Service area
Chimney sweep in Manhattan Beach
AAA Chimney Sweep & Fire Protection Co. has been sweeping and repairing Manhattan Beach chimneys since 1977. Sand Section walk streets, the Tree Section, up into the Hill Section. Family owned the whole time.
What is the fireplace doing?
8am to 8pm
Chimney work in a beach town is different
Salt air is the reason most Manhattan Beach chimney repairs happen, and it is why the metal parts fail here years before they would inland.
Half a mile from the water, anything metal on a roof is on a clock. Caps rust from the inside, where nobody sees it. Dampers corrode until they stick half open. That quietly costs you heat all winter and sends marine air straight down into the firebox. Then flashing lifts, and the leak shows up as a ceiling stain two rooms from the chimney.
Then there is how little these fireplaces get used. A Manhattan Beach house might burn a dozen fires a year, most of them in December and January. Low use means low creosote. Sounds like good news. It also means a flue sitting open and unwatched for eleven months. Nests, debris and rust get eleven quiet months in a chimney nobody looks at.
Where we work in town
Every part of Manhattan Beach
- Sand Section
- Tree Section
- Hill Section
- East Manhattan
- Manhattan Village
- El Porto
- The walk streets
- Downtown and the pier
What we find on Manhattan Beach chimneys
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Rusted caps and rain covers
The most common repair we do in this city. A cap can look fine from the street and be paper thin underneath. Once it goes, rain runs straight down the flue and starts eating the mortar from the inside.
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Seized dampers
Corrosion locks the plate. Stuck open, you heat the outdoors every night of winter. Stuck closed, you get smoke in the room the first time someone lights a fire without checking.
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Crown cracks on older stock
A lot of the Tree Section and Hill Section went up between the 1940s and the 1960s. Thin mortar crowns, sixty years of sun and salt on them. Hairline cracks let water into the chimney structure itself.
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Gas conversions in rebuilt homes
Much of the Sand Section has been torn down and rebuilt in the last twenty years, and most of those new fireplaces run on gas. They still need annual service. A conversion dropped into a flue sized for wood also needs its venting and damper clamp checked.
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Tight access on the walk streets
No driveway, no street frontage, and a long carry from wherever the van can park. We know these streets. Everything the job needs comes in on the first trip.
What we do here
Services available in Manhattan Beach
Chimney sweeping
Drop cloths down, HEPA vacuum running, Level I inspection included.
Chimney inspection
Level I visual, or Level II camera the full length of the flue for escrow.
Chimney cap installation
Stainless caps that survive salt air. Galvanized ones do not last here.
Chimney leak repair
Ceiling stains and damp fireboxes traced back to the crown, cap or flashing.
Chimney repair
Crowns, mortar joints, spalling brick and damaged flue tile.
Gas fireplace repair
Pilots that will not hold, uneven burners, dead remotes, bad valves.
Reviews
What South Bay homeowners say
Straight from our Google and Yelp profiles. Nothing here is written by us.
Questions
Manhattan Beach chimney questions
- How soon can you get to Manhattan Beach?
- Call and we will tell you the next day we are working the South Bay. The beach cities get scheduled together, so booking around one of those days usually gets you in sooner.
- Can you park on a walk street?
- No, and we do not expect to. The van parks on the nearest cross street and the crew carries in. Give us the address when you book and we plan for it.
- How often should a beach house chimney be inspected?
- Once a year, same as anywhere. The reason is different here though. Inland the worry is creosote. This close to the water it is what salt air has done to the cap, the damper and the flashing since last winter.
- Do you do inspections for escrow?
- Yes. A Level II camera inspection with a written report and photos. That is what buyers, sellers and agents ask for.
- My fireplace is gas. Do I still need you?
- Yes, annually. Gas leaves less residue, but venting still fouls and burners still clog, and a flue can still be blocked. Carbon monoxide problems on gas units almost always trace back to venting nobody checked.
- Do you cover Hermosa and El Segundo too?
- Yes, along with Redondo Beach, Torrance, El Segundo and the Palos Verdes peninsula.
Nearby
Other cities we cover
Book a visit
Get on the next South Bay run
Tell us the cross street and what the fireplace is doing. If it is a cap or a damper, we usually know before we pull up.
818-348-1993Open every day, 8am to 8pm. Serving Manhattan Beach and the South Bay.
Request a visit
We answer the same day during business hours.