How do I keep birds and animals from nesting in my fireplace vent or chimney?
At nearly 2,650 feet, Waynesville leans on its hearths harder and longer than lower WNC towns, so an open, unguarded flue is both an animal magnet and a heat problem. The older drafty fireplaces around Hazelwood need a mesh-sided stainless cap that blocks squirrels and swifts, while a mixed-fuel gas unit relies on its factory vent screen instead.
A longer burning season, a longer nesting window
Waynesville runs 10 to 15 degrees colder than Asheville and its heating season stretches about three weeks longer, which means residents depend on the fireplace for real warmth — and a blocked flue costs you that warmth exactly when you need it most. Hazelwood's older housing stock is full of wide open fireboxes whose warm smoke shelves make ideal dens for a raccoon or a nesting squirrel.
A stainless cap fitted to the flue keeps them out while still shedding the heavy weather this elevation gets. On the gas side of Waynesville's mixed fuel picture, the sealed termination already screens itself; there the task is keeping that mesh clear of debris and intact, not fitting new hardware.
Haywood County service, thirty-five minutes out
We're about thirty-five minutes west of the Emma Road shop, so a Waynesville cap job gets planned rather than squeezed in — one more reason a scheduled late-summer inspection beats an emergency call in January. Any permitted gas work up here goes through the Haywood County office and gets pressure-tested.
Don't try to smoke a nest out to reclaim the flue: it won't clear a packed nest, it can push carbon monoxide back inside, and swifts are federally protected. We remove the nest, check the liner for damage, and set the cap right so it holds through the long mountain winter. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Waynesville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Waynesville and the rest of Haywood County — just 35 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.
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