About Us

Heating season in the Santa Clara Valley is genuinely short. Most homes run a fire on a few dozen evenings between Thanksgiving and February, and BAAQMD winter Spare the Air alerts make wood burning illegal on the coldest, stillest nights, which is exactly when people want it. That drives two realities here: gas log sets and sealed gas inserts dominate, and wood-burning masonry fireplaces sit idle for months. Idle flues are their own problem. Squirrels, raccoons, starlings and Anna's hummingbirds nest in uncapped tops, spiders and dust load the smoke chamber, and dampers rust shut from disuse rather than from heat. Older San Jose, Palo Alto and Los Gatos masonry from the 1910s-40s has unlined or clay-tile flues with deteriorated mortar joints and firebox refractory. Postwar tracts in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Fremont and Milpitas mostly have small single-flue masonry fireplaces. Homes built from the 1970s through the 1990s have factory-built prefab units with chase-top chimneys, and their crickets, storm collars and chase covers rust and leak. Closer to the bay, salt-laden air and fog moisture speed up cap and flashing corrosion. Seismic movement cracks and shifts crowns and above-roof masonry, and most people find out during an inspection or a real estate transaction.

The calls we get this time of year are predictable. A gas insert that won't light on the first cold night. A pilot that lights and drops out. A nest pulled out of an uncapped flue, or a rain stain on the drywall beside the chimney chase. A damper that won't budge. A buyer's agent asking for a report before close. We show up with a rod-and-brush set sized to your flue, a HEPA-filtered vacuum, drop cloths for the hearth and floor, and a camera on a pole so we can look up the liner and show you what's actually there instead of describing it. For gas work we bring a manometer, a multimeter for thermopile and thermocouple readings, and cleaning tools for burners, pilot assemblies and glass. We work on open masonry fireplaces, sealed gas inserts and factory-built prefabs, including Heatilator, Heat & Glo, Majestic, Napoleon, Superior and Empire. Full detail on what a visit covers is on our chimney inspection page, and gas-specific issues are covered under gas fireplace repair.

We sweep, inspect, install caps and liners, and handle flues, fireboxes and gas fireplace service. We do not do masonry or brickwork. If your crown is cracked or your brick needs repointing, we will tell you and point you to someone who does that work. We will also tell you when your chimney doesn't need sweeping yet. In a climate where a firebox sees fifteen fires a winter, creosote is rarely the problem, and charging you to brush a clean flue helps nobody. Annual inspection still makes sense here, because the failures are water, animals, mortar and gas-appliance venting. As for cost, the things that move it on this job are access and condition: a steep or tile roof, a two-story chase, an unlined 1920s flue that needs a camera pass before anyone commits to a plan, a top that's packed with nesting material, or a gas insert that needs the firebox pulled to reach the valve. A single-story prefab with a clean chase top is at the other end. We look first, then talk numbers. If something we find belongs under chimney repair, we will show you the photo and explain why before you decide anything.