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 Dunwoody
Fireplace repair in Dunwoody typically runs $180 – $2,800 depending on whether you’re dealing with a stuck damper or a full prefab flue replacement, and most jobs are completed in a single visit. We work throughout Dunwoody’s larger subdivisions, from Dunwoody Club Forest to Vermont Woods, and our crews know the 1970s – 90s masonry fireplaces and aging prefab metal flues that dominate this housing stock. If your fireplace is drafting poorly, your gas logs won’t stay lit, or you’ve noticed moisture staining around the chimney chase, call us at (229) 459-1048 and we’ll give you a straight answer on what it needs and what it will cost.
That call goes to a live person, any hour of any day. Not a voicemail tree. Not a callback that comes three days later.
Why Kindling Chimney Sandy Springs Is Dunwoody’s Preferred Fireplace Repair Company
Dunwoody homeowners call us because we show up on time, write the price down before we touch anything, and leave the floors as clean as we found them. Every technician is background-checked and uniformed. Before the first tool comes out, shoe covers and drop cloths go down. We don’t move furniture without asking, and we take a photo of the cleanup before we leave. That’s the Cedarwell Care Promise, and it’s on every job in this city, from a simple gas log service to a full chimney rebuild.
Danny Cortes leads our repair team, and he’s the person who reviews every fireplace repair estimate that goes out to a Dunwoody home. When you call, you’re getting a diagnosis from someone who has walked through hundreds of these 1970s and 1980s houses and knows exactly what to look for in their flues, dampers, and fireboxes. Danny’s standard is simple: if we recommend work, you see the evidence first. That means a camera scope photo, not a vague warning.
Our Dunwoody customers talk about two things most often in reviews: the written quote before work begins and the fact that their house didn’t smell like chemicals afterward. We use pet-safe products wherever there’s a choice, and we’re careful about air quality when kids or animals are in the home. For a city like Dunwoody where families regularly use their fireplaces all winter, that matters.
Styles & brands we work with
Gas Fireplace Maintenance in Dunwoody
Gas Fireplace Maintenance in Dunwoody is a different job than it is in newer construction because many of these homes started with wood-burning masonry fireplaces and were converted to gas log sets or inserts sometime in the 1990s or 2000s. That means the original flue, damper, and firebox are still in the system, and they still need annual attention even if you never burn wood.
A full gas fireplace maintenance visit in Dunwoody runs $129 – $219 for a standard single-flue setup. If you have a direct-vent gas insert, expect $159 – $249 because the venting needs to be checked at both ends. The work includes cleaning the pilot assembly and thermocouple, checking the burner for uneven flame patterns, testing the gas valve for proper operation, and inspecting the firebox and damper for any sign of backdrafting. If you have multiple gas fireplaces in a large Dunwoody home, we’ll inspect all of them in one visit and discount the second and third appliances.
Pilot Light and Ignition Repairs
A pilot light that won’t stay lit is usually a dirty thermocouple or a failing gas valve, but in Dunwoody we also see pilot problems caused by chimney draft issues that pull air backward through the flue. We test the draft with a smoke pen before we replace any part, because replacing a thermocouple on a fireplace with a blocked flue solves nothing.
Gas Log Set Replacement
Gas logs in Dunwoody homes often get replaced because the ceramic has broken down after 15-plus years of use, or because the burner pan has rusted through from humid summers with the damper accidentally left open. A new log set and burner assembly runs $400 – $850 installed, depending on the size and brand. We stock Famco and Copperfield log sets locally, so there’s no second visit just to deliver parts.
Wood Stove Installation in Dunwoody
Wood Stove Installation in Dunwoody comes up most often in homes on the city’s heavily wooded lots, where fallen hardwoods from oak and hickory trees make free fuel available every winter. But that’s also where we see the most creosote problems, because unseasoned wood from those fallen branches produces far more of it than kiln-dried hardwood. A new wood stove is a smart choice for Dunwoody homeowners who want actual heat output from those fallen trees, but it has to be installed with a flue system that can handle the creosote load.
A standard wood stove installation in Dunwoody runs $1,800 – $3,500 including the stove, chimney connection, and hearth pad. If you already have a masonry fireplace and want a wood-burning insert instead, expect $2,200 – $4,200 installed. The labor portion is similar either way; the difference is the appliance cost and whether we need to line the existing chimney with an insulated stainless steel flue. We use DuraFlex liners for these retrofits because they hold up to the creosote corrosion we see in Dunwoody’s humid climate better than single-wall pipe.
Chimney Liner Requirements
Every wood stove installation in Dunwoody requires either a UL-listed insulated liner inside the existing masonry flue or a new prefab metal chimney if the old one has deteriorated. That’s not an upsell; it’s the current NFPA 211 standard and a condition of the installation permit. A liner adds $900 – $1,600 to the project, and we’ll show you the camera footage of why your existing flue can’t handle a wood stove before we ever quote that number.
Hearth Pad Additions
If your fireplace area has a raised brick hearth that’s too small for the stove you want, we’ll build out a proper non-combustible pad. That’s often the case in Dunwoody’s 1980s family rooms where the original fireplace was designed for open wood burning, not a stove. A hearth extension runs $400 – $900 for tile and cement board, done in a day.
Trusted Brands We Service in Dunwoody
We repair and install Fireplace Repair equipment from the brands Dunwoody homeowners already have in their houses: Famco, Copperfield, DuraFlex, and HeatShield among them. We keep common repair parts for these manufacturer lines in stock for Dunwoody service calls because waiting a week for a thermocouple or a damper clamp isn’t how a repair company should operate. When your gas logs are down in the middle of January, we have the replacement parts for most major brands on the truck or available same day, which means one visit instead of two.
See the difference
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After
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After
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AfterCommon Fireplace Repair Problems We See in Dunwoody Homes
- Cracked flue tiles from freeze-thaw cycles: Dunwoody gets a few hard freezes each winter, and when water soaks into the mortar joints between flue tiles, the expansion cracks them. That creates a fracture line full of creosote or carbon monoxide pathing that a camera inspection catches fast.
- Deteriorated mortar crowns on 1970s masonry fireplaces: The original crown on a 45-year-old chimney in neighborhoods like Dunwoody Club Forest is often crumbling, which lets water run down into the brick and spall the face. We rebuild crowns with a proper drip edge and flexible sealant, not a quick patch.
- Prefab metal flue corrosion from humidity and unseasoned wood: Homes built in the 1980s with factory-built chimneys now have rusting flue sections and failing stainless panels. High humidity plus acid from burning wet wood accelerates it, and by the time you see it, the flue usually needs replacing, not repairing.
- Chase flashing failures after architectural shingle re-roofs: In Dunwoody, when the original slate or cedar roof comes off and a heavier architectural shingle goes on, the chimney flashing often gets mangled or poorly re-fitted. After the first heavy spring rain, water runs down inside the chase and corrodes the damper and firebox below.
Pricing for Fireplace Repair in Dunwoody, GA
Here’s what we actually quote on Dunwoody jobs. A damper repair or replacement runs $180 – $450 depending on whether it’s a top-mount or throat damper. Firebox repointing and minor masonry repair runs $350 – $900 for a standard size opening. A gas fireplace repair visit that includes cleaning, pilot adjustment, and new thermocouple or thermopile runs $180 – $320. A prefab flue replacement, which includes removing the old metal flue and installing a new DuraFlex insulated liner, runs $2,200 – $3,800 for a standard two-story Dunwoody home. A full chimney rebuild or major masonry restoration starts at $4,000 and goes up from there based on height and brick matching.
You get the written price before any work starts. Every time. If the repair isn’t done right, we come back and make it right under our 365-Day Done Right Promise. Call (229) 459-1048 and we’ll give you a free estimate with no pressure to book that day.
We Also Serve Cities Near Dunwoody
Our crews handle Fireplace Repair in Dunwoody and the surrounding north metro area, including Sandy Springs, Woodstock, Johns Creek, and Tucker. If you’re just outside the Dunwoody city limits, we can usually reach you the same week. This page covers Dunwoody specifically, but the same written quote and Cedarwell Care Promise follow us to every job in the area. For service details across the region, see our Dunwoody coverage page.
Serving Dunwoody, GA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Dunwoody 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 Dunwoody
Every fireplace in your Dunwoody home should get a Level 1 inspection once a year, even if you only use one of them regularly. We can inspect all of them in a single service call for one trip fee, which is how most of our larger homeowners in neighborhoods like Dunwoody Club Forest and Redfield handle it. A standard multi-fireplace inspection visit runs $89 – $199 per additional flue after the first. Call (229) 459-1048 to schedule all of them at once before burning season.
Expect rust in the flue sections and likely corrosion at the joints where the metal panels meet. By the 30-40 year mark, which is where most 1980s Dunwoody prefab chimneys are right now, the inner liner has usually pitted or started to separate, and that’s a repair we can’t patch. We’ll camera-scope the flue so you can see the actual condition, and if replacement is the honest answer, we’ll show you exactly where it’s failed before we quote the job.
You can, but only after it’s been split and air-dried for at least 12 months. Burning unseasoned oak or hickory from Dunwoody’s wooded lots produces heavy creosote that coats flue walls fast, and in humid air that coating gets sticky and corrosive. If you’ve been burning freshly fallen wood from your yard, get an inspection sooner rather than later to see what’s accumulated before it becomes a chimney fire risk.
A Level 1 inspection is a visual check of all accessible portions of the fireplace and flue with no camera scope, and it’s the right annual inspection for a home where nothing has changed. A Level 2 inspection adds a camera scan of the entire flue interior and is required when you buy a home, change fuels, switch from wood to gas, or after a chimney fire or nearby lightning strike. Dunwoody home sales almost always require a Level 2, and it runs $199 – $349 depending on the number of flues. Call us for the exact number for your house; we’ll tell you before we schedule.
In most Dunwoody homes from the 1970s – 90s, smoke backing up means either a creosote-restricted flue, a partially closed damper, or a house that’s too tight to supply the fireplace with enough combustion air. We see the tight-house problem more and more after homeowners upgrade to double-pane windows and air-sealed doors. The fix is usually a flue cleaning, a damper adjustment or replacement, or adding outside combustion air, and those repairs run $180 – $650 depending on the root cause.
For a straight answer on your fireplace, call (229) 459-1048. We’ll put Danny or one of our repair techs on the phone, and we’ll give you a written quote before any work starts. Free estimates, no pressure, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise behind every job in Dunwoody.
Written by Danny Cortes, Owner at Kindling Chimney Sandy Springs, serving Dunwoody fireplace repair customers under the Cedarwell Care Promise since 2003.