How Ashby Chimney Marietta Was Born in Marietta
We didn’t build a new company here in Marietta. Ashby Chimney Sweep already existed, with a reputation that went back years and a guarantee that meant something. What we did was bring that standard to Cobb County and make it local.
The decision came from watching too many Marietta homeowners go through the same cycle: a company would show up late, or not at all, then hand over a price that had nothing to do with what was quoted on the phone. A sweep would take twenty minutes. A recommendation for a new liner would come with no photo, no video, no way to verify any of it.
Nathan Corliss saw that pattern enough times to know it wasn’t bad luck. It was a market that needed what Ashby Chimney Sweep already stood for: a written price before any work starts, a real arrival window, and a camera that shows the flue before anyone asks a homeowner to spend a dollar on repairs. So he built the Marietta branch around those standards and hired a team that would work the same way.
That’s how Ashby Chimney Marietta came to serve the homeowners here. Same name, same guarantee, but with local faces and local knowledge you can call on.
Nathan Corliss’s Personal Connection to the Chimney Cleaning Trade
Nathan Corliss didn’t grow up dreaming about soot. He grew up in Georgia, where fireplaces are real things: the smell of oak smoke drifting through a neighborhood in November, the crack of pine sap popping behind glass doors, the first cold snap of the year when everyone on the street suddenly remembers their damper hasn’t been touched since spring. That’s the landscape he knew, and it stayed with him.
What pulled him into the chimney trade was simpler than passion. It was solving a problem most people can’t see for themselves. A fireplace is one of the few parts of a house where the dangerous stuff is invisible until something goes wrong. The flue is a dark tunnel you can’t inspect from the living room. The mortar joint failing behind brick is hidden by the brick itself. Homeowners know their roof leaks and their gutters sag, but a chimney can hide its problems for years. That’s what drew him in: the chance to be the person who shows someone the truth about their own fireplace, with a camera and a light, in plain language.
He learned the work the hands-on way, standing on rooftops in July heat and crawling into attics in February, following the tradesmen who’d been doing it long enough to read creosote like a map. He learned what wet, shiny creosote means versus dry, flaky creosote. He learned how a drafty firebox sounds different from a blocked flue. He learned how to tell when a liner has ten years left and when it has ten weeks.
What keeps him in it, after all these years, is the moment the camera comes out. It’s the look on a homeowner’s face when they see the flue for the first time: the light hitting the shiny crust of third-degree creosote, or the crack running through a clay tile. Nobody has to convince them after that. They can see it. That’s what gets him out of bed. Not the ladder, not the brushes, not the invoices. The truth, made visible.
If he weren’t doing this, he’d probably be building things. Woodworking, most likely. The same thing that makes a good chimney sweep makes a good craftsman: patience with details nobody else sees.
Meet Nathan Corliss – The Person Behind Every Job
Nathan Corliss is the Owner & Founder of Ashby Chimney Marietta. He heads the local branch that brings the Ashby Chimney Sweep standard to Cobb County and the surrounding area: Marietta, Kennesaw, Smyrna, Vinings, Mableton, Powder Springs, Acworth, Woodstock, and the neighborhoods in between.
He’s a chimney professional, not a salesman in a uniform. He can tell you the difference between a HeatShield repair and a full reline, explain why a Famco cap is worth the money, and show you photos of your own flue before anyone recommends either. That skill set came from doing the work, year after year, in every season Georgia throws at a chimney.
Ask him about his job and he’ll talk about this: a homeowner in Marietta called after another company quoted her a new liner without ever putting a camera up the chimney. The camera showed a flue that was dirty, not broken. A sweep and a cap solved it. That’s the kind of thing he built this branch around.
His commitment is simple. If you can’t see the problem, you shouldn’t pay for the fix. That’s the standard he holds himself to on every single job.
Our Promise to Marietta Homeowners
Every job follows the Kingswell Way, a set of values that Ashby Chimney Sweep locations across the country work by. These aren’t slogans. They’re practices.
Say the price before the work. We put the quote in writing before we touch a brush. No prices that change at the door, no surprise line items after the fact.
Show up in the window we gave. A real arrival window, not a four-hour spread that eats your whole morning. If we say we’ll be there, we’ll be there.
Leave the place cleaner than we found it. Chimney sweeping is dusty work. The dust belongs in our vacuum, not on your mantel. Drop cloths down, shoes covered, everything wiped after.
Put the guarantee in writing. The Kingswell Guarantee covers the work we do. If a repair fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge. You don’t have to remember a verbal promise. It’s on paper.
Come back if it fails. That’s the whole guarantee in five words.
Our Credentials
Here’s what you should know before hiring anyone to work on your chimney:
- Licensed & insured. Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. That’s not a selling point. It’s a baseline.
- Backed by The Kingswell Guarantee. Written guarantee on the work, and if a repair fails inside the guarantee period, we return and fix it at no charge.
- Local experience. We know Marietta chimneys: the damp Georgia winters that push moisture into brick, the summer heat that bakes mortar, the pine-heavy firewood that builds creosote faster than anyone expects.
- Strong local reputation. We’ve earned trust the slow way: by showing the flue, quoting honestly, and leaving the house cleaner than we found it.
Why does any of this matter to a homeowner? Because someone working inside your home should be legally qualified and financially responsible if something goes wrong. Because a guarantee only means something if the company is real and reachable. And because a local reputation means your neighbors have already tested what we do.
Rooted in Marietta
This isn’t a remote operation with a Marietta address. When you call (478) 796-8742, you reach a live coordinator who connects you with the local team that works this area every week. We know the difference between a fireplace in Kennesaw built in the nineties and a mid-century fireplace in Smyrna. We know what tree coverage does to a flue in Vinings versus open lots in Acworth. That’s the knowledge that only comes from working a landscape long enough to know its patterns.
We serve Marietta and the surrounding area because that’s where our customers live. That’s the whole reason this branch exists.
Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney Marietta, serving Marietta and the surrounding communities.