What's the best fix for a wood-burning fireplace that smokes into the room?
In Asheville the fix depends on which side of town you're on: Montford and North Asheville's century-old masonry fireplaces usually smoke because the flue was never proportioned for the opening, while tighter new South Asheville construction starves the fire of combustion air. An inspection sorts one from the other — and our showroom sits right on Emma Rd, so the help is local.
Two Ashevilles, two different smoke problems
Montford and North Asheville hearths were laid up by hand a hundred years ago, and plenty of them have flues that are too small, too short, or too crooked for the fireboxes they serve — they smoked in 1926 and they smoke now. West Asheville tells a different story: bungalow remodels that air-sealed the envelope, added a big range hood, and left the fireplace competing for air it can no longer win. Same symptom, opposite causes — and the wrong fix wastes your money on both.
How we pin it down
We start with the chimney itself: termination height relative to your roofline, flue condition and proportion, damper operation, creosote, and the blockages that show up after an off-season. Then we look at the house — if the smoke misbehaves only when the kitchen or bath fans run, the chimney may be innocent and the building is the suspect. Nights here stay in the 20s well into early spring, so a marginal draft gets months of chances to embarrass itself every single year.
The fix, and where to see it burning
For an old masonry hearth that has always smoked, a sealed EPA wood insert with a correctly sized stainless liner is the cure that lasts — and it converts an ornament into a heater that commonly runs 70 percent efficient or better. Because Asheville sits on natural-gas mains, a sealed direct-vent gas insert is on the table too, and as a licensed gas contractor we run the line, pull the Buncombe County permit, and meet the inspector. Both options are burning live at 629 Emma Rd — come stand in front of them, or call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Asheville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Asheville and the rest of Buncombe County — we're headquartered right here.