Should I get a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?
Waynesville is a genuine both-sides town, and the deciding factor here is cold. At nearly 2,650 feet you run 10 to 15 degrees colder than Asheville with a heating season about three weeks longer, so ambiance isn't enough — you want an appliance that actually heats. Wood earns its keep here; a sealed gas unit does too. Your fuel and your outage plan break the tie.
Built to heat, not just glow
Waynesville is one of the coldest communities we serve, and a lot of Hazelwood's older homes still lean on big open fireplaces that pull as much warm room air up the flue as they put out. If you want the hearth to carry real load, wood is hard to beat here — the Regency Cascades F1500 wood stove is EPA-certified, runs around 78% efficient, heats up to 1,500 square feet, and holds an overnight burn. That's heat you own outright, no utility and no tank, at an elevation where the furnace works hard all winter.
Gas versus propane in Haywood
Fuel is genuinely mixed in Haywood. Some Waynesville homes sit on the natural-gas main; plenty more, especially up the Hazelwood slopes and out toward Lake Junaluska, run propane. Propane works beautifully and actually burns hotter per unit — a Kozy Heat Springfield 36 is American-made for exactly that kind of cold-mountain propane home. The catch is that a unit set up for the wrong fuel soots and underperforms, which is why we match the orifices and gas pressure to what you've got rather than guessing.
The outage lesson still holds
With a heating season this long, plan for outages. When power went out across WNC for days, the homes that stayed warm had a working wood or gas hearth — electric goes dead, so we won't call it backup heat. Gas with battery-backup or millivolt ignition still lights with the grid down. We pull the Haywood County permit, meet the inspector, and pressure-test every gas line we run. We're 35 minutes west. Call (828) 545-0525 for a free in-home assessment.
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.
Related questions
- Which heats a room better, a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?
- Is it cheaper to heat your house with wood or with gas?
- Which requires more maintenance, a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?
- Which lasts longer, a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?
- Which adds more resale value to a home, a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?