Is it cheaper to heat your house with wood or with gas?
In Arden, the biggest cost lever is not wood versus gas, it is the tired open masonry fireplace in so many Royal Pines and Skyland homes, which pulls heat out of the room instead of adding it. Fix that and either fuel gets far cheaper; natural gas off the mains is the cheapest gas heat here.
The appliance is half the bill
Those 1980s and 90s homes in Skyland and Royal Pines mostly have open masonry fireboxes, and an open masonry fireplace can run a net heat loss, which makes it the most expensive firewood you will ever burn even when the wood is free. A sealed insert turns that same opening into a real heater at 70% efficiency or better, and the swing from net-loss to 70-plus dwarfs the difference between wood and gas prices. That is why we push people to fix the box before agonizing over the fuel. Our [fireplace insert cost](/guides/fireplace-insert-cost) guide covers the drivers.
Cheap gas, or cheaper wood
Arden is on natural-gas mains, so the cheaper gas heat comes by pipe with no tank, which suits the low-maintenance crowd near Biltmore Park who would rather flip a switch than stack a cord. Cut-your-own wood is cheaper still on fuel alone, and it keeps working when the grid drops, but you are feeding it twice a day all winter. Convenience against labor is the honest trade once the leaky firebox is fixed. We see both choices in Royal Pines and Skyland and respect either one, but the mistake we talk people out of is spending on premium fuel while leaving the open firebox that wastes it in place. Fix the box first, then pick the fuel that fits how you actually live, and the free assessment will show you the difference in plain numbers before you spend anything.
Fifteen minutes south
We pull the Buncombe County permit and meet the inspector. Arden is 15 minutes south of our showroom at 629 Emma Rd, and the free in-home assessment makes the insert-versus-fuel call concrete for your room. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Arden
We install and service fireplaces throughout Arden and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes south from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
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