Asheville, North Carolina

What is a Level 2 chimney inspection and do I need one when buying a house?

In Asheville, order a Level 2 inspection the moment you go under contract on a house with a fireplace — it runs a camera down the full flue and checks the accessible attic, crawlspace, and roofline, going far past the flashlight-in-the-firebox look a home inspector gives. Buying triggers it under the national fire-protection standard, whether the chimney is old masonry or newer clean-face gas.

Two very different chimneys across town

Montford and North Asheville are full of original masonry chimneys with clay flue tiles that have taken decades of wood fires — the camera hunts for cracked tiles, spalled joints, and the creosote glaze a room-level look never catches. South Asheville's newer clean-face gas and modern wood builds are a different animal: there the scan confirms the factory chimney and connections are sound and that any insert went in with a correctly sized liner. Same inspection level, two very different reports.

The history you don't have

You have zero record of how the last owner burned. Maybe they ran green, unseasoned wood that coated the flue in glaze; maybe a previous insert dropped in without a liner; maybe a hard freeze-thaw winter opened a hairline crack in a tile. None of that shows from the firebox. The video scan plus the attic and roof check surface it before the house — and the problem — become yours.

Right down Emma Road

We're headquartered at 629 Emma Rd, so an Asheville Level 2 is a short drive across town. Get it done inside your due-diligence window, because a documented report is real negotiating leverage — findings in writing let you ask for a reline or repair before closing rather than after. If the report calls for a new liner or any gas-line work, we're a licensed gas contractor: we pull the Buncombe County permit and meet the inspector. Call (828) 545-0525.

Fireplace help in Asheville

We install and service fireplaces throughout Asheville and the rest of Buncombe County — we're headquartered right here.

Fireplace services in Asheville General answer (all of WNC)

This answer for nearby towns

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