Chimney Sweep in Beverly Hills, CA

Frequently Asked Questions

My fireplace is original to a 1920s house — is it worth repairing, or does the whole chimney need rebuilding?

Most of the time it's repairable. The masonry stacks on Beverly Hills period-revival and Mediterranean homes were built heavy and they tend to outlast everything inside them. What's usually finished is the original clay liner, which is now roughly ninety years old and past its service life, along with the crown and sometimes the decorative pots. Relining a sound stack and rebuilding the crown is a far smaller job than tearing down and rebuilding masonry, and it preserves the exterior profile you'd never match with new work. We only call for a rebuild when the structure itself has moved or spalled through, and we'll show you camera footage of the flue before recommending either way.

What goes wrong most often on chimneys around here?

Three things come up again and again. First, cracked and shifted clay liner tiles — some from age, some from ground movement, which is why we assess for seismic cracking rather than just looking for soot. Second, crown failure and loose or broken chimney pots, since the decorative pots on these stacks are mortared in and that mortar is as old as the house. Third, nests and debris. With three to six fireplaces on a property and mild winters, most of those flues sit idle most of the year, and birds and rodents treat an unused flue as open housing. The flue nobody burns is usually the one with the problem.

How is the cost figured on a house with this many fireplaces?

The honest driver in Beverly Hills is flue count. A house with five or six fireplaces on two or three masonry stacks is several inspections, not one, and that's the single biggest factor in what you pay. After that it's what we find: a straightforward sweep on an active firebox is modest, while liner evaluation, crown work, or re-setting a chimney pot involves height access and materials. Carved stone and marble surrounds also slow the work down, because protecting them properly takes time we'd rather spend than explain afterward. We price per flue and per finding, and you'll know the scope before we proceed.

How soon can you come out, and do you ever do same-day work?

Inspections and sweeps in Beverly Hills generally book within a few days, and same-day is sometimes possible — most often for a single-flue issue like a blocked or smoking fireplace. A full multi-flue inspection on a large estate isn't a same-day job, because it's several hours of work and we'd rather schedule it properly than rush it. If you've got smoke pushing into the room or you've heard animals in a flue, call and tell us that specifically; those move up the list.