How do I check that my fireplace is safe to use before the first fire of the season?
In Hendersonville, add one item most checklists skip: look for movement in the chimney itself. The clay-heavy Henderson County soil settles foundations and can pull a masonry stack out of true, opening mortar gaps you want caught before the first fire. Otherwise check the flue, glass, and logs, and test your smoke and CO alarms.
The soil-and-masonry problem unique to here
Hendersonville's clay subsoil holds water and shifts with the seasons, and over decades that movement stresses older downtown and Laurel Park masonry: hairline cracks in the crown, a lean in the stack, gaps where flue-liner joints have separated. Before you light, walk the exterior in daylight and look up. A chimney that has visibly shifted, or mortar you can rake out with a fingernail, is a combustion-gas leak waiting to happen and a reason to call before you burn. Inside, the rest is standard: clear the vent termination on a sealed gas unit, confirm the glass gasket is snug, and watch the first burn for a crisp pilot and steady flame. Many Main Street and Spartanburg Highway buyers here are retirees who chose quiet, low-maintenance direct-vent gas precisely so the seasonal check stays this short.
What we pull and measure
We pull the Henderson County permit for any gas or hearth work and meet the inspector, so it's on record for your home sale and insurance, and if that clay-soil movement has cracked a flue, a relining or a sealed insert is the fix, both licensed work in our lane. The annual inspection, from $189, measures what a homeowner can't: draft under fire and carbon monoxide at the vent. Book it before the cool valley evenings turn into a hard cold snap and the schedule fills. Hendersonville is about 25 minutes south of our Emma Road showroom. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Hendersonville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Hendersonville and the rest of Henderson County — just 25 minutes south from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
- Does a gas fireplace need an annual safety inspection?
- How often should a chimney be swept to prevent a chimney fire?
- Is a bird's nest or animal in the chimney a fire or carbon monoxide hazard?
- Is a fireplace that hasn't been used in years safe to start using again?
- Why is my carbon monoxide detector going off when my fireplace is running?