Had them out for an inspection after buying a house where the fireplace had clearly been used a lot and never maintained. He swept it, scoped the flue, and found a section of deteriorated mortar in the smoke chamber along with more buildup than I wanted to see. Parged the chamber, cleaned it out, and told me straight that the liner itself was fine and didn't need replacing. Draws properly now and I actually feel okay using it.
Whittier · Los Angeles County
Old brick.Careful hands.
Whittier's chimneys were laid a lifetime ago, in soft mortar, before anyone thought about earthquakes. We sweep them, inspect them and rebuild them the way they were built — by hand, brick by brick.
No charge
Free written estimate
We look, we photograph, we price it. Then you decide.
- FreeWritten estimates
- 7–7Monday to Friday
- 1920s+Homes we specialise in
- In houseNever subcontracted
Services
Everything above the firebox — and the ducts behind the wall
Eight things we do, all in-house. Open one to see what's involved.
01Chimney Sweeping & Creosote RemovalRotary brushing, HEPA vacuums, nothing left on your carpet
Creosote builds fastest in the slow, smouldering fires most Southern California households burn — a warm evening fire that never really gets going leaves more tar in the flue than a hot one. Third-degree glazed creosote is the stage that starts chimney fires.
- Full-length rotary and hand brushing of the flue
- Firebox, damper and smoke shelf cleaned out
- Sealed HEPA vacuum running the whole time
- Drop cloths down before anything is opened
02Chimney InspectionsLevel 1, 2 and 3 — including escrow and pre-purchase
A documented evaluation of the whole system, inside and out, with photographs of anything we find. You get told what is unsafe, what is deteriorating, and what can honestly wait another season — in that order.
- Camera scanning of the flue interior
- Real estate and pre-purchase Level 2 reports
- Post-earthquake structural assessment
- Written report with photo evidence
03Chimney Repair & RebuildingQuake cracks, leaning stacks, above-roofline rebuilds
An unreinforced brick chimney is the most fragile thing on a Whittier roof. When the stack has shifted, separated from the wall or started shedding brick, we rebuild it — matching the original brick and bond so it doesn't look like a patch.
- Above-roofline and full-height rebuilds
- Earthquake damage repair and reinforcement
- Brick sourcing and colour matching for older homes
- Chimney removal and safe decommissioning
04Tuckpointing & Historic Brick RestorationMortar matched to the original mix, not just to the colour
This is the work that separates a mason from a handyman. Pre-war brick was laid in soft lime mortar; packing modern Portland-heavy mortar into those joints makes the mortar harder than the brick, and the brick faces spall off instead. We match the mix.
- Lime-based mortar for pre-1940s brickwork
- Hand raking rather than aggressive grinding
- Colour, texture and joint profile matched
- Garden walls, planters and porch piers too
05Caps, Crowns & Spark ArrestorsCode-compliant stainless, sized to your flue
An open flue is an invitation — to rain, to embers on a Santa Ana night, and to every raccoon and nesting bird in the neighbourhood. The crown beneath the cap is just as important, and it is the part almost everyone forgets.
- Stainless spark arrestors to California code
- Single and multi-flue caps, animal guards
- Cast concrete crown replacement
- Top-sealing damper installation
06Leaks, Flashing & WaterproofingFinding the entry point instead of caulking everything
It rains rarely here and then it rains all at once, and one atmospheric river finds every flaw a dry decade hid. A stain on the ceiling near the chimney is almost never the chimney's fault at the point you can see.
- Step and counter flashing replacement
- Crown sealing and crack repair
- Vapour-permeable masonry water repellent
- Stucco chase repair on newer builds
07Fireplace & Firebox RestorationRefractory work, dampers, hearths and mantels
The firebox takes more heat than any other part of the house. Cracked refractory panels, gaps in the firebrick and a smoke chamber that was never parged properly all push heat where it should never go.
- Firebox rebuild with refractory mortar
- Smoke chamber parging and damper replacement
- Hearth extensions and mantel masonry
- Gas log and insert venting checks
08Dryer Vents & Appliance VentingThe other duct in your house that catches fire
Same brushes, same vacuums, same principle — a duct packed with lint is a fire waiting for a hot dryer cycle. If your clothes need two cycles to dry, the vent is already restricted. We clear it while we're here.
- Full dryer duct clearing, indoor to outdoor termination
- Crushed or disconnected duct repair
- Kitchen exhaust and range hood ducting
- Vent hood and damper replacement
The inspection
What we actually look at
Not a glance up the flue with a torch. This is the list every visit works through, and you get photographs of anything on it that's failing.
- Creosote stage & depth
- Flue tile cracks & gaps
- Firebox & refractory panels
- Damper operation & seal
- Smoke chamber parging
- Draft & smoke test
- Mortar joint condition
- Stair-step & seismic cracking
- Chimney-to-wall separation
- Crown cracks & slope
- Cap & spark arrestor
- Flashing & roof line seal
- Spalling & efflorescence
- Animal nesting & blockages
- Hearth & clearance to combustibles
- Gas appliance venting
Why Whittier is different
A chimney built in 1928 does not want to be repaired like one built in 2018 — and most of Whittier was built a lot closer to 1928.
Drive through Uptown, Hadley, or the streets below the hills and you're looking at unreinforced brick laid before seismic codes existed, in mortar soft enough to scratch with a coin. That masonry has since ridden out the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, the 2008 Chino Hills quake, and every smaller shake between.
Damage from that history is rarely dramatic. It's a hairline stair-step crack running through the mortar joints, a quarter-inch gap where the stack meets the siding, a course of brick sitting slightly out of plumb above the roofline. From the ground it all looks fine. It usually isn't.
Seismic history, not just wearWe read cracks for what caused them — settlement, heat, or movement — because the repair is different for each.
Mortar matched to the eraLime-based mixes for pre-war brick. Hard modern mortar in a soft old joint destroys the brick around it.
Santa Ana wind seasonA missing spark arrestor matters far more here in October than a homeowner tends to think.
How it goes
Four steps, no theatre
01
You call
Tell us what the fireplace is doing, or what you've noticed on the roof. We'll know within a minute whether it needs a visit.
02
We look
A two-hour arrival window that suits you. We evaluate the system top to bottom and photograph everything worth showing you.
03
You get a number
A written estimate, free, itemised by urgency. Safety first, appearance later. Take it away and think about it.
04
We work clean
Cloths down, vacuums running, debris hauled out. When we leave, the only evidence is a chimney that works.
Our work
Brick, mortar, soot and rooftops
Tap any photo to see it full size.
Reviews
What Whittier homeowners say
Three recent jobs, in their own words.
We had a cracked crown that had been letting water into the top of the stack for years, though we only figured that out after the plaster inside started bubbling. They rebuilt it with a proper overhang and drip edge instead of the flat pad of mortar that was up there before, and sealed the brick while they were at it. The guy explained why the original failed rather than just replacing it and moving on. Two wet seasons since and the wall inside has stayed completely dry.
Called about a persistent smell coming from the fireplace on humid days and expected to be told it was just an old chimney. Turned out there was no cap at all, so the flue had been pulling damp air in and the creosote was reacting to it. Swept it and fitted a stainless cap with mesh, which also solved a bird problem we'd been having every spring without realizing the two were connected. Smell was gone within a couple of days. Straightforward, priced fairly, and he didn't try to add anything on.
Service area
Whittier and the towns around it
Based on Painter Avenue, working across southeast Los Angeles County and into north Orange County.
- Whittier
- Uptown Whittier
- East Whittier
- West Whittier
- South Whittier
- Friendly Hills
- La Habra Heights
- La Habra
- Santa Fe Springs
- Pico Rivera
- Montebello
- Downey
- Norwalk
- La Mirada
- Hacienda Heights
- Rowland Heights
- City of Industry
- Bellflower
- Cerritos
- Brea
- Fullerton
- Buena Park
- Diamond Bar
- Walnut
Not on the list? Call (562) 696-1015 — if we can get a ladder to it, we'll come out.
Questions
Answered plainly
If yours isn't here, the phone is quicker than reading anyway.
Ask us directlyAre your estimates really free?
Yes. We come out, evaluate the chimney, photograph what we find and hand you a written price. No charge for the visit, no obligation to book, and nothing decided on your doorstep — take the estimate away and compare it.
How often does a chimney need sweeping in Whittier?
Inspect annually; sweep whenever creosote reaches about an eighth of an inch. Most Whittier households burn only a handful of fires a winter, so sweeping every two or three years is common. The annual look still matters — around here the problems are usually masonry and venting, not soot.
My house is old. Does that change anything?
It changes a lot. Much of Whittier went up between the 1920s and 1950s, and those chimneys are unreinforced brick in soft lime mortar. Modern Portland-heavy mortar is harder than the historic brick and will spall the faces off it over a few seasons, so we match the mix to the era and rake joints by hand instead of grinding them out.
Can earthquakes damage a chimney?
Whittier knows this better than most towns — the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake cracked and dropped chimneys right across the area, and every shake since has added to it. Watch for stair-step cracks through mortar joints, a gap where the chimney meets the wall, brick shifted above the roofline and cracked flue tiles. Almost none of that is visible from the ground.
Do I need a spark arrestor in California?
California code requires an approved spark arrestor on chimneys serving wood-burning appliances in many areas, and with Santa Ana winds pushing embers across Los Angeles County it's worth having regardless. It also keeps birds, raccoons and rats out of the flue. If you're unsure what your city requires, ask us while we're there.
Do you clean dryer vents too?
We do — same brushes, same vacuums. A lint-packed duct is one of the more common house fire causes, and if your clothes need two cycles to dry, the vent is already restricted. We'll also clear kitchen exhaust and range hood ducting while we're on site.
Do you work on gas fireplaces and inserts?
Yes. Gas logs and inserts still vent through a flue, and that flue can block, corrode or draw badly. The difference is that a gas venting failure puts carbon monoxide in the house instead of smoke — so you get no warning at all. We service gas systems and their venting alongside wood-burning fireplaces.
Can you inspect a chimney for a home sale?
Yes, we do a lot of escrow work locally. Real estate transactions call for a Level 2 inspection, including camera scanning of the flue interior, and you get a documented report suitable for negotiation — usually within a day of the visit.
Get started
Pick up the phone. That's the whole process.
No forms to fill in, no waiting on a callback that never comes. You'll speak to somebody who works on chimneys for a living — not a call centre reading from a script.
(562) 696-1015Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM.
Closed Saturday and Sunday.
What happens when you ring
- Tell us what the chimney or fireplace is doing.
- We'll say straight away whether it needs a technician.
- We book a two-hour arrival window around your day.
- The on-site estimate is free, in writing, with photos.
Call us(562) 696-1015
Find us9925 Painter Ave, Suite J
Whittier, CA 90605
Whittier, CA 90605
HoursMon – Fri, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Sat & Sun closed
Sat & Sun closed