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 Sunset
Fireplace repair in Sunset FL usually runs between $185 and $2,400 depending on what’s actually wrong. A stuck damper or pilot light fix sits at the low end; a cracked flue liner replacement lands at the high end. We give you a written price before any work starts, so the number you see is the number you pay. If you’re in Sunset and your fireplace is acting up, call (850) 787-8597 and a real person answers, day or night.
We know Sunset’s homes. The 1950s and 60s ranches off Southwest 72nd Street, the stucco Mediterranean places near Westwind Lakes Park, the older blocks around the Snapper Creek area. Most of these houses have masonry chimneys that have been sitting in subtropical humidity for sixty-plus years, and that changes what goes wrong and how we fix it.
Why Ashby Chimney Miami Is Sunset’s Preferred Fireplace Repair Company
We’ve been doing this since 2002, and we’ve seen just about every firebox problem a Sunset home can throw at us. Homeowners here tell us the same stories: a tech who ghosted them, a quote that doubled at the door, a liner that cracked again six weeks after it was “fixed.” That’s not us. Nathan Corliss runs each job with one rule: show the work, put the price in writing, stand behind it.
Every Ashby Chimney Miami technician is background-checked and wears a uniform. You’ll know who’s walking into your home. We serve Sunset as a local crew, scheduled through our South Florida office in Miami. And if a covered repair fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge. That’s the 365-Day Done Right Promise, and we put it in writing on every single job.
Styles & brands we work with





Fireplace Insert Installation in Sunset
Fireplace insert installation in Sunset gives you a sealed, efficient heating appliance that sits inside your existing masonry firebox. For the many Sunset homeowners with original 1950s fireplaces that draft poorly or leak heat, a wood or gas insert turns a decorative fireplace into something that actually warms the living room. The old firebox gets a new steel shell with its own flue connection, so the original clay tile liner is no longer in play. In Sunset, this work typically runs $2,800 – $6,500, including the insert, liner connection, and labor. You’ll get a written price before we start, always.
The job takes one to two days. We remove the old damper and rusted components, size the insert to your firebox opening, run a proper stainless liner through the existing chimney, and seal everything so combustion gases exit the home the way they should. Sunset’s humidity means we use marine-grade sealants around the crown and cap connection, because standard sealants degrade faster here than they do in drier climates.
Wood Stove Inserts For Older Ranch Homes
That 1960s ranch on a quiet Sunset street has a masonry chimney built for an open fire, not a sealed appliance. A wood stove insert gets you real heat output and burns far cleaner than the old fireplace ever did. We stock inserts sized for the narrower firebox openings common in Sunset’s post-war construction, so you’re not looking at major masonry demolition.
Gas Inserts For Occasional Use
Plenty of Sunset homeowners want a fire on the rare chilly evening without fussing with wood. A gas insert gives you a flame with a remote control and zero creosote buildup. If your gas line is already close to the fireplace, installation is straightforward; if not, we run a properly sized line as part of the job.
Gas Fireplace Installation in Sunset
Gas fireplace installation in Sunset is a common upgrade for homeowners who want reliable heat during those brief cold snaps without dealing with wood storage, ash cleanup, or creosote risk. We install vented and ventless gas fireplaces, run gas lines, and set up the unit so it lights on the first try every time. For a complete gas fireplace installation in Sunset, expect to pay $2,200 – $5,800 depending on whether a gas line already exists, the type of venting, and the unit you choose. The price is always written down before we open a single box.
Natural gas and propane both work fine in Sunset homes. If you’re on propane, we’ll need to confirm tank placement and line routing. The venting is the critical piece here. Direct-vent gas fireplaces pull outside air and exhaust through a sealed coaxial pipe, which matters in Sunset because high humidity and frequent thunderstorms put more stress on exterior terminations. We seal every penetration with materials that hold up in South Florida’s wet season.
Converting A Wood Fireplace To Gas
If your Sunset home has an open wood fireplace you rarely use, converting it to gas is faster and cleaner than you’d think. A gas log set or insert drops into the existing firebox, and we run a new liner sized for gas exhaust. You keep the fireplace look and lose the creosote risk that comes with burning wood occasionally in a humid climate.
New Gas Lines Run To Code
Running a gas line is not a job to wing. We size the line for the Btu load, pressure-test every connection, and verify there are no leaks before the unit fires up. Sunset’s older homes sometimes have gas plumbing that’s been touched by multiple hands over the decades, so we inspect the existing line condition rather than assuming it’s sound.
Trusted Brands We Service in Sunset
We repair and install equipment from the brands chimney professionals actually trust. DuraFlex stainless liners, HeatShield cerfractory flue sealing, Copperfield dampers and components. These aren’t whatever was on the shelf. We keep common parts stocked for Sunset jobs, which means we’re not waiting a week on a damper assembly or liner connector when your fireplace is down in the middle of a cold snap. If a DuraFlex liner or Copperfield damper is what your chimney needs, that’s what we install.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Fireplace Repair Problems We See in Sunset Homes
- Cracked clay tile flue liners. Sunset’s 1950s chimneys were built with clay tiles, and those tiles crack when a rare cold front follows months of humid disuse. The thermal shock sends cracks up the flue, and those cracks are how smoke and carbon monoxide backdraft into the house.
- Rusted dampers. High humidity keeps moisture sitting on damper assemblies. We regularly find dampers seized open or rusted shut in Sunset homes, which means either heat and AC bleed up the chimney year-round or dangerous gases can’t vent during a fire.
- Spalling brick and crown damage. Sunset’s thunderstorms and humidity accelerate masonry breakdown. Water gets into the smoke chamber through cracked crowns and spalled brick, and once moisture is inside, creosote hides behind the firebox where a visual inspection alone won’t catch it.
- Birds’ nests and debris. Because many Sunset homeowners rarely use their fireplaces, the flue becomes quiet, dark, dry real estate. Birds, squirrels, and wasps move in between uses. Any fire lit on top of a nest is a chimney fire waiting to happen.
Pricing for Fireplace Repair in Sunset, FL
Here are the ranges we quote most often in Sunset: damper repair or replacement runs $185 – $650. Pilot light and gas valve service runs $150 – $450. Firebox repair with new refractory panels runs $400 – $1,400. A stainless liner replacement usually runs $2,200 – $4,800 in Sunset depending on flue height and access. A full fireplace insert installation, as covered above, runs $2,800 – $6,500. What moves the number in Sunset specifically is chimney access (ranch homes are easier than two-story stucco builds), existing liner condition, and how long moisture has been doing its work. You’ll get a written price before any repair starts, so there’s zero back-and-forth after the fact. Call (850) 787-8597 for a free estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Sunset
Beyond Sunset, our crews handle fireplace repair work in Sunset and the surrounding South Florida communities. That includes Miami, Hialeah, North Miami Beach, and Hialeah Gardens. If you’re in one of those areas and need a chimney looked at, the same written-price, written-guarantee service applies. Our Fireplace Repair team covers the whole metro area with the same standard of work.
Serving Sunset, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Sunset 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 Sunset
Once a year, no exceptions. Even if you light one fire per year in your Sunset home, the humidity is doing damage whether you use the fireplace or not. Moisture works on clay tile liners, damper assemblies, and masonry crowns year-round in Sunset, and rust streaks or cracks may already be forming. An annual inspection catches that damage before a cold night turns a small crack into a chimney fire.
Call (850) 787-8597 to schedule an inspection. It’s inexpensive compared to what a missed liner crack costs.
It means water has been sitting on metal components long enough to oxidize them, which in Sunset’s humidity is a sign the damper or flue components above the throat are failing. Rust streaks often indicate the damper is rusted through, the cap is compromised, or the flashing has failed and water is tracking down into the smoke chamber. It’s one of the first visible signs of hidden flue damage in Sunset homes. Don’t wait. A rust streak is a warning, not a cosmetic issue.
Call us at (850) 787-8597 and we’ll camera-inspect the flue and tell you what’s actually going on.
Because months of humid disuse leave clay tile liners wet, and then a sudden fire heats them hundreds of degrees in minutes. The rapid temperature change is called thermal shock, and it cracks clay tiles that would have survived in a drier climate. Once those tiles crack, the next fire pushes smoke and carbon monoxide through the cracks instead of up and out. That’s the failure pattern we see again and again in Sunset after the first cold front blows through. An inspection before the first fire of the season prevents it.
Call (850) 787-8597 before you light that first fire, and we’ll make sure the flue is sound.
Yes, and in fact those older Sunset ranches are excellent candidates. The original clay tile flue gets bypassed with a DuraFlex stainless liner sized for the insert, which means the insert drafts properly and the old, cracked clay no longer matters. We size the liner to the insert’s requirements, not the other way around. The existing masonry just becomes a chase for the new liner, so no demolition is needed. It’s one of the most common upgrades we do in Sunset homes with original 1960s chimneys.
Call (850) 787-8597 for a look at your firebox opening and a written quote.
That’s creosote off-gassing in humid air, and it’s common in Sunset because high humidity pulls creosote odors out of the flue and into the house. Even if you haven’t burned in months, old creosote deposits absorb moisture from the air and release that sharp, acrid smell. It’s also a sign that your damper may not be sealing tightly, letting humid outdoor air flow through the chimney all summer. A sweep and seal often eliminates the smell.
Call (850) 787-8597 and we’ll clean the flue and check the damper seal.
Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney Miami, serving Sunset since 2002.