Is it dangerous to install a gas fireplace or gas logs yourself?
In Arden's established Royal Pines and Skyland neighborhoods, tired open masonry fireplaces pull heat out of the room instead of adding it — and the fix, a sealed gas insert, is not a DIY job. Installing gas yourself is dangerous and, in North Carolina, licensed work you legally can't do. An insert needs a correctly sized liner and a permitted gas line, and Arden's on natural gas, which tempts homeowners to tap the main themselves.
Turning a heat-loser into a heater
Those 1980s-and-'90s open fireboxes around Skyland and Royal Pines can actually run a net heat loss with the damper open — the room's warm air goes up the chimney. Dropping in a sealed gas insert turns it into a real heater that commonly runs 70% efficient or better, but the conversion needs a chimney liner sized to the appliance and a licensed gas line, not a hardware-store hookup. A DIY insert with the wrong liner or an undersized line soots and makes carbon monoxide. This is precise work, and it's ours.
The main at the street isn't a green light
Arden's natural-gas mains make gas convenient, which is exactly why people underestimate the connection. Branching or extending that line inside the house is licensed gas-piping work in North Carolina; we pull the Buncombe County permit, meet the inspector, size the line, and pressure-test it. Biltmore Park's retail and office spaces bring commercial hearth work too, held to the same licensed standard. Either way, the permit protects your insurance and your resale. We're just 15 minutes south of our Asheville showroom.
Heat you can count on
A sealed insert with battery-backup ignition keeps warming the room when the power drops, unlike the open fireplace it replaces or an electric unit that goes dead in an outage. That's the upgrade that actually earns its keep on a cold Arden night. Call (828) 545-0525 for a free in-home assessment.
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.