Will a gas insert seal off the drafts and old smoke odors coming from my open fireplace chimney?
Yes, and in Flat Rock it's the rare upgrade that fixes the draft without touching the character. Many homes here date to the 1800s, with oversized open masonry fireplaces and aging clay flue liners that pull cold air straight into the room. A gas insert seals that firebox behind a liner and surround panel — draft gone, old smoke smell gone, historic mantel intact.
Old flues, big drafts
An oversized 19th-century open firebox is a spectacular thing to keep and a terrible thing to heat around. The bigger the opening and the taller the flue, the more heated air it siphons out of the house, and Flat Rock's aging clay liners crack and let that draft — and the stale creosote odor soaked into old masonry — right back into the living space. Homeowners here feel the cold-air draft pouring across the floor whenever the fire's out.
Sealing without erasing the fireplace
A [gas insert](/services/gas-insert-installation) fits inside the existing firebox, so the original mantel and stonework stay exactly as they are. A stainless liner runs the full chimney and caps the old draft, and a surround panel seals the face — the flue is closed to everything but the insert's sealed, direct-vented exhaust. The cold-air draft stops and the smoke smell clears, and you keep the fireplace that gives a historic Flat Rock room its whole character.
Permitted, and close by
Flat Rock sits on the natural-gas mains, but running or extending the line is licensed work in North Carolina. We do it, pull the Henderson County permit, pressure-test the line, and meet the inspector — the piece a showroom or mason legally can't finish. Where the open hearth ran a net heat loss, the insert commonly runs 70% efficient or better. We're 30 minutes south of our Asheville showroom; call (828) 545-0525.
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.
Related questions
- Does replacing an open wood fireplace with an insert improve the air in my house?
- Can an unused fireplace or chimney cause moisture and mold problems in the house?
- Why do I smell smoke in my house when the fireplace isn't even burning?
- Does a direct vent gas fireplace use the air in my room for combustion?
- Do gas fireplace inserts burn cleaner than gas log sets?