Is it cheaper to heat your house with wood or with gas?
In Canton, plenty of families learned the hard way that the cheapest heat is the heat that still works when the grid and the water are down. On fuel alone, cut-your-own wood is cheapest and natural gas beats propane per unit. But here we start with whether your hearth and gas connections came through the flooding intact.
Flood-damaged hearths come first
The Pigeon River valley flooding water-damaged a lot of hearths and gas appliances, and before we talk running cost we look at whether your gas connections are sound. A compromised gas line is not a cheap-heat question, it is a safety one, and elevation and careful inspection of every connection are especially critical on a home that took water. We are a licensed gas contractor; we permit and pressure-test the lines we run rather than guessing at storm-stressed fittings, and we would rather find a problem now than have you light a questionable appliance.
Backup heat is part of the value
After the outages, the cheapest heat is the kind that keeps working when everything else quits. A wood stove, like the Regency that kept people warm through Helene, or a millivolt or battery-backup gas unit gives you heat with the power down; electric gives you nothing in an outage, and central heat stops the moment the grid does. Read [backup heat for a power outage in WNC](/guides/backup-heat-power-outage-wnc) for how power-optional hearths are set up. We saw it firsthand in the valley: the homes that stayed warm through the outage were the ones with a working hearth, wood or power-optional gas, while everyone on central heat and electric sat cold. For a town that has been through the water and the dark, that reliability is worth building the whole heating plan around, and it is the first thing we weigh with you.
Haywood permits, 20 minutes east
We pull the permit with Haywood County and meet the inspector, which matters doubly on rebuilt or repaired homes and protects your insurance. The showroom is 20 minutes east in Asheville, and the in-home assessment is free. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Canton
We install and service fireplaces throughout Canton and the rest of Haywood County — just 20 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.
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