Chimney Inspection in Los Angeles, CA

What a chimney inspection actually covers

The firebox comes first. We set cloth, open the damper, and look up with light and mirror. Firebrick joints get checked for gaps. Refractory panels get checked for cracks. Then the smoke chamber and shelf. Debris, nests and fallen mortar come out before anything else. A camera goes up the flue when the view from below stops short. Then the roof, if the pitch and tile allow it: crown, cap, arrestor, flashing, mortar joints.

What we find depends on the house. Pre-1930 bungalows and Spanish-style homes around LA often have unlined brick, which no sweep can repair away. Clay tile liners from the 1920s through the 1950s crack at the joints. Period-revival houses often carry two or three flues in one stack, and liners can share a wall that failed decades ago.

Prefab systems read differently. Chase covers near the coast rust through from above and leak unseen. Class A pipe sections separate. Gas-log conversions need the damper clamped open, and that clamp is missing more often than not.

Level 2 video scans make sense after a quake or before a sale. Converted duplexes hide sealed-off flues. Check your own crown for hairline cracks after winter storms.