Masonry repair
Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Fast, Reliable Fireplace Repair Across North Druid Hills
Most fireplace repairs in North Druid Hills run between $180 and $750, depending on what’s actually wrong. A damper replacement costs $220 to $420. A gas valve or pilot assembly runs $275 to $500. A full firebox rebuild with new refractory panels starts around $900 and can reach $2,800 if structural brickwork is involved. Nathan Corliss and the Ashby Chimney Atlanta crew work throughout North Druid Hills, from LaVista Road to the neighborhoods off Clairmont, and we give you a written price before we touch a single brick. Call (678) 263-7908 and we’ll answer, day or night.

We know these homes. The split-levels in Leafmore Hills, the ranches along North Druid Hills Road, the mid-century builds tucked into the hills south of I-85. They all have their own fireplace quirks, and most of them come down to age, the Georgia climate, and how the chimney was originally put together. That local knowledge means we diagnose faster and fix it right the first time.
Why Ashby Chimney Atlanta Is North Druid Hills’s Preferred Fireplace Repair Company
We’ve been repairing fireplaces since 2002, and the crews who show up in North Druid Hills are background-checked, uniformed, and trained on the specific failure patterns these older chimneys throw at you. You’ll never get a technician who’s never heard of a LaVista Park downdraft problem or who doesn’t know what 60 years of Georgia red clay moisture does to terra cotta flue tiles.
The phone at (678) 263-7908 is answered by a live person 24 hours a day. Not a form, not a callback queue. When you call about a smoky fireplace in North Druid Hills, you talk to someone who can schedule your visit and answer basic questions on the spot. We put every repair estimate in writing before work starts, and every completed repair carries a written guarantee. If a covered repair fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and correct it at no charge. That’s the Fireplace Repair standard we hold ourselves to: the 365-Day Done Right Promise, backed by the Kingswell Guarantee. Ashby Chimney Atlanta is independently owned and operated under that standard.
Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our Atlanta office, but these are local crews serving North Druid Hills directly. We know the streets, the housing stock, and what a 1960s chimney on a hilly lot is going to show us before we even pull up.
Styles & brands we work with





Wood Stove Installation in North Druid Hills
Wood stove installation in North Druid Hills is a retrofit job we do for homeowners who want actual heat from a masonry hearth that was built for show, not warmth. Many of these mid-century fireplaces draw poorly, eat wood, and throw off very little heat for the amount of smoke they produce. A properly installed wood stove changes that: a sealed firebox with a stainless liner running up the existing chimney turns a drafty focal point into a real heat source for the room and beyond.
A typical wood stove install here runs $3,200 to $6,500, which includes the liner, the stove, labor, and any hearth extension or clearance work needed to meet code. We’ll tell you straight if your existing fireplace can handle a wood stove or if you’d be better served by a dedicated chimney system.
Liner First, Stove Second
On a 50-to-70-year-old North Druid Hills chimney, you cannot safely install a wood stove without addressing the flue. Most of these homes have original clay tile liners with cracks, missing mortar, or both. We install an insulated stainless steel liner rated for solid-fuel burning, sized correctly for the stove you choose. Skipping the liner or reusing a cracked clay flue behind a wood stove is how chimney fires happen.
Clearance and Code Work
Older ranch and split-level fireplaces often have less clearance to combustible framing than modern code allows. Before any stove installation, we check clearance distances, floor protection, and the chimney’s structural condition. If the hearth needs extending or a wall shield added, that gets priced into your written estimate upfront, not discovered halfway through.
Gas Fireplace Repair in North Druid Hills
Gas fireplace repair in North Druid Hills covers the direct-vent and vented gas log sets that so many of these older homes have had installed over the original masonry hearth. We fix pilot lights that won’t stay lit, replace thermocouples and thermopiles, swap out faulty gas valves, and repair or replace worn burner assemblies. If your gas fireplace clicks but won’t light, or you smell gas when trying to start it, call us before you keep messing with it. A gas smell is a safety issue, and a trained professional should address it, not a YouTube video.
Repair costs for gas fireplaces in North Druid Hills generally land between $180 and $550, depending on the part. Pilot assembly replacement is usually $220 to $350. A gas valve runs $275 to $500 installed. We service the major gas log and insert brands and stock common replacement parts close to North Druid Hills so we can often complete the repair in one visit.

Vented vs. Vent-Free Systems
Vented gas logs running through an old masonry chimney have their own failure pattern: soot buildup on logs and glass, partially closed dampers, and carbon monoxide backdrafting into the room when the chimney doesn’t vent properly. Vent-free systems, by contrast, put off heat and moisture directly into the living space, which can worsen condensation and spalling in humid North Druid Hills summers. Our inspections cover which one you have and what it needs.
What a Gas Leak Smells Like
Gas appliances here are often 15 to 30 years old. Rubber hoses crack, connections loosen, valves wear. If you smell gas near the fireplace or the unit shuts off repeatedly, don’t light it and don’t ignore it. Call us at (678) 263-7908. We’ll tell you on the phone whether to shut off the gas supply at the valve while you wait.
Trusted Brands We Service in North Druid Hills
We repair and install equipment from the brands these older North Druid Hills homes were built around and retrofitted with, and we use professional-grade chimney materials from manufacturers we trust: DuraFlex stainless liners, HeatShield cerfractory flue sealant, Gelco chimney restoration products, and Olympia Chimney components. When you need a replacement part for a gas fireplace or a liner section for a wood stove retrofit, we source from the trade suppliers that professional chimney companies have used for decades. Our Atlanta office keeps common parts in inventory, so a North Druid Hills appointment rarely means waiting on a second trip because we didn’t have what we needed on the truck.
See the difference
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After
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AfterCommon Fireplace Repair Problems We See in North Druid Hills Homes
- Cracked clay flue liners. The original terra cotta tiles in 1950s-1970s chimneys crack under decades of moisture and freeze-thaw cycling. On a hilly lot where the chimney takes a jog, those cracks let smoke and carbon monoxide leak into wall cavities instead of going up the flue. We inspect for this every time.
- Third-degree creosote glaze. North Druid Hills homeowners mostly burn for ambiance: low, slow fires with not enough air. That builds tar glaze that a brush cannot remove and that is a legitimate chimney fire risk. We remove it with mechanical or chemical treatment, then reset your burning habits with straightforward advice.
- Spalling brick and cracked crowns. High humidity and regular rain soak masonry, and the occasional freezing night cracks it. Crown cracks let water behind the brick face, which accelerates spalling. Left alone, it destroys the chimney’s top courses and lets water down into the flue.
- Draft problems on hilly lots. Homes built into slopes with chimneys below the ridge line fight wind currents and downdrafts. Smoke pushes back into the room, soot builds on the damper, and the fireplace never draws right. Sometimes it’s a height or cap issue; sometimes a liner resize; sometimes an exterior air supply. We find out which.
Pricing for Fireplace Repair in North Druid Hills, GA
Here are honest ranges for what North Druid Hills homeowners pay: minor repairs like damper clips, gasket replacement, or pilot cleaning run $150 to $300. Damper replacement runs $220 to $420. Gas valve or pilot assembly replacement runs $275 to $500. Firebox refractory panel replacement runs $500 to $1,400. A full masonry firebox rebuild runs $900 to $2,800. Flue liner repair, depending on whether we do a HeatShield resurfacing or a full stainless liner, runs $850 to $3,200. A wood stove installation with liner runs $3,200 to $6,500. Every estimate is written before work begins, so the invoice matches the quote. No handshake pricing, no “we found more while we were in there.” You’ll know the number up front. Call (678) 263-7908 for a free on-site estimate in North Druid Hills.
We Also Serve Cities Near North Druid Hills
Our crews cover North Druid Hills and the surrounding metro, including Atlanta, Dunwoody, North Atlanta, and East Point. If you’re just outside the neighborhood and need the same written pricing, same guarantee, and same live-person phone answer, we’ll come to you.
Serving North Druid Hills, GA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the North Druid Hills area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Fireplace Repair in North Druid Hills
Yes, especially in a pre-1970 home. A few fires a year still deposits creosote, and the bigger risk in North Druid Hills is not buildup, it’s the condition of the original clay flue liner. Cracks develop from moisture and thermal expansion even when the fireplace sits idle. An inspection catches that before smoke or carbon monoxide finds its way into your walls. Call (678) 263-7908 to schedule one, and you’ll get the findings with no pressure to do work that isn’t needed.
That smoky smell in a Leafmore Hills split-level typically comes from creosote-laden soot inside the smoke chamber, often combined with a chimney that downdrafts because of the hill slope and roof line. When air pressure shifts, the chimney pushes sooty air back into the house. We see this all the time on these hill-built split-levels. Removing the residue, checking the liner, and often adding a stronger damper or resolving the draft fixes it. Call us and we’ll trace the actual cause.
In most cases, yes. The existing firebox and chimney become the structure for a wood stove insert, with a stainless steel liner installed through the old flue. What matters is the condition of that chimney and its clearance to the wood framing around it. We evaluate both before recommending anything. A typical wood stove retrofit in North Druid Hills runs $3,200 to $6,500, and the result is a fireplace that actually heats the house instead of just looking nice.
Even burning only a few times a month for ambiance, you should have your North Druid Hills chimney swept once a year. Low, slow fires build creosote much faster than hot fires because they don’t burn off the moisture and unburned wood particles. A fireplace used regularly for ambiance can accumulate a heavy tar glaze in a single season. We’ll tell you honestly if yours can go longer, but annual is the safe standard here.
A crown repair near LaVista Park means removing the cracked or spalled concrete crown, building a new one with proper slope and overhang away from the flue, and sealing it. For older chimneys that have absorbed decades of rain, we may need to do some top-course brickwork at the same time. The goal is to stop water from getting behind the brick and eating away at the structure. Crown work like this typically runs $600 to $1,800 depending on the chimney’s size and condition. Call (678) 263-7908 and we’ll quote it in writing before any work starts.
If your North Druid Hills fireplace is smoking, smelling, or just isn’t working the way it used to, call Nathan Corliss and the Ashby Chimney Atlanta team at (678) 263-7908. You’ll get a straight answer, a written price, and work that’s guaranteed in writing. That’s how we do it in North Druid Hills, and how we’ll treat your home.
Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney Atlanta, serving North Druid Hills since 2002.