Will converting my wood fireplace to gas improve my indoor air quality?
For most Asheville homes, yes — noticeably. The original masonry fireplaces in Montford and North Asheville were built to burn wood, and every wood fire sheds fine particulate, ash, and soot into rooms that hold it. Trade that firebox for a sealed gas insert and the smoke, ash, and off-season odor simply stop entering your air.
The trouble with an original city firebox
Walk into a Montford or North Asheville home built a century ago and you'll usually find a wide open masonry fireplace — beautiful, and a genuine source of indoor particulate. Those big throats pull cold-flue drafts on the still nights when our elevation drops into the 20s, so smoke rolls back into the room on start-up and soot settles on the mantel all season. West Asheville bungalows tell the same story. A gas conversion ends the wood-smoke input entirely.
Ambiance logs or a sealed insert — the air differs
You have two routes. Dropping a gas log set into the existing masonry keeps the look at a lower cost, though a vented set still breathes up the open damper and a ventless set holds its byproducts indoors. A sealed insert is the cleaner-air choice: sealed combustion, all exhaust carried out through the wall or roof, none of it circulating back into the room you breathe. For allergy-sensitive households in the River Arts or Kenilworth area, the insert is the one we point to. See /guides/convert-wood-fireplace-to-gas.
Local crew, licensed for the gas side
We're headquartered at 629 Emma Rd, so an Asheville conversion is a short drive and a showroom you can walk before you decide. The city sits on the natural-gas mains, which keeps the fuel side simple. Connecting that gas is the part North Carolina law hands to a licensed contractor — a showroom or mason can sell the box but can't legally pipe it — and we pull the Buncombe County permit and pressure-test the line before an inspector signs off. Free in-home assessment: 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.
Related questions
- Does replacing an open wood fireplace with an insert improve the air in my house?
- Will a gas insert seal off the drafts and old smoke odors coming from my open fireplace chimney?
- Do wood-burning fireplaces pollute the air inside your house?
- Are direct vent gas fireplaces healthier than ventless ones?
- Will converting my wood fireplace to gas reduce my environmental impact?