Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Masonry repair
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 Chimney Sweep Across Druid Hills
If you live in Druid Hills and need your chimney cleaned, here’s the short version: a standard chimney sweep in this neighborhood runs between $189 and $289, and we can usually get a crew to your door within a few days of your call. Ashby Chimney Atlanta has worked on the century-old homes here long enough to know what we’re walking into before we ring the bell. That matters when your flue was built around the same time as the Model T. Call (678) 263-7908 and a live person answers, day or night.
We’re not going to tell you your chimney is about to collapse the moment we step inside. We’re going to show you, with a camera, exactly what’s happening in there. For the old masonry chimneys that define Druid Hills, that’s the only honest way to do business.
Why Ashby Chimney Atlanta Is Druid Hills’s Preferred Chimney Sweep Company
Druid Hills homeowners keep calling us back because we do something simple: we say the price before we start, we show up when we said we would, and we put the guarantee in writing. Nathan Corliss runs our crews, and he’s built the whole operation around a plain-spoken rule. If we can’t show you the problem on camera, we don’t recommend fixing it.
That rule matters in this neighborhood more than most. Druid Hills is full of Prairie and Craftsman homes, many designed by nationally known architects in the 1910s and 1920s. Their chimneys are usually original. Unlined or clay-tile flues, ornate corbelled brick, stone caps that have been through a hundred Georgia winters. An aggressive sweeping job on one of those flues can turn a $250 cleaning into a $4,000 liner replacement. We won’t let that happen to you.
Our Chimney Sweep team arrives in uniform, background-checked, and carrying the right brushes for old masonry. Soft-bristle or rotary brushes, depending on what the flue can handle. Camera before. Camera after. You see what we see.
For homeowners in Druid Hills, we’re not the cheapest bid in town, and we don’t want to be. We’re the company that answers the phone and stands behind the work. That’s worth more than a discount.
Styles & brands we work with
Fireplace Cleaning in Druid Hills
Fireplace Cleaning in Druid Hills is usually a straightforward job, but the age of the home changes how we approach it. Most of what we remove from these fireplaces is soot, ash, and the papery creosote that builds up from occasional use. A typical fireplace cleaning here runs $149 to $209 depending on how much buildup has accumulated and whether the damper needs attention.
For houses along Lullwater Road or Clifton Road, we often find decorative brick fireboxes that the original builders never intended to see heavy use. They’re beautiful. They’re also delicate. We clean them by hand where needed, vacuum everything with a HEPA filter, and leave the hearth looking better than we found it.
Soot and Ash Removal
Soot sits in the firebox and smoke shelf. If you burn wood in a Druid Hills fireplace, you’ll get soot. We remove it completely, including the stuff behind the damper that most homeowners never see. Soot removal is usually included in a standard sweep, but when it’s a standalone call, expect to pay between $139 and $189.
Creosote Removal
Creosote is the sticky, flammable residue that builds up inside the flue. If you have a fireplace with an open hearth and you burn wood more than a few times a year, you’re building creosote. In Druid Hills, we typically see first-degree and occasionally second-degree creosote, and the removal adds $50 to $80 to the base sweep price depending on how thick it is. If we find third-degree glazed creosote, we’ll show you the camera footage and talk through your options.
Chimney Services in Druid Hills
Chimney Services in Druid Hills covers the full picture: sweeping, inspections, and any repair work your chimney needs. A Level 1 inspection, which is what you should get if you’re burning regularly and nothing has changed, runs $99 to $149 and is often bundled into a sweep at a reduced rate. A Level 2 inspection, which we always recommend after heavy weather events, a chimney fire, or before buying one of these older homes, runs $199 to $299.
The homes on Emory Road and Oakdale Road have chimneys that were built for open fireplaces, not for modern gas inserts or high-efficiency furnaces. When homeowners upgrade an appliance, the old flue sometimes isn’t sized right for it. That’s when we get called to inspect. The camera tells us what’s actually happening inside, and we walk you through it frame by frame.
Level 1 and Level 2 Inspections
A Level 1 inspection is visual. We look at the firebox, the damper, the accessible portions of the flue, and the exterior where we can reach it safely. A Level 2 is deeper. We run a camera the full length of the flue from top to bottom, checking for cracks, gaps, and hidden damage in clay tile liners. For a Druid Hills home with its original flue, that camera pass is often the first time anyone has seen the inside in a century.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Druid Hills
When something does need fixing, we don’t use whatever happens to be in the back of the van. We carry and install materials from chimney-trade suppliers including DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Gelco. HeatShield in particular is worth knowing about if you live in Druid Hills. It’s a ceramic resurfacing system that restores damaged clay-tile flues without tearing the whole chimney apart, which matters when you’re dealing with historic masonry we shouldn’t be rebuilding. We keep the common components stocked, so most repairs are one visit. If it’s a bigger job, we’ll tell you at the door with a written price and a real timeline.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Sweep Problems We See in Druid Hills Homes
- Cracked clay-tile flues. A century of heating and cooling cycles takes its toll. We find hairline cracks in the clay tiles on most original chimneys here, and that’s where moisture gets in and makes everything worse.
- Spalling brick and deteriorated mortar. Druid Hills gets plenty of rain, and when water soaks into brick and freezes, the brick face pops off. We see spalling on chimney exteriors all over the neighborhood, from Springdale Road down to the Fernbank area.
- Animal nests in unused fireplaces. The tree canopy here is dense, old, and full of squirrels, birds, and raccoons. We pull a surprising number of nests out of grand old chimneys that haven’t been used in years.
- Aggressive cleaning damage from previous sweeps. This one stings. We’ve seen chimneys where a previous company used a steel brush that was too aggressive for aging clay tile, and it scarred the flue or made existing cracks worse. That’s why our approach in Druid Hills starts gentle and only escalates if it’s safe.
And a note on one industry practice we won’t do: recommending a liner replacement or crown repair without showing you the camera footage of the actual damage. If someone tells you your chimney needs thousands of dollars of work and won’t show you proof, get a second opinion. We’ll show you ours before we quote yours.
We swept a 1920s Craftsman on Oakdale Road recently where the homeowners had been told by another company they needed a full liner replacement. Our tech ran the camera and found first-degree creosote buildup, plus one cracked tile at the smoke chamber. Nothing that required a full rebuild. We used a rotary brush to clean it safely, documented the crack, and recommended a HeatShield resurfacing to protect the century-old masonry from further moisture damage. The homeowners watched the footage, understood exactly what was happening, and made the call themselves. That’s how it should work.
Pricing for Chimney Sweep in Druid Hills, GA
Here’s the honest money, so you’re not surprised at the door:
- Standard chimney sweep: $189 – $289
- Fireplace cleaning (firebox, damper, hearth): $149 – $209
- Level 1 inspection: $99 – $149
- Level 2 inspection with camera: $199 – $299
- Creosote removal (add-on): $50 – $80 depending on degree
What moves the price is flue height, how much buildup has accumulated, and whether we find anything that needs extra care. You’ll get a written price before we start, and the number on the invoice matches the number we quoted. Call (678) 263-7908 for a free estimate over the phone.
We Also Serve Cities Near Druid Hills
Our crews cover Druid Hills and the surrounding metro area, including Atlanta, Dunwoody, North Atlanta, and East Point. Same straight pricing, same written guarantee, same live person on the phone at (678) 263-7908.
Serving Druid Hills, GA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the 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 Chimney Sweep in Druid Hills
Because a fireplace that sits idle still has a chimney exposed to rain, freeze-thaw cycles, and animals, and the only way to know if the flue has cracked or shifted is to look inside. In Druid Hills, where most chimneys are unlined or have century-old clay tile, unseen damage is the rule, not the exception. A Level 2 camera inspection costs $199 – $299 and it’s the part of our service that keeps us honest. Call (678) 263-7908 and we can usually schedule it within a few days.
Yes, if the flue is sound, but the sweep method matters, and a steel brush that’s fine on a modern flue can be too aggressive for century-old clay tile. Our teams in Druid Hills start with a camera assessment, then choose the gentlest brush that gets the job done. If the flue has already cracked or spalled, we’ll show you the footage before we go any further and talk through options like HeatShield resurfacing. If you’re unsure what you have, call (678) 263-7908 and we’ll tell you what we’d do.
Most Druid Hills fireplaces show first-degree, papery creosote that a standard sweep removes without trouble. Second-degree creosote, the flaky, crunchy stuff, appears when fires burn cooler or wood isn’t fully seasoned, and it usually adds $50 to $80 to the job. Third-degree glazed creosote is rare here but we do find it, usually in flues that haven’t been cleaned in decades. That’s the one that needs chemical treatment or removal over multiple visits. We’ll show you exactly what you have on camera before we recommend anything. Call (678) 263-7908 and we’ll walk you through it.
The neighborhood’s old oaks and pines drop leaves, twigs, and seeds onto roofs year-round, and animals use the branches as highways straight to your chimney cap. We find nests, debris, and organic buildup inside flues here more often than in newer, treeless subdivisions. That organic material, mixed with creosote, makes for a messier, sometimes stickier cleanup, and it’s part of why checking the chimney cap every fall is smart. If you haven’t had yours looked at, (678) 263-7908 is where you reach us.
Yes, and here’s why: a cracked crown lets water into the masonry, and when that water freezes, it spalls the brick and widens mortar joints. Druid Hills gets enough cold snaps to make this a real problem, and most of the crowns in this neighborhood are original. A crown inspection is included when we’re already on the roof. If we find damage, we’ll show you the camera footage and quote a repair with a written guarantee. Call (678) 263-7908 and we’ll get you on the schedule before the cold sets in.
Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney Atlanta, serving Druid Hills and the surrounding metro area since 2002.