Meet the Team - Ashby Chimney Los Angeles

Meet the Los Angeles Team Behind Ashby Chimney Los Angeles

Ashby Chimney Los Angeles has been sweeping and repairing fireplaces across this city since 2002, and the crew we send to your door is the reason that name still means something. We’re not a rotating cast of subcontractors. The people below are the ones who answer the phone, drive the van, climb onto your roof, and explain what the camera found in your flue. They know Los Angeles chimneys the way only people who’ve worked on thousands of them can. They show up in uniform, they’ve passed background checks, and they’ll tell you the price before a single brush goes up.

Call (213) 652-7061

Our People

Mike R. – Lead Technician

Mike has been with Ashby Chimney Los Angeles for fourteen years, and he’s the person we put in front of the complicated jobs. His specialty is flue liners, specifically the stainless steel and clay systems you’ll find in Los Angeles homes built between the 1920s and the 1970s. Mike holds certifications in HeatShield resurfacing and DuraFlex liner installation. On a cold January morning after a Santa Ana wind event, he’s usually the guy on a roof in Silver Lake trying to explain to a homeowner that the mortar crown has hairline cracks and needs sealing before the next rain gets in. Mike collects vintage Los Angeles postcards and keeps a stack of them in the glovebox of his work van for the rare day when traffic gives him time to read anything.

Dana S. – Senior Installer

Dana joined the crew eight years ago after a decade in commercial masonry, which means she’s the one we call when a fireplace needs more than a cleaning. She handles firebox rebuilds, smoke chamber parging, and damper replacements with a level of patience that comes from working with hundred-year-old brick that doesn’t always cooperate. Dana is certified on Gelco and Olympia Chimney refractory systems, and she’s the reason we’re comfortable putting a written guarantee on repair work. She lives in the San Fernando Valley and has strong opinions about the proper way to pack a chimney cap so it doesn’t rattle during the wind gusts that barrel through the pass every fall. Ask her about the 1940s home in Eagle Rock where she found a bird’s nest the size of a carry-on suitcase inside the flue, and she’ll tell you the whole story while she’s taping down the drop cloth.

Paul T. – Service Coordinator

When you call (213) 652-7061, Paul is one of the people who picks up. He’s been answering phones for Ashby Chimney Los Angeles since 2016, and he books every appointment with the same rule: you get a written price before work starts, no exceptions. Paul knows the neighborhoods of Los Angeles well enough to tell you that a chimney in Hancock Park will likely have different issues than one in a mid-century ranch in Granada Hills, and he’ll set the right expectation before you even see a truck in your driveway. He runs the schedule, keeps the crew stocked with DuraFlex and Copperfield parts, and tracks every guarantee we issue. Paul plays upright bass in a jazz trio on weekends, which is why he’s unbothered by the chaos of a ringing phone at seven in the morning.

Luis M. – Apprentice Technician

Luis is the newest member of the team, going on two years with Ashby Chimney Los Angeles. He’s completing his chimney sweep training under Mike and Dana, which means he’s spent a lot of time hauling brush rods, setting up ladders on steep Los Angeles hillside lots, and learning how to read a camera inspection report so he can explain it clearly to a homeowner who’s never seen the inside of their flue. Luis is originally from Boyle Heights and has a natural knack for the diagnostic side of the work. He’s the one who often spots the small stuff, a cracked flue tile or a damper that’s been rusted open for a decade, before it becomes a bigger repair. On his days off, he’s usually hiking in Griffith Park or trying to keep his mother’s 1960s fireplace in working order.

One Standard, Every Job

Every Ashby Chimney location is independently owned and operated under the Kingswell Guarantee, and our Los Angeles crew takes that seriously. The Kingswell Way is five things: say the price, show up in the window, leave it cleaner, put the guarantee in writing, and come back if it fails. That’s not a slogan we hang on the wall. It’s the checklist we run on every single job, whether it’s a routine sweep in West Adams or a full liner replacement in Tarzana. We buy our materials from chimney-trade suppliers like DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, and Copperfield because we won’t install parts we can’t stand behind. And when we hand you a written guarantee, it means something specific: if a covered repair fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge. Nathan Corliss, the owner of this Los Angeles location, holds the whole crew to that standard because it’s the only way a chimney company keeps its name in a city where reputation travels block by block.

Why the Team Matters When It’s Your Chimney

A chimney cleaning in Los Angeles isn’t just about removing soot. It’s about making sure the flue liner, the clay or steel tube that vents combustion gases out of your home, is intact. It’s about checking the firebox and the smoke chamber for cracks that could let heat reach the framing of your house. And it’s about knowing the difference between a fireplace that needs immediate repair and one that can safely wait another season. That judgment comes from experience, and experience is a person, not a checklist. When you book with Ashby Chimney Los Angeles, you’ll know who’s coming to your door before they arrive. You’ll get a background-checked, uniformed technician who answers your questions in plain language and shows you exactly what they found. That’s how we’ve done it since 2002, and it’s why people in Los Angeles keep calling us back.

Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles since 2002.