porches

It's a bit of added security to lock the outside porch door, but I also have a Chubb lock and a double Yale on my 'inside' door.
If I'm expecting a parcel,I leave the outside door unlocked and double lock the inside one.

Can't help with the burner, sorry.

thats an excellant idea ella46 thank you

Multi-fuel burners are great. My son has one and it heats the water and radiators as well as being a good heat source on its own. When logs or other fuel are plentiful and cheap, he stocks up on whatever is the cheapest. They make a good focal point - nothing like a roaring fire for damp washing, either. He has one of those old-fashioned ceiling racks for drying and it's not in anyone's way.

We keep porch and inside door locked unless we are expecting a delivery or we know visitors are on their way. I live in an area where theft from porches is common so don't invite burglars.

I knew someone whose antique barometer vanished from the porch. I would lock the porch and leave the inner door open to get the light, but it is up to you, depends on the porch, how much can be seen inside when the front door is open, a million things. No posh way, I suspect, though the really posh and rich have enormous porches filled with muddy boots, dripping raincoats and smelly dogs which make a racket to keep out any intruders (the dogs, not the boots and raincoats)

Hmm..our porch is doorless so I am no help at all on that point but do have a mutifuel burner. It is very useful an cosy. We put it on the other week when it got really cold one evening..a few logs and we were warm and cosy in the sitting room!

I have always had a multi-fuel burner installed in pretty much every house we have lived in, we have a large garden which supplies all our kindling which is usually the hardest thing to get hold of in any quantity. Firelighters can get used uo very quickly, cheaper ones can be obtained from place like wilko. I burn all of the day's rubbish in the evening when it is getting a bit chilly, so very little gets recycled. I buy anthracite and logs in the summer in bulk, when they are cheaper. The anthracite is used when it is bitterly cold and when I need the fire to burn for a long time.

It brings the whole room to life, as long as you have one with a window. There's nothing like it. Installers will always try to get you to hire them as chimney sweeps, at around £60 a time here. It can vary from £30 to £120 depending on where you live. The sweeping is the downside, I do it myself and as I now have a lined chimney have to use rather an expensive rod and brush, but it cost £120 which is the equivalent in this area of two sweep visits so I get the cost back in a year. You do need to find out how to get to the chimney though, I watched very carefully while mine was being installed and I have to remove a roof brick that stretches right across the ceiling of the stove.

All stoves have their own ways, it takes a while to learn what your stove likes best. I can't light mine when the wind is in the NE without opening a window, otherwise all the smoke rushes back into the room, despite having the chimney built very high and protected by a cowl.

Janerow I am going to copy and paste you post somewhere permanent so that whenDH witters on about having one of these I will use your post to remind myself that in retirement I am NOT a chimney sweep. I am impressed by your versatility .

Here in, generally expensive, south Oxfordshire My sweep charges £20, recently up from £15. We are on his list and he rings us each year around now to do the annual sweep. He then gives us a certificate. Our insurance company doesn't make this obligatory, our house may be old but it is not thatched, but it is nice to know that if there was a problem we could prove that our burner and chimney were properly maintained.

In France an annual professional chimney sweep is obligatory. We didn't realise this for 15 years. Two years after introducing this novelty into our lives, we had a chimney fire, to be fair this had nothing to do with the chimney sweeping, more to do with a flue badly installed nearly 20 years ago finally giving way.

In my youth I very stupidly wanted to be very independent and know how to do everything for myself. I have suffered for it ever since. My MIL has never lifted so much as a paintbrush and I watch and marvel at my stupidity and her immaculate nails. My 'versatility' has saved us a fortune over the years, though, from haircuts to darning to crafts to growing all our own veg until this year. I blame The Good Life and childhood holidays spent watching rural europeans leading a far simpler life than mine.

I used to be good at dressmaking, diy and doing things in and around the garden. It goes hard that age, arthritis and an auto-immune condition have called a halt to most of these activities. I was, however, forbidden to cut hair when I inadvertently gave DS2 a crew cut when he was ten.

Bichonmad -I would definitely lock the porch door and the inner door as I have done with houses that had porches in the past. It would be so easy for a burglar to close the porch door and break the lock on the main door within seconds and then he is into your house. It is my personal opinion that the more locks the better.

Talking of locked doors...I come back from walking the dogs earlier to find my front door wide open. I sent the dogs in first, grabbed a milk bottle and searched the house. Nothing, no one.
I must not have closed the latch properly and the wind blew it open. I was gone nearly and hour and my purse, iPad, Kindle, etc were lying on the kitchen table.
How lucky was I?

thank you so much for all your replies they are very very helpful,i will lock both doors common sense really i suppose,and i am definatly warming to the idea of the fire (no pun intended) what a wonderful friendly site