In Leicester, craftsman fireplaces lean toward wood and propane. These are rural large-property homes — many on propane, some with limited electrical capacity, and wood heat is popular. So the Arts-and-Crafts look here usually wraps a wood-burning firebox or a propane unit: heavy oak or timber mantel, stacked river stone, clinker brick — honest materials around a fire that doesn't depend on the grid.
Wood country, and why it fits
Sandy Mush, Turkey Creek, and the rural roads around Leicester are wood-heat country, and craftsman style takes to it naturally — a stone-and-oak surround around a real wood fire is the Arts-and-Crafts ideal. Wood is also the gold standard for backup heat: total grid independence, the kind that kept homes warm when Helene took the power down for days, and it matters more here because cold-air drainage runs these valleys 5 to 8 degrees colder than Asheville on a clear night. An EPA-certified wood firebox or insert, behind period detail, gives character and heat you own outright.
Propane and limited power
Leicester is mixed-fuel, and on the large lots you're often on propane, which burns hotter and needs the right orifices so a craftsman log set stays clean. A Kozy Heat Springfield 36 is built for propane-country cabins. Where a home has limited electrical capacity, that's another point for wood or a millivolt gas unit that doesn't lean on a circuit board — the fire keeps working when the power is thin. We handle the propane connection and the wood chimney alike.
Buncombe permit, one accountable crew
Gas conversions and propane hookups are licensed work a landscaper legally can't touch — we permit and pressure-test with Buncombe County and do the Class A chimney right. Fifteen minutes west of the showroom. Call (828) 545-0525 for a free in-home assessment.
Fireplace help in Leicester
We install and service fireplaces throughout Leicester and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.