What to Expect During a Chimney Inspection

People ask me what actually happens during a chimney inspection, usually because the last one they had was somebody glancing at the firebox for four minutes and handing over a quote. Here is what I do when I come out, in the order I do it, so you know what you are paying attention to while I am there.

Before I get on the roof

I start outside, at the street, looking at the chimney against the sky. Lean, dark staining down the brick, flaking brick faces, mortar joints gone soft. Those are the things that tell me where water has been getting in, and they are easier to see from a distance than from three feet away. Then I walk the perimeter and look at where the chimney meets the roofline from the ground.

The crown, the cap and the flashing

These three are the reason most chimneys leak, and all three need someone on the roof to see properly.

The crown is the concrete slab across the top of the chimney. Hairline cracks in it are invisible from the ground and let water straight into the gap between the flue tile and the brick. The cap should sit square on the flue with intact mesh on every side, because a missing or torn one lets rain and animals straight down. The flashing is the metal where the chimney passes through the roof, and its failures usually hide under the shingle edge, which is why a leak in the ceiling below so often gets blamed on the chimney when the chimney is fine.

Inside the firebox

With a flashlight I look at the firebrick and the mortar joints between the bricks. Hairline cracks in brick faces are common and usually not urgent. Joints opened wide enough to slide a coin into, missing chunks of brick, or a back panel pulling away from the side walls are a different matter, because that layer is what holds heat off the framing behind it.

I work the damper fully open and fully closed. It should move without a fight and stay where I set it. Then I look at the smoke shelf and the smoke chamber above it, which is where soot and open mortar joints tend to hide.

Up the flue

This is the part you cannot check yourself from the living room. I am looking at the condition of the liner and at what is coating it. Dry gray-black dust is ordinary soot. A shiny, tarry, crusted coating is hardened creosote, and that is the one that turns a chimney fire serious. I am also looking for cracked or missing mortar between flue tiles, and for nests, which are more common in DFW than people expect.

What you get at the end

I photograph what I find and show it to you on the screen before I say a word about fixing anything. You look at your own crown, your own flashing, your own flue, and you decide. Nobody should approve a repair they have never seen.

Anything that needs work goes into a written estimate. I do not price a job over the phone, because I have to see it, and I will tell you straight when something can wait until next year.

About the inspection “levels” you may have read about

The chimney industry defines three levels of inspection, and you will see them mentioned when you search. In short: a Level 1 is the basic visual check of readily accessible parts. A Level 2 is a more formal, documented inspection with video scanning of the flue, and it is the one called for when a property is sold, when the fuel type or the liner changes, or after a chimney fire. A Level 3 involves opening up concealed parts of the structure and is rare.

Being straight with you about what I do: my visit is a visual service inspection with photographs. I am not selling it as a formal Level 2 or a real-estate report. If you are buying or selling a house, or an insurance claim or a fire has put you in a position where you need that documented inspection on paper, hire a certified chimney inspector for it. I would rather tell you that than take the job and hand you something that does not do what you need.

For everything else, an annual look before the burning season, a chimney that smells, smokes, leaks or has not been used in years, this is exactly the visit you want.

Book a visit

If you are due for a look before the first fire, or something about your chimney has changed, call or text me at 214-300-5295. It is just me on the truck, and I will show you what I find before I say anything about repairs.