What is the best fireplace for an old, drafty house?

The ranch-era retrofit

Clyde's housing stock is heavy on 1960s-to-80s ranches, and their dated fireplaces are ready-made for insert upgrades: masonry boxes that draw well enough but heat almost nothing. In a long single-story floor plan, that open firebox is a draft engine — it pulls warm air out of the far bedrooms to feed the flue. A sealed gas insert with a standard blower, like the Kozy Heat Chaska 25L, reverses that: 25,000 BTU pushed out into the living space, combustion sealed away from house air, and a correctly sized liner up the old chimney as part of the job.

Most of these ranches have sound masonry — the draw is there; the heat never was, and that's exactly what an insert fixes. Prefer wood? An EPA-certified wood insert does the same sealing job and keeps your heat independent of the power lines — worth weighing in a valley that knows outages. Either path ends with the firebox sealed, the liner sized right, and the far rooms finally holding their temperature.

Between two cold valleys

Clyde shares Canton's and Waynesville's cold-air drainage, and Pigeon River humidity rusts dampers and degrades masonry chimneys here early — a rusted damper that never fully closes is a year-round draft you're quietly paying for. Fuel in Clyde is mixed, gas and propane both, and either connection is licensed work in North Carolina: we run it, pressure-test it, pull the Haywood County permit, and meet the inspector. We're about 25 minutes west of our Asheville showroom at 629 Emma Rd. Call (828) 545-0525 and we'll start with an honest look at that damper.