What is the best fireplace for an old, drafty house?
For Asheville's older houses — Montford, North Asheville, the bungalow blocks of West Asheville — the best fireplace is a sealed insert set into the masonry firebox the house was built around, fed by the natural-gas mains that already run under most city streets. You keep the original mantel and character; you stop sending furnace-heated air up the flue.
The houses that leak the most are the ones worth saving
Montford and North Asheville are full of homes with original masonry fireplaces, tall ceilings, and envelopes that were never tight to begin with — and at 2,134 feet, Asheville nights stay in the 20s well into early spring. An open firebox in one of those houses inhales the air your heating system just paid to warm and sends it up the chimney around the clock, open damper included, whether or not a fire is burning. West Asheville's bungalows have the same disease in a smaller frame. The cure isn't abandoning the fireplace; it's sealing it.
The city's gas mains make this an easy retrofit
Most of Asheville sits on natural-gas service, which means converting an old firebox rarely involves a long, expensive fuel run — often it's a short line from meter to hearth. A Napoleon Oakville X4 or Kozy Heat Chaska 25L slides into the existing masonry opening, and with the Chaska's standard blower, the room your family actually lives in gets real, controllable heat instead of a view of it. Running that line is licensed gas work in North Carolina — we're the licensed gas contractor, we pull the Buncombe County permit, and we pressure-test everything before the inspector signs off.
The showroom is in your zip code
We're headquartered at 629 Emma Rd, so an Asheville homeowner can stand in front of burning display units on a lunch break and see exactly what a sealed flame looks like inside a period surround. Bring photos of your firebox and mantel; we'll tell you honestly what fits and what doesn't. Then we come measure at the house — the assessment is free. Call (828) 545-0525 and we'll start with your coldest room.
Fireplace help in Asheville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Asheville and the rest of Buncombe County — we're headquartered right here.