Chimney Inspection in San Pedro, CA

What happens during a chimney inspection

We start inside. Drop cloth down, firebox read first. The damper gets opened and closed by hand. Smoke shelf and smoke chamber next. Then a camera goes up the flue. The roof last, if it can be walked safely: cap, crown, flashing, top course of brick. Findings are photographed as we go, so you see what we saw.

San Pedro adds its own list. Salt air rusts spark arrestors and chase covers, and the flakes drop down into the flue. Failed or missing caps let rain stand on the smoke shelf. Wet-winter cycles spall brick faces and crack crowns. Flashing at the roof-to-chimney joint goes soft. In pre-1950 bungalows and Spanish revival homes, clay tile joints often sit cracked or shifted from seismic movement. A camera finds that. Ground level does not.

Prefab is a different inspection. Metal fireboxes with double or triple-wall chimney, common in 1970s-2000s tract homes, condos and townhomes. We hunt the model tag inside the firebox, because refractory panels and caps are model-specific. Cracked panels and damaged dampers are the usual write-up.

Some findings end the conversation about burning. Glazed creosote in a rarely swept older firebox. Animal or b