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 Inspection Across Decatur
A chimney inspection in Decatur typically costs $189 – $289 for a Level 1 visual check, while a Level 2 camera inspection runs $289 – $489. Most inspections take 45 to 90 minutes, and because we schedule Decatur jobs with local crews, we can usually get to your home within a few days – not weeks. Call (678) 263-7908 and a live person will pick up, day or night.
Decatur’s housing stock is different from what you’ll find in newer Atlanta suburbs. We’re talking 1920s and 1930s Craftsman bungalows with original brick chimneys, Tudor-style homes with clay tile liners that have seen 80 years of freeze-thaw cycles, and infill construction with prefabricated metal flues that need their own kind of attention. A visit from our Chimney Sweep in Decatur has to account for that mix of old masonry and new systems.
And there’s something else most inspectors don’t talk about: shared stacks. In neighborhoods like Oakhurst, Winona Park, and MAK, homes are built close together, and in many cases two chimneys rise from one common masonry stack. That changes everything about how an inspection should be done.
Why Ashby Chimney Atlanta Is Decatur’s Preferred Chimney Inspection Company
Our Chimney Inspection team has been crawling Decatur roofs and running cameras through Decatur flues long enough to know this city’s quirks. We know which bungalows on East Court Square still have unlined flues. We know how Pine Street’s mature hardwoods drop debris into vents each October. We know that freeze-thaw spalling on older brick crowns is a fact of life here, not a rare failure.
Nathan Corliss leads our Atlanta office, and his approach is simple: say the price before we start, explain what we’re doing and why, and put every guarantee in writing. Decatur homeowners have told us again and again that this is what they were missing from previous chimney companies. No vague estimates. No price that changes at the door. Just a written quote and a written guarantee.
Every technician is background-checked and shows up in uniform, so you know exactly who’s at your door. And because scheduling is coordinated from our Atlanta office with crews serving Decatur locally, we can be at your home in Oakhurst, Clairemont, or Great Lakes without the long wait you’d get from a company based an hour outside the metro.
Styles & brands we work with
Chimney Inspection Services in Decatur
Chimney Inspection services here cover three levels defined by the National Fire Protection Association: Level 1 (a standard visual check of accessible portions, from the firebox to the chimney cap), Level 2 (everything in Level 1 plus camera inspection of the entire flue interior, required for real estate transactions, after any structural change, or after a chimney fire), and Level 3 (Level 2 plus partial demolition to access hidden areas – rare, but sometimes necessary after major damage).
In Decatur’s specific housing stock, we recommend a Level 2 for almost every first-time customer. Here’s why: many of these 1920s – 1950s bungalows have flues that predate modern liner standards, and the only way to see inside the walls of the flue is with a camera.
Level 1 Inspection
This is the right choice when nothing has changed since your last inspection and you’ve been burning the same fuel in the same fireplace. We check all accessible areas, look for creosote buildup, verify the damper operates, and confirm the flue is unobstructed. In Decatur, most Level 1 inspections run $189 – $249, which includes a written report of what we found and what we recommend.
Level 2 Inspection
Real estate transfers in Decatur almost always require a Level 2. Same deal after a chimney fire, a new appliance install, or if you’ve never had the flue camera-inspected and live in an attached or semi-attached bungalow. We run a camera from the firebox to the chimney crown, checking for cracked flue tiles, missing mortar joints, animal debris, and cross-contamination from adjacent flues. Typical cost in Decatur is $289 – $489 depending on chimney height and access.
Real Estate Inspection
Buying a home in Decatur? Don’t let a waived contingency bite you. We work with buyers, sellers, and agents to complete Level 2 camera inspections with photographic evidence you can actually see. We’ll tell you plainly if the liner needs work now, next season, or not at all – no upselling, no “while we’re in there” surprises.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Chimney Flue Inspection in Decatur
Chimney Flue Inspection in Decatur means getting a camera into the actual passage that vents combustion gases out of your home – the clay tile or metal tube behind your firebox. This is where the big problems hide: hairline cracks in clay tile that let heat and carbon monoxide into wall cavities, gaps in mortar joints from decades of thermal expansion, and the kind of creosote glaze that looks fine from below but is a chimney fire waiting to happen.
In Decatur’s humid, wet winters, flue problems compound quickly. Water enters through small cracks and freezes during our occasional ice storms, spalling the masonry from inside. A flue inspection catches this before you’re looking at a $3,000 rebuild.
Camera Inspection
We use high-resolution video cameras to document the full flue interior. You get photos and video of exactly what we see – not a technician’s verbal summary. This matters most in shared-stack situations, where you need hard evidence of what’s happening inside your own flue (and whether your neighbor’s flue is affecting yours).
Adjacent Flue Cross-Contamination Checks
When two flues share a common masonry stack – common in Decatur’s attached and closely spaced bungalows – we specifically check for gas migration between flues. A neighbor’s unlined flue with cracked mortar joints can allow carbon monoxide and creosote vapors to seep into your flue. Our Level 2 camera inspection is the only way to see this before it becomes a health or fire hazard.
Trusted Brands We Service in Decatur
We work with chimney-trade materials that actually hold up: HeatShield for flue relining, Gelco chimney caps that survive Decatur’s ice storms, and Olympia Chimney components for most structural repairs. These are the same brands trusted by the chimney trade nationally, not whatever happened to be on the truck. For Decatur homeowners, this means repairs are done once, with materials we’re willing to put our 365-Day Done Right Promise behind in writing.
See the difference
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After
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AfterCommon Chimney Inspection Problems We See in Decatur Homes
- Shared-stack cross-contamination. In attached bungalows along streets like East Lake Drive and Oakview Road, your flue and your neighbor’s flue often share a single masonry stack. Cracked mortar between flue liners lets smoke, creosote vapor, and carbon monoxide migrate from one home to another. A Level 2 camera inspection is the only reliable way to catch this.
- Clogged weep holes and trapped moisture. Decatur’s dense hardwood canopy drops pine needles, leaves, and acorn debris that clog the tiny drainage holes in shared masonry stacks. Water gets trapped, freezes during our cold snaps, and spalls brick faces inward and outward. We see this in Winona Park and Great Lakes more than anywhere else in the metro.
- Squirrel and bird nests in flues. Oakhurst and MAK homeowners know the sound: scratching at dusk, the smell of something sour when the wind shifts. Fall is when squirrels and chimney swifts move in. We remove nests, inspect for structural damage, and recommend animal-proofing like Gelco caps with proper screening before the next season starts.
- Original unlined flues in 1920s – 1930s bungalows. Many Decatur homes pre-date modern fire-safety codes. Unlined masonry flues accumulate creosote faster and crack under thermal stress. If your bungalow has never been relined, a camera inspection will show you exactly what condition that flue is in before you light another fire.
Pricing for Chimney Inspection in Decatur, GA
Let’s cut to it. In Decatur, a Level 1 chimney inspection typically costs $189 – $249. A Level 2 inspection with camera – what we recommend for most Decatur homes, especially attached properties and first-time customers – runs $289 – $489. Higher chimneys cost more because of ladder and roof access time. Homes with shared stacks sometimes require inspecting both flues, which adds to the total but never without a written price before we start.
We don’t quote a lowball number at the door and hand you a different invoice on the way out. The written price we give you is the written price you pay. And every inspection comes with a written guarantee. Call (678) 263-7908 for a free estimate specific to your Decatur home.
A note on urgency: this is the season to inspect in Decatur. The hardwoods on your street are about to drop enough leaf litter to block a shared stack in one afternoon. The ice storms aren’t far behind. But we will never push you into a repair you don’t need. If the camera shows a flue that can safely wait a year, we will say so in writing.
We Also Serve Cities Near Decatur
Beyond our work across Decatur, Ashby Chimney Atlanta serves nearby communities including Atlanta, Union City, and Fairburn. If you’re a Decatur homeowner managing a rental property or family home in one of these cities, the same written-price guarantee and 365-Day Done Right Promise applies. Call us and we’ll coordinate scheduling on both ends.
Serving Decatur, GA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Decatur 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 Inspection in Decatur
Once a year, every year, before you start burning in fall. The National Fire Protection Association sets that standard, and Decatur’s climate makes it non-negotiable. Our humid, wet winters and freeze-thaw cycles accelerate masonry cracking, and our oak and pine canopy drops enough debris each fall to clog a flue in a single season. Skip a year and you’re burning with a flue you cannot see inside – a gamble with creosote buildup and animal nests. If you’ve skipped a few years, start with a Level 2 camera inspection before your first fire. Call (678) 263-7908 and we’ll get you on the schedule.
A Level 2 camera inspection, no question. Unlined flues in 1920s – 1950s bungalows are the highest-risk chimneys in Decatur. Clay tile or unlined masonry inevitably develops cracks, spalling, and creosote saturation over 70-plus years. You cannot see these from the firebox. A camera inspection shows the full interior, so you know exactly whether the flue is safe to burn or needs a stainless steel liner before another fire. In Decatur, that inspection runs $289 – $489, and it’s the cheapest fire insurance you’ll ever buy.
Oakhurst’s dense hardwood canopy is the likely culprit. Squirrels and chimney swifts begin nesting in early fall, right when leaves and acorn debris start falling. In our experience, Oakhurst sees more animal-related flue blockages than any other Decatur neighborhood. We’ve inspected 1940s Craftsman homes there where a nest in the smoke chamber plus a partially blocked cap reduced draft to almost nothing. The fix starts with a camera inspection to see the exact blockage, then removal, animal-proofing with a Gelco chimney cap, and often coordination with an adjacent home if the stack is shared. Call (678) 263-7908 and we’ll take a look.
Absolutely, and this is the thing most Decatur homeowners never hear about until something goes wrong. When two flues share a common stack – common in attached and closely spaced bungalows across Clairemont and Winona Park – cracked mortar joints between the flues allow gases to migrate. Your neighbor’s poorly maintained appliance can push creosote vapor or carbon monoxide into your flue. A standard Level 1 inspection will not catch this. Our Level 2 camera inspection specifically evaluates shared-stack integrity and cross-contamination risk. In Oakhurst, we recently found a neighbor’s gas water heater venting into our client’s shared smoke chamber – a backdraft that was silently affecting both homes. Call (678) 263-7908 to schedule a Level 2 if any part of your chimney shares a stack.
The crown and the top courses of brick fail first. Decatur’s humid subtropical climate means chimney crowns see regular freeze-thaw cycling, and a hairline crack in October becomes a spalled brick face by February. Clogged weep holes – a real problem with our pine needles and acorn debris – trap water up there and accelerate the damage. Second most common: the flashing where the roof meets the chimney, especially on older bungalow rooflines with complex pitches. Both show up clearly on a Level 2 inspection, and both are far cheaper to fix early than to rebuild after a season of water intrusion. Estimates are free. Call (678) 263-7908.
Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney Atlanta, serving Decatur.