Who should I call about a suspected gas leak — the gas company or a fireplace technician?
In Flat Rock, many homes date to the 1800s, and a gas smell in one still starts the same way: everyone outside, then call the natural-gas utility's emergency line or 911 from the yard. They shut the supply at the meter for free. Repairing the leak in century-old piping is licensed gas-contractor work — that's us, not a mason.
Old houses, retrofitted gas
Historic Flat Rock's oversized open masonry fireplaces and aging clay flue liners were never built for gas — the lines feeding today's log sets and inserts were added decades later, and older retrofits are exactly where leaks like to hide. None of that changes the emergency response, though. An active smell means get out without touching a switch or lighting anything, then call the utility's around-the-clock number from outside. They come any hour, sweep with instruments, and cut the gas at the meter at no charge.
The repair that protects the house
The natural-gas utility makes it safe and leaves everything past the meter to you — and in a home this old, that piping deserves a careful, licensed hand. Under North Carolina law, finding and fixing the leak is licensed gas-contractor work, not a job for a mason or the showroom that sold the insert. We trace it with an electronic detector, put the run under test pressure, repair it, retest, and pull the Henderson County permit when the scope requires so the inspector documents it — which matters when a historic home changes hands.
Keep the right two numbers
Natural gas means the utility owns up to your meter and you own everything downstream, including the line into a century-old firebox. Save our 24/7 number, (828) 545-0525, next to the utility's emergency line. Flat Rock is 30 minutes south of our Asheville showroom.
Fireplace help in Flat Rock
We install and service fireplaces throughout Flat Rock and the rest of Henderson County — just 30 minutes south from our Asheville-area showroom.