) we had a traditional red brick fireplace with mantel and also burned wood all the time for relaxation.......the kids loved to sit by the fire at night.

WE'd keep cords of wood on hand. Still liked the smell of wood "smoke".

However, somewhere in our 50's the "smoke" began to bother us.

Go figure. Prior to that, it was our elderly neighbors who complained of people burning wood in their fireplaces.

Now, we only use the fireplace during the holidays and are going to convert it to GAS..........it will still look like a flame..........and provide warmth in the event we lose our oil furnace during a power outage.

Our homes are not close together here like they are in Florida..........but wood smoke travels through the air...........so out of respect to the neighbors, we would get a gas fire pit as we would not want our smoke to bother anyone where the homes are so close together, back and side.