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.
Trusted Chimney Sweep for Houston Homeowners
A chimney sweep in Houston typically costs $189 to $349 depending on the fireplace type, roof access, and how long it’s been since the last cleaning. Most sweeps take 45 to 90 minutes, and you’ll get a written price before we start, not a number that changes after we’re on the roof. That second part matters in Houston, where humidity and the occasional Gulf storm can turn a neglected flue into a creosote-lined fire hazard faster than most homeowners realize.
Ashby Chimney Houston has swept and repaired chimneys since 2002. Our owner, Nathan Corliss, built the company around a simple rule: show the work, say the price, put the guarantee in writing. If you’re in the Heights, Meyerland, Clear Lake, or anywhere in between, call (903) 961-6496 and a live person picks up, day or night.
Chimney Sweep Services
Our Chimney Sweep in Houston covers the full mechanical cleaning of your flue: removing creosote, soot, and any blockages from the smoke chamber, damper, and firebox so your fireplace draws properly and burns safely. You need this before your first fire of the season, after roughly 50 to 60 burns, or any time you smell smoke backing into the room. Ashby Chimney Houston performs the sweep with rotary brushes and HEPA-filtered vacuums, protects your flooring, and leaves the firebox cleaner than when we arrived, which is what most Houston homeowners say they appreciate most about the visit.
Creosote Removal
Creosote is the tar-like residue that builds up inside your flue every time you burn wood. In Houston’s humid climate, creosote can absorb moisture and become sticky, which accelerates buildup faster than in drier regions like West Texas. Our rotary brush setup scrapes it from the flue walls, and we photograph the before and after so you can see what we removed.
Blockage and Debris Clearing
Houston’s tree canopy and bird population mean chimneys here collect more than just soot. We regularly pull out squirrel nests, leaves, and even tennis balls from open flues. A blocked flue pushes carbon monoxide back into your living room, which is why we inspect the full passage on every visit and clear it completely before we pack up.
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.
Styles & brands we work with
Chimney Cleaning
Chimney Cleaning is the removal of combustion byproducts from the interior surfaces of your chimney system, including the flue liner (the clay or steel tube that vents combustion gases out of your home), smoke shelf, and damper assembly. You need it annually if you burn wood, or every two to three years for gas-only fireplaces. Our standard sweep and cleaning in Houston runs $189 to $279 for a single-story home with a straight flue; multi-story homes with roof pitch complications can run $279 to $349.
Flue Liner Cleaning
The liner carries smoke up and out of your house, and when it gets coated with creosote, it’s doing that job badly and dangerously. Our brushes are sized to your exact liner dimensions, whether you have a clay tile or a stainless steel liner from DuraFlex. We clean it until the surface shows bare material, then document it with a camera inspection.
Smoke Chamber and Damper Care
The smoke chamber sits just above the firebox and is where creosote collects most heavily in Houston homes because of uneven burning patterns in our mild winters. We vacuum and brush this area on every cleaning, then check that the damper opens, closes, and seals properly. A damper stuck open is a year-round energy leak and a path for Houston’s mosquitoes and roaches to find their way inside.
Fireplace Cleaning
Fireplace Cleaning focuses on the firebox itself: the brick or stone box where the fire actually burns, plus the glass doors, grate, and surrounding hearth. You need it whenever you notice a thick layer of ash, stained glass that won’t wipe clean, or a smoke smell even when the fire is out. In Houston, we recommend fireplace cleaning alongside every Chimney Sweep in Highlands, and we include the firebox vacuum and brush-out in our standard sweep price of $189 to $349.
Firebox Deep Clean
The firebox collects ash, charred wood fragments, and fine dust that gets into carpet fibers and curtains if left unattended. We remove all ash with a HEPA vacuum, then hand-brush the interior walls and floor. We finish by wiping down the surrounding brick to take off the gray haze that settles there after a season of fires.
Glass Door and Grate Restoration
Fireplace glass fogs with a stubborn film that bathroom cleaners won’t touch. We use a ceramic-glass-specific cleaner and a razor scraper where needed, which clears the view of your fire and restores the door’s heat reflection. The grate gets a full inspection too: warped or cracked grates hold logs unevenly, which pushes flames toward the back wall and accelerates brick damage.
Chimney Services
Chimney Services at Ashby Chimney Houston include the sweep, a full structural inspection, minor repairs like damper adjustments and mortar patching, and the written recommendations you need to plan for bigger work down the road. Every visit includes a condition report with photos, so you’re never deciding on a repair based on someone else’s word. Prices are quoted before any repair work, and the sweep itself starts at $189 in Houston.
Inspection-Backed Recommendations
Nathan Corliss has a rule that every technician here follows: no repair recommendation without a camera image to back it up. When we tell a Houston homeowner they need a new liner or a tuckpointing job, we’re showing them the cracked tile or spalling brick on the screen. If the flue is in fine shape, we tell you that too, and we’ll say it plainly.
Repairs with Written Guarantees
When we do recommend and complete a repair, it’s covered by the Kingswell Guarantee. The guarantee is written, includes a free second visit if the covered repair fails within the guarantee period, and never gets sold as an add-on. Houston homeowners who’ve been burned by a contractor that disappeared after the check cleared tend to appreciate that the promise comes from a name whose whole reputation depends on it holding up.
Chimney Sweep Certified
Chimney Sweep Certified means the technician in your home has passed industry-recognized training in fire safety codes, creosote management, and proper sweeping methodology, and that Ashby Chimney Houston stands behind their work with a written guarantee. You want a certified sweep because the difference between a thorough cleaning and a brush shoved up the flue is the difference between a safe fire season and a chimney fire. Our techs are background-checked, uniformed, and carry a written price sheet with them to every job in Houston.
What Certification Covers
Certified sweeps are trained to identify cracking flue tiles, improper clearances, and venting failures that an untrained eye passes right over. Houston has thousands of homes built in the 1970s and 1980s with chimneys that predate modern safety codes, and certification training includes recognizing those legacy construction issues on sight. Every inspection follows our Chimney Sweep Maintenance Checklist for Houston Homeowners, so nothing gets skipped because the tech was in a hurry.
Why Background Checks Matter
You’re letting a stranger into your home, often when you’re alone or when kids are home from school. Every Ashby technician passes a background check before they ever wear the uniform, and you’ll see their name and photo on the appointment confirmation we send. That’s the standard across the Kingswell network, and it’s one of the reasons our Houston customers tell us they feel comfortable recommending us to neighbors in Spring and Katy.
Gas Fireplace Cleaning
Gas Fireplace Cleaning addresses the dust, pet hair, and carbon buildup that accumulates inside gas log sets and direct-vent units, which can clog the pilot assembly and reduce flame quality. You need it once a year before winter, or any time the flames look smaller, bluer, or more orange than they should. Our gas fireplace cleaning in Houston runs $149 to $229, which includes vacuuming the burner and pilot area, clearing the venting path, and polishing the glass.
Burner and Pilot Service
Gas units in Houston pull in plenty of our region’s fine dust and humidity, which means pilots get lazy and burners get clogged faster than in drier climates. We disassemble the log set carefully, blow out the ports with compressed air, and clean the thermocouple and thermopile. Your flames come back taller, cleaner, and properly blue, and the unit stops smelling like burnt dust on startup.
Gas Log Inspection
Ceramic and refractory gas logs crack over time, especially the cheap fiber sets. Cracked logs produce uneven flames and can spill unburned gas into the room. We inspect each log, check the glowing ember material for deterioration, and report any venting concerns from the gas line or direct-vent pipe, including any that involve brands like HeatShield or Olympia Chimney for liner components.
Chimney Maintenance
Chimney Maintenance is the ongoing care that keeps your entire fireplace system, from the crown to the hearth, working safely between major repairs. You need it at least once a year, and more often if you burn more than a cord of wood or run a gas fireplace daily through Houston’s short but real winter. Our maintenance plan includes the sweep, a level-one inspection, and minor adjustments like damper lube and caulk sealing, with bundled pricing that starts around $229 in Houston.
Seasonal Readiness Checks
Houston’s winter arrives late and catches people off guard, which is why we recommend scheduling your maintenance in September or October before the first cold snap. The check covers the chimney cap, flashing, crown, and wash, which take heavy abuse from our summer storms and UV exposure. We also verify the damper opens and closes cleanly and that the flue is clear from top to bottom.
Preventive Mortar and Crown Sealing
Houston’s freeze-thaw cycle, mild as it is, still cracks mortar joints that have already been weakened by years of humidity. We patch minor cracks during maintenance visits with materials matched to your existing mortar color, which stops water from working deeper into the brick. A small section of tuckpointing done in October beats a full rebuild quoted in February, and our Kingswell Guarantee covers the patchwork we do.
Brands We Service
Ashby Chimney Houston works with all major chimney brands, and we stock common replacement components for DuraFlex and HeatShield systems because those two dominate the Houston retrofit market. DuraFlex makes the stainless liners we install when a clay tile liner has cracked beyond repair, and we’re familiar with every connector, cap, and termination style in their current catalog. When a Houston homeowner has a DuraFlex liner from a previous installation, we can assess its condition and, if needed, replace just the failed section rather than quoting a full re-line.
HeatShield is the cerfractory sealant product line we use when a clay flue has minor cracks that don’t yet warrant a full stainless liner. The material is applied as a coating to the inside of the existing flue, and our techs are trained in its proper mixing and application so the repair lasts under Houston’s moisture loads. Whether you have a Gelco cap, an Olympia Chimney liner, or a unit we’ve never seen before, we’ll service it and tell you honestly if it needs work or if it’s still safe to run.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterSigns You Need a Pro Right Now
- Smoke backs into the room when the fire is lit. That means the flue isn’t drawing, which could be creosote buildup, a closed damper, or a blockage like a bird nest. Running the fire anyway pushes carbon monoxide and fine particulate into your living space, which is a health issue for everyone in the house.
- You smell something like burnt tar or a campfire when the fireplace is cold. That odor is creosote off-gassing, especially common during Houston’s humid months. If the smell is strong enough to notice from across the room, the buildup is thick enough to ignite under the right conditions.
- You see black, shiny, or flaky deposits inside the flue when you look up from the firebox. Glazed creosote is the most dangerous form and burns at temperatures that crack clay liners. This is not something you scrape out yourself; it needs a professional-grade rotary treatment and a full inspection after.
- Your gas fireplace flames are mostly orange or yellow, or they won’t stay lit. Gas should burn blue and steady. Yellow flames mean incomplete combustion, often from clogged burner ports or a failing thermocouple, both of which we address during a gas fireplace cleaning.
- You hear animals inside the chimney or find droppings in the firebox. Raccoons, squirrels, and chimney swifts all nest in Houston flues. A nest blocks the vent and becomes a fire hazard the first time you light a fire, plus dead animals create a smell and a mess you don’t want to deal with. We remove the nest, clear the debris, and recommend a proper chimney cap.
Our Process, Step by Step
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You call and get a person, not a menu. Our phone line at (903) 961-6496 is answered by a live person 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You’ll describe your fireplace, the last time it was serviced, and any symptoms you’ve noticed, and we’ll book you a firm arrival window, not a four-hour guess.
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We show up on time, in uniform, with a written price. Your technician arrives in an Ashby uniform, with ID and a background-checked profile you can verify. Before any work starts, you get a written price that matches what you’ll pay at the end, unless you specifically approve additional work in writing.
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We protect your home and start the sweep. Drop cloths go down in front of the fireplace, and a HEPA vacuum runs throughout the entire process to keep dust out of your air. We use rotary brushes sized to your flue, working from the top down or bottom up depending on roof access and safety.
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We camera-inspect and show you the results. After the sweep, we run a camera up the flue and show you the before and after on our tablet. If there’s a crack, a gap, or a concern, you see it with your own eyes. If it’s clean and solid, you see that too, and we say so in the report.
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You get a written report and a written guarantee. The report includes photos, findings, and recommendations, in plain language. Any repair we complete carries a written guarantee under the Kingswell Guarantee, and if a covered repair fails during the guarantee period, we return and redo it at no charge.
How Much Does Chimney Sweep Cost in Houston?
A typical chimney sweep in Houston runs between $189 and $349, with most single-story homes landing right around $220. Gas fireplace cleaning runs $149 to $229, and adding a full level-two camera inspection typically adds $99 to $149 depending on the scope. Homes with two stories, steep roof pitches, or flues that haven’t been cleaned in over five years will land at the higher end of the range because the access and labor take longer. The factors that move the price: roof pitch and access safety, liner type (clay, stainless, or HeatShield-coated), how much creosote has accumulated, and whether we’re also clearing a blockage. The best way to avoid overpaying in Houston is to get the price in writing before the work starts, which Ashby does on every job without exception, and to ask whether the quoted price includes the firebox vacuum and glass cleaning, which it does on ours. Every estimate call is free, the written quote you get at the door is what you’ll pay after, and you’ll never be upsold with a repair recommendation you can’t see on camera for yourself.
Our Service Area Near Houston
Ashby Chimney Houston serves the full metro, from the Heights and Montrose up through Spring and The Woodlands, west to Katy and Richmond, and down through Pasadena, Friendswood, Missouri City, and Rosenberg. We also cover Fresno, Stafford, New Territory, and Webster. Most appointments are scheduled within three to five business days, and our technicians live in the communities they serve, so if you’re in Katy or Spring, you’re getting a neighbor who knows the local construction styles and weather patterns. Read more about our work in those areas here: Chimney Sweep in Spring and Chimney Sweep in Katy.
Serving Houston, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Houston area and offer Chimney Sweep - Pasadena and surrounding communities. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
Frequently Asked Questions About Chimney Sweep in Houston
A chimney sweep is the full cleaning of your flue, smoke chamber, damper, and firebox to remove creosote, soot, and blockages. It’s different from a simple fireplace cleaning because it goes up into the entire venting system, not just the firebox you can see. Ashby Chimney Houston performs sweeps with rotary brushes and HEPA filtration, and every sweep includes a camera inspection so you can see the result.
Most sweeps in Houston take 45 to 90 minutes from setup to final report, depending on the size of the flue, the amount of buildup, and whether we need to clear a blockage. Add another 20 minutes if you’re also getting a gas fireplace clean or the glass door restoration. We’ll give you an honest time estimate when you book so you can plan around it.
A standard chimney sweep in Houston runs $189 to $349, with most homes falling between $200 and $250. The final number depends on your roof’s pitch, the flue’s condition, and whether it’s been more than five years since the last cleaning. Call (903) 961-6496 for an exact quote, estimates are always free and the price we quote at the door is the price you pay.
Yes, we service every major brand you’ll find in Houston homes, from basic masonry fireplaces to direct-vent gas units. Our technicians are specifically trained on DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Olympia Chimney components, and we keep those replacement parts stocked in our vans. If you have a brand we don’t stock, we’ll order the exact part and schedule the repair for when it arrives.
If you have an active chimney fire, call 911 first, then call us once the fire department has cleared the scene. For non-fire emergencies like a strong gas smell or a total blockage, our phones are answered 24/7 and we’ll get a technician to you as quickly as our schedule allows. We don’t charge extra for weekend or evening consults on the phone.
Every repair we complete is covered by a written guarantee through the Kingswell Guarantee. If a covered repair fails within the guarantee period, we return and correct it at no charge, that’s the free second visit. The guarantee is included with every job, never sold separately, and its terms are printed on your invoice so there’s no fine print to hunt for.
Clear the area around your fireplace by about six feet so our technicians can set up the drop cloths and vacuum without moving furniture. If your pets are nervous around new people, put them in a separate room before we arrive. And it helps to hold off on using the fireplace for 24 hours before the appointment so the ash has fully cooled.
Schedule Your Chimney Sweep Service in Houston Today
The best time to schedule a sweep in Houston is before the first cold front, not after it. Call Ashby Chimney Houston at (903) 961-6496 and you’ll reach a person who can book your appointment and answer your questions on the spot. Every estimate is free, every price is written before work begins, and every repair carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing. Nathan Corliss and the team have been keeping Houston chimneys clean since 2002. We’ll do the same for yours.
Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney Houston, serving Houston since 2002.