Chimney Inspection in Hastings Ranch: What Is Wrong and What Got In

A good inspection is half masonry and half detective work. The masonry part is what you would expect: we check the crown for cracks, the mortar for open joints, the flue tiles for splits and gaps, the damper for rust and fit, and the firebox brick for loose or eroded joints. The detective part is reading what has been happening up there. Droppings on the smoke shelf, a scatter of feathers, a chewed corner of the screen, scratch marks in the soot, a bent cap edge, a strong ammonia smell. Each of these points to a particular animal and a particular way in. In Hastings Ranch, with so many big trees and open flues on older houses, we find at least one of those signs on a good share of the chimneys we inspect.

We write those down right beside the structural findings, because they are connected. A raccoon that has been going up and down a flue for a season has usually loosened the cap or the crown edge on its way in. Birds that nest every spring tell you the screen is missing or the mesh is too coarse. A wet, musty smell means water is getting into the same gap the animals are using. When you read our report, you will see the photos in order from the roof down, with plain notes on what each one means and whether it needs work now, soon, or not at all. Anything that needs work comes with a written price. Nothing gets done on the same visit unless you ask for it.

NFPA 211 sets out three levels. The basic one is eyes and a flashlight: firebox, damper, whatever of the flue shows from below, and the outside of the stack seen from up on the roof. It is $52 here, and it is right for a chimney you use every winter where nothing about the setup has changed. The camera version records every foot of flue on video and adds a trip into the attic to check the brick where it rises through the framing. It runs $370. A Level 3 means opening up part of the structure, like a wall or the crown, and we only suggest it when the camera shows a problem it cannot fully see.

The camera is called for when a house is sold, after a chimney fire, after an earthquake strong enough to crack plaster, and when you change the appliance, for example adding an insert or switching to gas. We also recommend it when debris keeps falling from somewhere we cannot see from below, because a wedged nest or a dropped flue tile can sit high in an offset where no flashlight reaches. If a Level 1 turns up something that needs the camera, we tell you why and what it will cost before we run it. Most of the time, a Level 1 is all you need. The point is to know which situation you are in.