Will a gas insert seal off the drafts and old smoke odors coming from my open fireplace chimney?
Yes, and in Swannanoa a lot of homeowners are asking during a rebuild. Storm damage sent renovations through the valley, and those Grovemont-era 1940s-to-'60s houses still have original masonry fireplaces that draft heat and hold a stale smoke smell. A gas insert seals that firebox behind a liner and surround panel — capping the draft and clearing the odor as part of the rebuild.
Rebuilding the right hearth
Recovery from recent storm damage has renovations underway across Swannanoa, and it's the natural moment to fix an old fireplace rather than restore its problems. The Grovemont-area homes here carry original masonry fireboxes — open flues that pull warmed air out of the house and, in a river valley thick with fog and cold-air pooling, breathe damp creosote smell back in. Building a sealed insert into that firebox now is far simpler than living with the draft again.
Sealed, and outage-proof
A [gas insert](/services/gas-insert-installation) caps the chimney with a stainless liner and seals the opening with a surround panel, so the draft stops and the smoke odor goes. Swannanoa learned what a multi-day outage feels like — and where the open fireplace ran a net heat loss, a sealed insert commonly runs 70% efficient or better, keeping the heat coming through the next one with millivolt or battery-backup ignition. That's the hearth that stays warm when the grid doesn't.
Licensed, permitted, 15 minutes away
Swannanoa's on the natural-gas mains, but running or extending the line is licensed work — we pull the Buncombe County permit, pressure-test the line, and meet the inspector, protecting your insurance and the home's value. River-valley damp is hard on masonry, so we [inspect the flue and size the liner](/services/fireplace-inspection) first. We're 15 minutes east of the Asheville showroom. 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 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?