Service area
Walk street chimney sweep for Hermosa Beach homes
AAA Chimney Sweep is a family owned sweep and repair company for Hermosa Beach houses, including the ones on walk streets with no car access out front. In business since 1977. Sweeps starting at $99 and inspections starting at $69.
What is the fireplace doing?
8am to 8pm
Access first
On a walk street, we work from the alley
Hermosa's code defines a walk street as one built for people on foot, with car access to each lot only from the alley. So the alley is where we unload, and usually where the ladder goes up.
The whole city covers 1.43 square miles. About 10,000 homes fit inside it. The city's own housing plan names small lot size as a constraint on building, and you see it on the ground. Many houses have no driveway at the front and little or no side yard.
None of that stops the job. It changes the setup. Give us the address when you book, and tell us if the house faces a walk street. Then we know which way the tools come in.
Tight lots
Walk street and small lot questions
- Where does your crew set up if my house faces a walk street?
- In the alley behind it. City code makes the alley the only car access for a walk street lot, so that is where we unload.
- My house has no side yard. How does the ladder reach the roof?
- From the alley side, or off a garage roof strong enough to carry it. If neither will work we say so on the phone.
- Everything has to come through the living room. Will soot get on the furniture?
- No. Drop cloths go down from the door to the fireplace, and a HEPA vacuum runs the whole time the brushes are in the flue.
- The neighbours built a taller house and now our fireplace smokes. Is that connected?
- It can be. Wind rolling over a taller roof can push down on a short chimney next to it. We look at the height difference and the cap, and tell you whether a taller flue or a different cap would fix it.
Old and new
Old house, new neighbour
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Houses from before 1940
Census counts put about 1,160 Hermosa homes at 1939 or earlier. Former mayor Pat Gazin began recording the historic ones that were disappearing back in 1977. A chimney that age often has clay tile or no liner, and a thin crown. It gets a camera before it gets a quote.
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A taller house next door
New houses on a small lot tend to go up. An older chimney beside one can lose its draft when the wind comes over the new roofline. If the smoke started after the neighbour built, mention it when you call.
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Storms from the northwest
Hermosa's rainy season runs from late October to late March, and storms usually come in from the northwest. The side of the chimney facing that way takes the rain first. We look hardest at the crown and the flashing on that side.
Services
Three services built around Hermosa houses
Chimney sweeping
Swept from the alley side, with cloths laid from the back door to the hearth.
Chimney inspection
Camera inspections for the Hermosa houses that date from before 1940.
Chimney repair
Taller flues and new crowns for older chimneys boxed in by new builds.
Around Hermosa
Hermosa's neighbours on the coast
Manhattan Beach is directly north. Redondo Beach wraps around the south and east.
Book a visit
Send us the address and we sort out the access
Tell us the street, whether the front door is on a walk street, and what is going wrong with the fireplace. Access gets settled on the phone, so the visit starts with the chimney. You can read customer reviews on Yelp before you book.
818-348-1993Hours run 8am to 8pm, Sundays included.
Request a visit
We answer the same day during business hours.