Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Masonry repair
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Fast, Reliable Chimney Sweep Across Highland Park
A standard chimney sweep in Highland Park runs $189 – $289 for a single fireplace with a standard flue, and most jobs are completed in under two hours. That price includes the full mechanical sweep, the drop cloths, the HEPA-filtered vacuum work, and a written condition report before we leave. If you live off York Boulevard, up in Garvanza, or along Mount Washington Drive, call (626) 657-5513 and we’ll give you a firm price before a single tool comes off the truck.
Flint Chimney Co Pasadena has worked on Highland Park’s older brick chimneys long enough to know what hides inside them. The hillside Craftsman and Spanish Colonial homes here, many built before 1930, carry original unreinforced masonry stacks that shift with every earthquake and settle with every wet winter. A chimney that looks fine from the street can be cracked at the flue and unsafe to burn. That’s why every sweep we do in Highland Park includes a camera inspection, and you see the footage yourself before we recommend anything.
Key Takeaways
- A chimney sweep in Highland Park costs $189 – $289 for most single-flue homes; two-story or steep-roof access adds $50 – $100.
- Level 2 camera inspections run $249 – $399 and are the only way to identify earthquake-damaged flue tiles in pre-1930 masonry.
- We put every price in writing before work starts, and every repair carries a written 365-Day Done Right Promise.
- Our technicians are background-checked, uniformed, and a live person answers the phone 24/7 at (626) 657-5513.
Styles & brands we work with
Why Flint Chimney Co Pasadena Is Highland Park’s Preferred Chimney Sweep Company
We don’t lead with slogans. We lead with a written price and a written guarantee, because homeowners in Highland Park have told us the same story too many times: a crew shows up late, quotes a low number on the phone, then “finds” $4,000 of liner work they can’t show you. That doesn’t happen here. Every job starts with a camera inspection you watch in real time. If the flue is clean and the mortar is sound, we tell you so, sweep it, and leave. No invented emergencies.
Our crews know Highland Park’s streets. We schedule around the one-way stretches near Figueroa, we carry roof ladders rated for the steep pitches on Mount Washington, and we understand that many of these original chimneys need a gentler touch than a modern steel flue. That local knowledge matters when a technician is deciding whether a flue tile is crack-free or has shifted from seismic movement. We also stock common parts for Highland Park’s older stacks at our Los Angeles office, which means less waiting when a chimney cap or damper needs replacement.
Gas Fireplace Cleaning in Highland Park
Gas fireplace cleaning in Highland Park is a service many homeowners don’t think they need until the glass fogs, the burner ports clog, or the flame burns lazy and yellow instead of crisp and blue. In Highland Park’s older homes, gas logs are often installed inside original wood-burning fireboxes, where fine soot, dust, and pet hair collect on the burner and the pilot assembly. A thorough cleaning involves removing the logs or glass front, vacuuming the burner and control compartment, cleaning the thermocouple and thermopile, and checking for gas leaks at every connection. We also verify that vented or vent-free gas logs are installed with the damper in the correct position, because a closed damper on a vented set is a carbon monoxide risk. Expect to pay $129 – $199 for a standard gas fireplace cleaning, with an additional $75 – $125 if the blower motor or fan needs disassembly and cleaning.
Cleaning Gas Logs and Burners
Soot and dust accumulate on the burner ports and gas logs over time, which causes uneven flames and can increase carbon monoxide production. We brush and vacuum each log and port, then test the ignition and flame pattern against the manufacturer’s spec.
Checking Gas Connections and Vents
We leak-test every fitting with a commercial gas detector and confirm that the venting path, whether direct-vent pipe or a traditional flue, is unobstructed. For direct-vent units, we also check the exterior termination cap for blockages from birds, leaves, or Highland Park’s occasional debris slides.
Chimney Maintenance in Highland Park
Chimney maintenance in Highland Park is largely preventive work: keeping water out, keeping joints sealed, and catching small mortar failures before they become big ones. Because Highland Park’s hillside homes sit on soils prone to seismic settling, we recommend an annual visual check of the exterior stack and crown, not just the firebox. A maintenance visit typically runs $129 – $189 and includes a top-down inspection, minor crown sealing, and a damper operation check. If we find early-stage mortar erosion, we’ll quote a tuckpointing repair at the time, with pricing that depends on access and the number of brick joints involved.
Sealing Crowns and Flashing
The crown is the concrete cap at the top of the chimney. On older Highland Park chimneys, this cap cracks from repeated drying and wetting, which lets rain into the brickwork. We apply a flexible sealant rated for exterior masonry, which costs $80 – $150 for a standard crown.
Damper and Firebox Checks
A damper that won’t fully close leaks conditioned air up the flue year-round. A firebox with cracked refractory panels can let heat reach the framing behind the brick. We inspect both as part of maintenance, and replacement dampers or refractory panels are quoted with a written price before any work begins.
Trusted Brands We Service in Highland Park
We install and work with materials we’d put on our own chimneys. In Highland Park, a lot of our repair work involves DuraFlex stainless steel liners, which are the right solution for flues that have cracked from earthquake movement rather than creosote buildup. We also use HeatShield for refractory parging where a flue is spalled but not beyond repair, and Olympia Chimney caps and dampers for replacements. Because we stock these products at our Los Angeles office, we can often complete a liner or cap replacement in Highland Park within the same week as the inspection. We also service most gas fireplace brands and direct-vent systems currently installed in Highland Park homes.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Sweep Problems We See in Highland Park Homes
- Cracked clay flue tiles from seismic settlement. Highland Park’s hillside soils shift gradually, and that movement transfers upward into the chimney stack. We routinely find flue tiles with vertical cracks that homeowners assumed were noise from burning wood, not structural damage.
- Third-degree creosote that looks like tar. The glaze-like, tar-hard creosote that builds in unlined or clay-tile flues can’t be removed by a standard brush sweep. In many pre-1930 Highland Park chimneys, this requires a chemical treatment or a mechanical rotary removal, and we’ll always show you the camera footage that justifies the extra step.
- Spalled brick and missing mortar joints. Years of water intrusion and thermal cycling cause bricks to flake and joints to wash out. On steep streets, a spalled chimney face is also a falling-debris hazard to walkways and decks below.
- Improperly sized flues for modern appliances. Older Highland Park stacks were built for wood fires, and when a gas insert or a high-efficiency furnace is vented into an oversized flue, condensation and draft problems follow. We check flue sizing as part of every Level 2 inspection.
Pricing for Chimney Sweep in Highland Park, CA
A standard chimney sweep in Highland Park costs $189 – $289 for one flue and one fireplace in a single-story home. Two-story homes or chimneys with steep roof access, common throughout the Mount Washington and Garvanza hillsides, add $50 – $100. A Level 2 camera inspection runs $249 – $399 and is required for real estate sales, after earthquakes, or when we suspect flue damage. Gas fireplace cleaning is $129 – $199, and chimney maintenance visits are $129 – $189. If we find a problem during the sweep, you get a written repair quote before we do anything else. Call (626) 657-5513 for a free estimate over the phone, no obligation.
We Also Serve Cities Near Highland Park
Our crews work throughout the San Gabriel Valley and the northeast Los Angeles hills. If you’re in Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, or Arcadia, the same Chimney Sweep standards apply: written pricing, camera evidence, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise on every repair. Dispatch is coordinated out of our Los Angeles office, so we can schedule Highland Park and nearby appointments efficiently.
Serving Highland Park, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Highland Park area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Chimney Sweep in Highland Park
Yes. Pre-1930 chimneys in Highland Park are almost always unlined or clay-tile lined, and the mortar joints between those tiles deteriorate faster under seismic movement than in newer stainless-steel flues. We use rotary brushes and camera inspection on these older stacks rather than assuming a standard wire brush is safe, because a cracked tile can shatter under aggressive mechanical cleaning. Our crews also adjust sweep frequency based on what the camera shows, not just what the calendar says.
A lean from earthquake movement usually shows a visible offset at one or more mortar joints, with brick faces shifting sideways rather than settling straight down at the foundation. Water stains that follow a diagonal crack pattern, and gaps where interior flue tiles have separated, are further signs. We can identify this during a Level 2 camera inspection and recommend whether the chimney needs seismic strapping, a liner replacement, or both. Call (626) 657-5513 to schedule that inspection.
Because water intrusion and seismic settling don’t stop when the fireplace does. An unused chimney still gets rain through a cracked crown, still shifts with the ground, and still hides problems like spalled brick and rusted dampers that get worse over time. In Highland Park, where occasional winter rains and Santa Ana winds expose hidden damage, an annual visual check is cheap compared to the cost of repairing a chimney that’s been left to deteriorate.
No, not with a standard wire brush. The tar-like glaze is third-degree creosote, which has hardened into a dense, shiny layer that adheres to the flue wall. Removing it requires a chemical treatment or mechanical rotary removal, both of which we do, and we’ll show you the camera footage before charging for the extra work. Left untreated, third-degree creosote is the fuel source for a chimney fire, so don’t ignore it.
Earthquake-related flue displacement. The steep streets and hillside soils of Highland Park put more lateral stress on chimney stacks than flat neighborhoods experience, and our technicians routinely find clay flue tiles cracked from ground movement that homeowners mistake for simple creosote buildup. A camera inspection shows the difference immediately, and a DuraFlex stainless liner is usually the right fix when the displacement is structural rather than cosmetic.
Written by Hank Delano, Owner at Flint Chimney Co Pasadena, serving Highland Park since 2002.