Which adds more resale value to a home, a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?
In Swannanoa, resale value is being written into rebuilt homes right now. Recovery from recent storm damage has homeowners installing new fireplaces and stoves as they renovate, and a documented, permitted hearth adds real value in a market where buyers ask what heats a house when the power's out. On the town's gas mains sealed gas is convenient; a wood-burning stove answers the outage question outright.
Building value into the rebuild
A lot of Swannanoa's Grovemont-area homes — 1940s to 60s houses with original masonry fireplaces — are being renovated or rebuilt after the storm, and that's the moment to get the hearth right. Adding a new, properly installed fireplace or stove during the rebuild, permitted and inspected, folds real value into the home instead of leaving a decorative firebox that dates it. Buyers walking these rebuilt houses notice a hearth that's clearly new, documented, and heat-capable.
The outage question sells here
After the region went dark for days, buyers in this valley think hard about backup heat. A wood-burning fireplace or stove reads as total grid independence — heat you own outright when the power's out. A gas unit with millivolt or battery-backup ignition keeps producing heat too, which no electric fireplace can claim. On Swannanoa's gas blocks either one adds value; the honest edge for outage security goes to wood.
Damp masonry, documented work
River-valley fog and cold-air pooling are hard on masonry chimneys here, so an older flue may need a liner or cap to be an asset rather than a repair credit. Fifteen minutes east of our Asheville showroom, we pull the Buncombe permit and meet the inspector. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Swannanoa
We install and service fireplaces throughout Swannanoa and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes east from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
- Does a gas fireplace add more home value than an electric fireplace?
- Should I get a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?
- Which lasts longer, a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?
- Does a wood stove raise your homeowners insurance more than a gas fireplace does?
- Is it worth switching from a wood-burning fireplace to an electric fireplace?