What is the best fireplace for a rental or Airbnb property?
The typical Arden rental — a 1980s-or-90s Royal Pines or Skyland home — comes with an open masonry fireplace that pulls more heat out of the house than it puts in, a bad trade when you pay the utility bills between guests. The best answer here is a sealed gas insert in that existing masonry, on Arden's natural-gas mains.
Turn the heat leak into the heater
Arden's open fireplaces are exactly the tired, drafty kind that pull warm air out of the room and send it up the chimney — an open masonry hearth can actually run a net heat loss, which means the amenity in your listing photos is quietly raising your winter power bill. A gas insert changes the arithmetic completely: sealed behind glass, running 70 percent efficient or better, operated by a wall switch a guest cannot get wrong. On natural gas, the Napoleon Oakville X4 or the Kozy Heat Chaska 25L — blower standard — are the two we'd shortlist for a Royal Pines or Avery Creek property, and the existing masonry means the project is a liner and an insert, not a construction job. Winter cold funnels down the Hendersonville Road corridor at night, so the insert will earn real use.
The practical stuff, 15 minutes from our door
Arden sits 15 minutes south of our showroom at 629 Emma Rd, which makes it easy to walk the floor with your listing photos before deciding, and easy for us to handle service between bookings. The work is permitted with Buncombe County, the line is pressure-tested, and the inspection goes in your file — documentation that matters when the address is on a booking platform. Gas fireplace installation typically runs $3,500 to $8,000 installed, depending on the unit, venting, and how far the gas line has to travel — and the in-home assessment that answers it precisely is free. No pressure, no upselling — if the existing setup is safe and serviceable, we'll say so. Annual service from $189, booked before the fall. 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
- What's the best fireplace for a vacation home or second home that sits empty part of the year?
- What's the best fireplace option for renters who can't make permanent changes?
- What is the safest fireplace for kids and pets?
- What's the easiest fireplace for an elderly person to use?
- Which type of fireplace requires the least maintenance?

