How should I shut down and protect a fireplace in a second home that sits vacant for months?
In Black Mountain, the Swannanoa Valley's cold-air inversions leave mornings 10 to 15 degrees colder than Asheville with frost lingering into late spring, so a closed-up house stays cold and damp. You're on natural gas here, so the fuel side is easy — but seal the flue carefully, because Montreat's shaded, wooded lots keep an idle firebox moisture-prone.
Cold, damp, and shaded
Black Mountain and Montreat sit where cold air pools and heavily wooded lots keep houses cool and shaded even in warm months. For a vacant second home that means an unused firebox and flue stay damp long after the valley below has dried, and damp is what breeds rust and mildew in a chimney no one's using. Block and seal the damper, close the flue with a chimney balloon, and clean out every bit of ash before you go so nothing holds moisture against cold metal through a long empty season.
Natural gas, wooded-lot wildlife
Being on the gas mains keeps the fuel side simple — shut the pilot for the season, or leave a standing pilot lit for its drying warmth, and pull the remote batteries so they don't leak. The wildlife side needs more attention here than in most towns: Montreat's dense tree canopy puts birds, squirrels, and nesting animals right over your chimney, so a proper cap and screen — or a chimney balloon for an open masonry flue — is what keeps a nest out of an idle vent and off your first fire.
Fifteen minutes east
We're just 15 minutes east of Emma Road, so a Black Mountain close-up in spring and a fall reopening are quick trips, and we pull any Buncombe County permit if the work calls for it. Have the vent cleared and the pilot, damper, and cap checked before the first fire — after a cold, damp, shaded off-season, that check is what stands between you and a smoke-back or a rusted-shut damper. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Black Mountain
We install and service fireplaces throughout Black Mountain and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes east from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
- Does a fireplace I never use still need to be inspected?
- Should I turn off the pilot light on my gas fireplace in the summer?
- How do I keep birds and animals from nesting in my fireplace vent or chimney?
- How do I keep dust and debris out of my fireplace during the months it is not used?
- Should I use a chimney balloon or flue plug to seal the chimney during the off-season?