Service area
Long Beach chimney sweep and repair for historic district homes
In Long Beach, AAA Chimney Sweep inspects, sweeps and rebuilds chimneys as a family owned company, including the old brick stacks in the city's 18 historic districts. We have been family owned since 1977. Sweeps start at $99. Inspections start at $69.
What is the fireplace doing?
8am to 8pm
What the 1933 earthquake left behind
If your Long Beach house was built before March 1933, its chimney lived through the Long Beach earthquake, and nobody can tell from the street how well.
The quake hit at 5:54 on the evening of March 10, 1933. Magnitude 6.4, centered about 3 miles south of Huntington Beach. In Long Beach, buildings collapsed and houses were shaken off their foundations. Unreinforced masonry did the worst. Most of the roughly 120 deaths came from masonry buildings coming down.
Brick chimneys are unreinforced masonry. After the shaking, some were rebuilt. Some got patched at the roofline. Some were left alone. More than ninety years on, the only way to know which one you have is to look inside the flue.
There are a lot of them left. Census estimates count about 34,800 Long Beach homes built before 1940.
Historic district rules for chimney work
Exterior work on a house in a Long Beach historic district needs city approval first.
The city requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for any exterior change to a historic district property. Its design guidelines name chimneys among the roof features to keep. So a rebuild in California Heights or Rose Park starts with a call to the Historic Preservation Officer, before any brick comes down. Our inspection photos can go with the application.
Districts and the shore
From Rose Park to Naples
- California Heights
- Rose Park
- Bluff Park
- Bluff Heights
- Belmont Heights
- Wrigley Area
- Belmont Shore
- Naples
Long Beach chimneys, district by district
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Rose Park Craftsman stacks
Rose Park filled with Craftsman bungalows between 1910 and 1922. Any original chimney there stood through 1933. We check for a lean, for mismatched brick above the roofline and for mortar repairs that tell us someone fixed it after the quake.
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Spanish revival chimneys in California Heights
Nearly 1,500 homes, most of them Spanish Colonial Revival from the late 1920s. Those chimneys were only a few years old when the ground moved. Where a chimney is stuccoed over brick, the stucco hides cracks, so the camera does more of the work.
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The Wrigley Area, built across the quake
Wrigley went up between 1928 and 1934. Two chimneys on one block may have been built a few years and one earthquake apart. We treat each one as its own case.
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Tall stacks on the Bluff Park blufftop
Bluff Park runs along the ocean bluffs, with big two-story Craftsman and Period Revival houses built from 1903 to 1949. A chimney that clears a second-story roof has more brick in the wind and the salt. Crowns and the top few courses go first.
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Salt on the metal in Belmont Shore and Naples
Belmont Shore has its own ocean beach. Naples sits in Alamitos Bay. Caps and damper plates rust out long before the masonry gives up. Stainless is what we fit down there.
What we do here
Chimney services for older Long Beach homes
Chimney inspection
Camera footage and photos that can go with a Certificate of Appropriateness application.
Chimney rebuild
Brick rebuilt above the roofline to suit a historic district house.
Chimney repair
Repointing and crown work on brick laid before 1933.
Chimney relining
A stainless liner inside a clay flue cracked by age or old ground movement.
Chimney cap installation
Stainless caps for homes along Alamitos Bay and the Belmont Shore beach.
Chimney sweeping
A sweep of a century-old Long Beach flue, with the Level I look that comes with it.
Questions
Old house, old chimney: Long Beach questions
- Was my chimney damaged in the 1933 earthquake?
- If your house predates March 1933, the chimney went through it. Whether it was rebuilt, patched or left alone, only an inspection tells you now. The camera shows cracked tile and shifted joints inside the flue.
- Do I need city approval to repair a chimney in a historic district?
- For exterior changes, yes. Long Beach requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for exterior changes to historic district properties, and its guidelines name chimneys as a roof feature to preserve. Call the city's Historic Preservation Officer before you book a rebuild.
- Can you rebuild a chimney so it looks like the original?
- That is the goal in a historic district. We photograph the old stack before it comes down, then match the brick and the mortar joint as closely as available material allows.
- We live in Belmont Shore. Does the salt matter?
- It does for anything metal. Caps and damper plates rust first. Brick holds up longer. Near the water, we fit stainless caps.
Nearby
Long Beach's neighbors
Lakewood borders Long Beach to the north. Carson and Wilmington border it to the west.
Book a visit
Before 1933 or after? Start there
Tell us the district and roughly when the house went up. A pre-quake chimney gets the camera first. Customer reviews are on Yelp if you want to read them before you call.
818-348-1993Open every day, 8am to 8pm. Historic districts and the shore.
Request a visit
We answer the same day during business hours.