Hi there - see my question below yours - I think we are doing The exact opposite. Unfortunately, I can't help answer your question but you may be able to help answer mine ;) Is yours currently the vent or vent-free longs? Do you have a full enclosure or just the gas logs? Why are you switching? I do love a real wood fire but they are just so messy. I as hoping gas woudl offer the ambiance of a real fire without the mess. Thoughts?

I have the vented set-up, not the full enclosure. I'm ready for the mess of a real fireplace:) I just prefer having a real fire. In my region gas is outrageous to run any length of time and would just rather a good ole fire.

Rebeccamom123: You need to be very cautious about this. Have the chimney inspected by a certified chimney sweep or your local fire department if they offer this service. You need to make sure your chimney is lined and that the lining is in good condition. Burning wood, unlike burning gas, produces creosote and much higher temperatures. If this fireplace was originally intended for wood burning, you're probably all set as long as the chimney lining is in good condition. If, on the other hand, it was intended for gas from the start neither the fireplace itself nor the chimney may be safe for wood burning.

I'm not sure what a fire starter pipe is, but if you mean a gas pipe, I'm pretty sure combining gas and wood burning in one fireplace would be a code violation, not to mention a very serious fire hazard.

Everything said by akamaingrower is spot on except this:
"I'm not sure what a fire starter pipe is, but if you mean a gas pipe, I'm pretty sure combining gas and wood burning in one fireplace would be a code violation, not to mention a very serious fire hazard."

Gas starter pipes are the norm in most of the country; there's nothing illegal or hazardous about them. HOWEVER, you do need to make sure that the gas plumbing allows (heat can move back through the pipe if not plumbed properly) a simple switch to a starter pipe.

You have a low-end pre-fab fireplace with a thin sheet metal firebox. You have a thinwall non-stainless air insulated chimney - these tend to rust the inner liner and cause problems. This will not be a good wood-burning fireplace. you can switch, but it's performance with wood won't be great. If you had a real masonry fireplace (with an appropriately high chimney) then the performance, safety, and durability would be much better; these are rarely installed by builders any more because the costs can be 10-50 times higher.

We took our fireplace from gas to wood burning. Easy as pie. We capped off the gas and got rid of the ceramic logs, etc., then just used it as a wood burning. Worked for the 14 years we were there. The fireplace initially was a wood burner that the folks before us made into gas. We had a fireplace guy (whatever that means) come out and make sure we could burn wood, and I think we had a plumber fix the gas. Sorry not to be more specific but as you can see, I don't know much about it other than we hired the right people to do it/verify that it was ok to burn wood in it and then it was fine.