Wood-burning insert vs gas insert — which should I choose?
In historic Flat Rock the housing stock decides it. Homes here date to the 1800s with oversized open masonry fireplaces and aging clay flue liners that drag cold drafts into the room. A sealed insert — gas for switch-on ease, wood for hands-on, independent heat — stops the draft while keeping the original mantel and character. Both are far more efficient than the open hearth they replace.
Preserving character, fixing the draft
Flat Rock's 1800s homes have some of the handsomest fireplaces we see — big, open, and built for a different era's idea of heat. The trouble is they draft cold air into the room and send your furnace's warmth up an aging clay flue. An insert solves that without touching the look you'd never want to lose: it slides into the existing opening, keeps the mantel and surround, and seals the firebox. A wood insert makes that grand old opening a real heater for someone who enjoys the fire; a gas insert does it at the flip of a switch.
Aging clay flues and the new liner
Those original clay tile liners are often cracked or undersized after a century-plus, which is part of why the fireplace performs poorly. Every insert we install — gas or wood — includes a correctly sized stainless liner run up inside that chimney, sized to the appliance. On the gas side, running the fuel line is licensed work in North Carolina, so we pull the Henderson County permit and pressure-test before the first flame. A furniture showroom can sell a firebox; only a licensed gas contractor can connect it.
See both burning
Our Asheville showroom is 30 minutes away, with gas and wood inserts lit side by side so you can compare the flame and the heat. Call (828) 545-0525 for a free in-home assessment of your Flat Rock fireplace.
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.
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