Chimney Sweep in Inglewood, CA

Frequently Asked Questions

My house is one of the old Spanish bungalows in north Inglewood. Is the original brick fireplace still safe to use?

Often yes, but it needs looking at before you light it. The small brick fireboxes in the 1920s and 1930s bungalows here were built light, and a lot of the stacks are unreinforced brick that took a shaking in past earthquakes. Plenty of them were patched afterward rather than rebuilt, so what we're checking is whether the repair held: stepped cracks in the mortar, a firebox whose joints have opened up, a flue liner that's cracked or was never lined at all. If the brick is sound we sweep it and you're fine. If it isn't, we'd rather tell you that than let you find out during a fire.

Why does my chimney cap keep rusting out when I'm not even that close to the beach?

A few miles inland is still inside the salt air. The marine layer carries it over Inglewood most mornings, and galvanized caps, spark arrestors and screens corrode from it steadily even without rain. We see arrestor mesh that's gone brittle and flaked apart, and cap frames rusted thin at the welds. It's one of the most common things we replace in this part of the basin. Stainless holds up considerably better than plain galvanized, and if you're replacing a cap anyway it's worth the upgrade rather than doing it again in a few years.

What does a sweep run for a house like mine?

What moves the number in Inglewood is mostly what's on top and what shape the stack is in. A small bungalow firebox that gets occasional use is quick work. Costs climb when there's a corroded cap or arrestor to deal with, when the stack is older unreinforced brick that needs a closer structural look, or when we're on a multi-unit building and access and roof conditions complicate things. Prefab metal fireplaces added into postwar tract homes or apartments are usually straightforward unless the chase cover has rusted through. We'll tell you what we find and what it would cost to address before we touch anything.

Can you come out the same day?

Sometimes, particularly midweek and outside the first cold snap of the season. Because winters here are mild and people burn lightly, our calls cluster into a few weeks when the weather finally turns and everyone remembers the fireplace at once. In that window same-day is unlikely. The rest of the year we can often fit Inglewood in within a day or two. If it's an active problem — smoke coming back into the room, a damaged stack after a quake — say so when you call and we'll prioritize it.