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 Taylor
Chimney sweep in Taylor typically runs $189 to $329 for a standard cleaning with a Level 1 visual check, and we can usually get to your home within a few days of your call. If you live in an older Taylor neighborhood near Robinson Park or along Davis Street, we’re familiar with what those chimneys look like inside: clay tile flues, decades of use, and Blackland Prairie soil doing what it does to masonry. Call us at (254) 274-4486 and we’ll give you a written price before anything gets touched.
We’re not a call center routing jobs from somewhere else. When you call for a Chimney Sweep in Taylor, you talk to a person who knows the difference between a 1950s brick veneer chimney on Mallard Lane and a newer zero-clearance fireplace over by the high school. That local knowledge matters when we’re pricing work and when we’re telling you what we found on camera.
Why Ashby Chimney Austin Is Taylor’s Preferred Chimney Sweep Company
Taylor homeowners have seen plenty of contractors over the years, and quite a few have been burned. Not by fire. By no-shows. By a $89 special that turned into $1,400 at the door. By a “new liner” that cracked again within months. We built our reputation here by doing the opposite of that, and it starts with a written price before any work begins. The number on your invoice matches the number we quoted.
Our owner Nathan Corliss set up the Kingswell Guarantee for exactly this reason. Every repair gets a written guarantee. If a covered repair fails within the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge. That’s the 365-Day Done Right Promise, and it applies in Taylor, not just on our website.
Every technician who shows up at your Taylor door is background-checked and uniformed. You’ll know their name before they arrive. And when you call, a live person answers, 24/7. No voicemail loops, no callback forms. We know that matters to people in Taylor who’ve been left waiting by companies that treat small towns like an afterthought.
Styles & brands we work with
Chimney Maintenance in Taylor
Chimney maintenance in Taylor means more than a quick brush through the flue, especially on homes built between the 1920s and 1960s. It means checking the mortar joints, the crown, the flashing, and the flue liner for the hairline cracks that Blackland Prairie clay soil is famous for causing. It means looking for animal nests in dormant chimneys during Taylor’s hot, humid summers. Most chimney maintenance visits in Taylor run $149 to $249, and that includes a visual inspection of everything we can reach.
Annual Sweep and Firebox Care
For most Taylor homes that burn wood a few times each winter, an annual sweep is the right cadence. We clean the firebox, smoke chamber, damper area, and the full flue length. The goal is removing creosote before it builds into a glaze, which is much harder to remove and far more likely to ignite.
We also check the firebrick. In older Taylor fireplaces, cracked firebrick is common, and it’s not cosmetic. Gaps let heat reach the structure behind the firebox, and that’s a fire hazard we don’t ignore.
Crown and Flashing Inspection
Taylor’s freeze-thaw cycles, mild as they are, still cause concrete chimney crowns to crack. Once water gets in, the damage spreads fast. We inspect the crown and flashing on every maintenance visit, and we’ll show you photos of anything we find. If it can wait, we say so. If it can’t, we tell you why and give you a written price.
Chimney Sweep Services in Taylor
Chimney sweep services in Taylor start at $189 for a standard cleaning on a single-flue masonry chimney, and most fall between $220 and $329 depending on flue size, creosote stage, and whether there’s an animal nest or other obstruction. We sweep from the roof down or the firebox up, depending on what your chimney needs, and we run a camera into the flue afterward so you can see what we see.
Creosote and Soot Removal
Creosote is the reason smoke burns in a chimney fire. It forms from incomplete combustion, and in Taylor’s humid climate, it can pick up moisture that makes it stickier and harder to remove. We remove first, second, and third-degree creosote. Third-degree is the shiny, tar-like glaze that requires chemical treatment or mechanical removal with specialized tools. It’s not a quick brush job, and it’s not something to put off.
Soot removal is simpler, but if you have a wood-burning fireplace that hasn’t been swept in years, you may have more than soot. We’ll tell you what we find, and we’ll show you the camera feed before we recommend anything beyond the sweep.
Fireplace Cleaning and Smoke Chamber Work
Most homeowners picture the firebox when they think of fireplace cleaning, but the smoke chamber is where a lot of problems hide. In older Taylor chimneys, the smoke chamber often has corbelled brick with rough mortar joints that collect creosote and creosote dust. That dust is highly flammable. We clean the smoke chamber on every sweep, and we take before-and-after photos so you can see what came out.
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.
Trusted Brands We Service in Taylor
We don’t put generic parts in Taylor chimneys. When we repair a flue, reline a chimney, or replace a cap, we use materials from brands the chimney trade actually trusts: Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, and Copperfield. For stainless steel relining, we use DuraFlex. For resurfacing damaged flues, we use HeatShield. We keep common parts on the truck, so a cracked cap or a damaged damper usually gets fixed the same day we find it, not two weeks later after a special order. That matters when you live in Taylor and you want your fireplace working before the next cold snap.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Sweep Problems We See in Taylor Homes
- Clay tile flue cracks from soil movement. The Blackland Prairie clay under Taylor expands and contracts with moisture, and that movement transfers up through the chimney structure. We regularly find vertical hairline cracks in clay tile liners on homes near downtown, especially around Robinson Park. Those cracks let heat and gases reach the masonry, and that’s a safety issue.
- Unlined brick flues in pre-1950 homes. Many Taylor houses from the cotton and railroad era have original brick chimneys with no flue liner at all. Mortar joints spall and soften over 80 years, and the openings between bricks get wider. An unlined flue in that condition should not be used until it’s evaluated, and in most cases a stainless steel liner is the right fix.
- Animal nesting during long dormant stretches. Taylor’s chimneys sit unused for months at a time in summer. Raccoons, squirrels, and chimney swifts find them. We pull nests out of flues in Taylor regularly, and we always recommend a proper chimney cap afterward so it doesn’t happen twice.
- Smoke chamber creosote buildup above the damper. The smoke chamber is a dead zone in most DIY cleanings. In Taylor’s humid air, creosote dust clings to rough mortar and accumulates. If you only clean the firebox and the visible flue, you’re leaving the most combustible material in the chimney.
Pricing for Chimney Sweep in Taylor, TX
A standard chimney sweep in Taylor runs $189 to $329. That includes full flue cleaning, firebox and smoke chamber work, and a Level 1 visual inspection. If we need to remove animal nesting or heavy third-degree creosote glaze, expect $50 to $150 more depending on what we’re dealing with. Level 2 inspections, which use a camera to check the flue interior after a chimney fire, property sale, or when cracks are suspected, run $249 to $399 in Taylor. Stainless steel relining is the biggest ticket item, typically $3,200 to $5,800 depending on flue height and access, but we never recommend a liner without showing you camera evidence of why it’s needed. Call (254) 274-4486 for an exact quote, free.
We Also Serve Cities Near Taylor
Our crews serve Taylor and the surrounding area, including Pflugerville, Round Rock, Georgetown, and Manor. If you’re in one of those cities and you need a chimney sweep, the same written-price, written-guarantee process applies. Call us and we’ll get you on the schedule.
Serving Taylor, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Taylor 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 Taylor
Once a year, even with light use, because creosote builds even with a handful of burns, and Taylor’s humid summers can make it sticky and concentrated. The National Fire Protection Association standard (NFPA 211) recommends annual inspection and cleaning as needed. Call (254) 274-4486 and we’ll tell you honestly whether your chimney needs a sweep or can wait a year.
In Taylor, a vertical crack in a chimney is usually tied to foundation movement from Blackland Prairie clay soil, not harmless settling. Small cracks can let water in, which then causes freeze-thaw damage in winter and makes the crack grow. The only way to know if it’s structural or cosmetic is a camera inspection. We’ll run a Level 2 and show you the footage before we recommend anything.
Yes, a sweep will remove nesting material and identify what’s inside, but we won’t just pull the nest and leave. We’ll recommend a chimney cap sized for your flue and install it so birds and raccoons don’t return. In older Taylor homes, the flue often has no cap at all, or the existing cap is rusted through. We’ll include that in your written quote before we do the work.
It’s usually one of three things in Taylor: a blocked flue from a nest or heavy creosote, a damper that isn’t functioning, or a draft problem caused by negative pressure in the home. We check all three when we arrive. A camera run through the flue tells us in minutes if there’s a blockage. Call us at (254) 274-4486 and we’ll diagnose it, usually for the cost of the sweep if a cleaning is all that’s needed.
Most of the time, yes. An unlined brick flue in a home built before 1950 has mortar joints that have softened and spalled over eight decades, and there’s no way to seal them from the inside without a liner. But we never tell you that without showing you camera footage of your actual flue. If we recommend a liner, you’ll see exactly why on the screen. If the flue looks sound, we’ll say so and tell you what monitoring looks like instead.
If your chimney hasn’t been looked at in a while, or you’re seeing cracks, smoke, or hearing animals, call Ashby Chimney Austin at (254) 274-4486. We’ll give you a straight answer, a written price, and a written guarantee. That’s how we work in Taylor.
Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney Austin, serving Taylor since 2002.