What an inspection actually checks

The firebox, the damper, the smoke chamber and the flue, looking for anything that would let fire or carbon monoxide out of the chimney and into the house.

A chimney has one job. Hold the fire and its exhaust inside sealed masonry until both are out above the roofline. Everything an inspection looks for is a way that seal has broken.

Cracked flue tile is the big one. Clay splits under heat. It splits in earthquakes too. Once it goes, hot gas reaches the framing behind the masonry. You will not see it from the firebox either. It sits fifteen feet up in the dark, which is the whole reason the camera exists.

The rest is more ordinary. Mortar joints that have opened up. A damper that stopped sealing. A cap gone to rust. Creosote thick enough to catch. A nest above the smoke chamber. All of it can sit in a chimney that looks perfectly fine from the living room.

Level I and Level II, and which one you need

Level I for the annual check. Level II when something has changed, or when money is moving.

Book a Level II when something has changed. You are buying or selling. There has been an earthquake. There has been a chimney fire, even a small one that put itself out. You are converting the fireplace to gas. Or you have owned the place for years and nobody has ever put a camera up there.

What it costs

We quote before we start. An inspection never turns into a repair unless you agree to it separately. You get the photos either way.

Los Angeles chimneys have their own list

Earthquake cracking, salt corrosion and gas conversions account for most of what we find here.

The 1994 Northridge quake split flue tiles across the basin. Plenty of those chimneys got patched at the crown and never looked at inside. Smaller quakes since have kept adding to the count. A camera finds that damage in ten minutes. Nothing else will.

Near the water it is corrosion. Caps rust from the inside, where nobody sees it. Dampers seize half open. Flashing lifts, and the leak turns up as a ceiling stain two rooms away.

Then there are the conversions. A gas log set dropped into a flue sized for wood, damper clamp missing, venting never checked. That is a carbon monoxide problem. It shows up more often than it should.

How a Level II runs

1. Containment first

   Drop cloths on the hearth and the floor before any equipment comes in.

2. Visual check

   Firebox, damper, smoke chamber, and the cap and crown from the roof.

3. Camera up the flue

   The CHIM-SCAN goes the full length. You watch the screen with the technician and we stop at anything worth showing you.

4. Findings, in plain terms

   What is wrong, whether it needs doing now or can wait a season, and what it costs.

5. Written report

   Photos and findings in writing. That is the document escrow and insurers want.

Inspection is not the same as sweeping

Sweeping cleans the flue. Inspection tells you whether the chimney is safe to use.

They go together, which is why a Level I comes with every sweep. A clean chimney can still be a dangerous one. Cracked tile does not care how much creosote came out.

Read about chimney sweeping, or call and we will work out which one you actually need.