I agree with Stax. Gas lines, are nothing to mess with, get it done by a professional.

Gas lines removed by whom? Properly removed or half-assed? Electric near where gas lines were "removed" potentially half-assed, what could go wrong? Defintely get someone to check it poout who knows what they are looking at. Lives could be lost of not.

Thanks all. We didn't do the gas line work so yes we have decided to call a local fireplace company. Don't want to burn the house down. Still need to decide once they do that if we should go back to gas (see where we are with that) or go with electric. I'm guessing with a toddler, we should go the electric route? Ready to demo the whole thing and call it a day. The mantel is ugly, the tile is ugly... it's a real mess!

Do you want a fireplace? They take up valuable space. I would consider removing it entirely.

My unused fireplace takes up no usable space... to remove fireplace, chimney, modify foundation, repair walls would be quite expensive and serve little or no purpose.

Also, for resale it will help your house probably.

We don't know if we want one or not - we are exploring all of our options. Nice to have at Christmas etc. but honestly need to think about that.