Masonry repair
Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
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 Repair Across Highland Park
Chimney repair in Highland Park typically runs $240 – $1,800 depending on whether you’re dealing with cracked flue tiles, a spalled chimney crown, or a full rebuild above the roofline. We schedule most Highland Park jobs within three to five business days, and every repair starts the same way: a camera inspection you can watch over our shoulder. If you’ve got a chimney that leans, leaks, or hasn’t been opened up in a decade, call us at (626) 657-5513 for a written estimate before any work begins.
Flint Chimney Co Pasadena crews working in Highland Park know these hills. The steep streets off Figueroa and York, the 1920s Spanish Colonials with their original clay tile liners, the Craftsman fireboxes that have burned oak and pine for a hundred years. None of it surprises us anymore, and none of it gets a generic fix.
Why Flint Chimney Co Pasadena Is Highland Park’s Preferred Chimney Repair Company
We’ve been part of the Garrison Partners family since 2002, and the reason Highland Park homeowners keep calling us back comes down to one policy that never changes: the written price you approve is the price you pay. Before a single tool comes off the truck, you get a line-item quote on paper. If a repair fails within a year, we return and make it right at no charge. That’s the 365-Day Done Right Promise, and it applies to every repair we do in Highland Park.
Our technicians arrive uniformed and background-checked. You’ll know exactly who’s walking up your front steps before they knock. The phones are staffed by a live person around the clock, so when a winter rain exposes a leak above your firebox on a Sunday night, you’re not leaving a voicemail and hoping for a callback. You’re talking to someone who can get you scheduled.
Repairs in Highland Park often start with a Level 2 camera inspection. That’s not an upsell. It’s how we separate cracked flue tiles from simple creosote buildup, and it’s how you know the repair we’re recommending is the repair your chimney actually needs. We show you the footage. You decide with your own eyes.
Styles & brands we work with
Chimney Cap Installation in Highland Park
Chimney cap installation in Highland Park is a repair we recommend on nearly every pre-1930 home we inspect, because the original builders rarely used them. A chimney cap is the fitted metal lid that covers the top of the flue, and in Highland Park’s hillside neighborhoods off Figueroa and York, it’s what stops rain from soaking into the smoke chamber, birds from nesting in the flue, and embers from landing on your roof during fireplace season.
Why Old Highland Park Chimneys Need Caps Now
Most Highland Park chimneys built before the 1930s never had caps. The flue was left open to the sky, and for decades that meant rain and debris falling straight into the firebox. When we install a cap, we also check the flue opening size so the cap doesn’t choke the draft, which matters on chimneys that were rough-sized for wood burning and never re-measured.
We install Copperfield and Olympia Chimney caps, sized to the flue and secured to the crown. Expect to pay $175 – $450 for a standard cap installation in Highland Park, depending on flue dimensions and whether we need to build up a proper crown surface first.
When to Install Instead of Waiting
If you hear birds inside the chimney or see rust streaking down the brick face, a cap is overdue. Highland Park’s Santa Ana wind cycles push a lot of debris into open flues, and a missing cap often lets animals in that create blockage. A blocked flue is a carbon monoxide risk, plain and simple. The cap costs less than the camera inspection you’ll need if a raccoon builds a nest in your chimney.
Chimney Cap Replacement in Highland Park
Chimney cap replacement in Highland Park comes up when an old cap has rusted through, blown off in a Santa Ana event, or was installed wrong from the start. On hillside homes near Mount Washington and Heritage Square, we see plenty of caps that were never mechanically attached, just set on the flue tile with a bead of caulk. One good wind, and the cap’s in the neighbor’s yard.
Signs Your Cap Has Failed
Rust perforation is the big one. Once water is getting past the cap, it’s not protecting the flue anymore. Also look for a cap that’s tilted or shifted off-center, or one that’s no longer covering the entire flue opening. A spark screen that’s pulled away from the frame means embers can exit onto the roof.
Replacement runs $200 – $500 in Highland Park, depending on what’s on the chimney now and whether the flue size has changed. We keep copper, stainless steel, and galvanized options in common flue sizes, and we typically replace caps the same visit as the inspection.
Installing It Right This Time
Every replacement cap we install in Highland Park is mechanically anchored, not glued. The crown itself has to be in good enough condition to hold fasteners. If the crown is spalled or crumbling, we’ll recommend rebuilding it before the new cap goes on. A cap on a bad crown moves, and a moving cap wears through flashing, mortar, and eventually the flue tile below it.
Trusted Brands We Service in Highland Park
When a Highland Park chimney needs new parts, we don’t grab whatever’s on the shelf and hope. We work with professional-grade materials specified by the job: HeatShield for flue resurfacing, DuraFlex for liner replacements, and Gelco for crown repair systems. These are the brands chimney professionals measure other products against. We stock common sizes for the older flue dimensions you find in 1920s Highland Park homes, which means less time waiting on a warehouse shipment and fewer days with a tarp on your roof. When a part has to be ordered, you’ll know before we leave your property, not after.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Repair Problems We See in Highland Park Homes
- Seismic flue damage misread as creosote. Highland Park’s older chimneys on hillside lots have lived through multiple earthquakes, and cracked clay flue tiles from ground movement are common. Homeowners call us thinking they need a sweep, and the camera shows the real problem: structural cracks that a brush can’t fix and that a chemical cleaner will never heal.
- Spalled crowns from Santa Ana cycles. The original mortar crowns on pre-1930 chimneys were mixed weak and finished flat, so water pools instead of running off. Years of hot Santa Ana winds dry the surface, winter rain soaks it, and the crown starts shedding sand-like mortar onto the roof. Once that’s happening, water is getting into the smoke chamber.
- Rain-stained walls around the firebox. On stucco Spanish Colonials in Highland Park, the first visible sign of failed flashing is a brown drip line on the interior wall next to the firebox. It’s not a roof leak. It’s water tracking down an unsealed chimney chase.
- Gas appliances vented into chimneys built for wood. On plenty of Highland Park remodels, a 1920s chimney that once vented a wood-burning fireplace is now expected to carry exhaust from a high-efficiency gas furnace or water heater. The flue was never sized or lined for that. Backdrafting can push carbon monoxide into the living space, and the fix usually involves a properly sized liner, not just a sweep.
Pricing for Chimney Repair in Highland Park, CA
A typical chimney crown repair in Highland Park runs $350 – $700, including removing the old crown, mixing new mortar with the right curing profile for Southern California’s dry climate, and sealing the bond. Flue resurfacing with HeatShield, which we use to coat and seal cracked clay tiles without a full teardown, runs $2,500 – $5,000 depending on flue length and access. A full chimney rebuild above the roofline starts around $3,000 and goes up from there based on brick condition and roof access. Mortar repointing on a Highland Park chimney runs $800 – $2,200.
These are honest numbers from the field, not call-baits. The only way to know which repair your chimney needs is a camera inspection, and we include that with the estimate. Call (626) 657-5513 and we’ll get you a written price before any work is approved. No surprises, no moving the number at the door.
We Also Serve Cities Near Highland Park
Flint Chimney Co Pasadena crews cover Highland Park and the surrounding communities. If you’re in Highland Park, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, or Arcadia, the same written guarantee and inspection-first process apply. Most of our Highland Park customers find us because a neighbor recommended us after we patched a crown or fixed a leaking flashing on their block. For more on the full scope of what our Chimney Repair team handles, start there.
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 Repair in Highland Park
Most older Highland Park chimneys that appear to lean were built without seismic reinforcement, and the ground motion from past earthquakes shifted them slightly on their foundations. The lean itself isn’t always dangerous, but it often means cracked flue tiles and separated mortar joints inside the stack. If yours looks off, a Level 2 camera inspection will show whether the flue is still intact or if it’s a rebuild situation. Call (626) 657-5513 and we’ll take a look.
No. A cracked flue liner is a structural defect that lets heat and gases reach combustibles inside the chimney, and it doesn’t heal from sitting idle. If anything, Highland Park’s dry climate can make hairline cracks worse as mortar shrinks. If the flue also vents a gas appliance, even occasionally, the carbon monoxide risk is real. This is exactly the situation where you want camera evidence before anyone recommends a repair, and that’s how we work.
Yes. An uncapped chimney on a 1920s Craftsman in Highland Park takes in rain, birds, and debris every season, and the water damage compounds in the smoke chamber where you can’t easily see it. A properly sized cap runs $175 – $450 installed, and it’s the cheapest repair you’ll ever make on an old chimney. We’ll size it to the flue, not the other way around, so your draft stays right.
Not without an assessment. Gas appliances produce hotter, wetter exhaust than wood fires, and older chimneys in Highland Park with unlined or clay-tile flues were never designed for that. The fix is usually a correctly sized liner, and sometimes a partial flue resurfacing with HeatShield. Skip the assessment, and you risk backdrafting that pulls carbon monoxide into the house. We’ll show you the flue condition on camera before recommending anything.
Spalling is when the face of the brick or the surface of the mortar crown starts flaking off in pieces. On Highland Park chimneys, it’s usually caused by water soaking into the masonry during winter rains, then expanding as it dries in the dry heat. The fix depends on how far it’s gone: crown repair and waterproofing for early damage, or brick replacement for advanced spalling. The earlier you catch it, the smaller the repair.
Flint Chimney Co Pasadena is the local chimney repair company Highland Park homeowners trust for straight answers and written guarantees. Whether your chimney leans from decades of ground movement, leaks at the crown, or needs a cap after a lifetime without one, we’ll show you the problem on camera before we touch it. Call (626) 657-5513 for your free estimate, and you’ll have a written price in hand before any work starts.
Written by Hank Delano, Owner at Flint Chimney Co Pasadena, a Garrison Partners company serving Highland Park.