Franklin, Oakland County
Chimney inspection in Franklin
A lot of Franklin houses change hands with a fireplace the last owner rarely lit. A $49 inspection tells you what shape the chimney is in before anyone builds a fire in it.
Why people in Franklin book one
Franklin's population peaked around 1970, after two decades of ranches and colonials going up on the land around the old village center. Many of those houses have one chimney with a fireplace flue and a second flue for the furnace or water heater. When a newer furnace vents out the side wall, the water heater can be left alone in a flue sized for both. Our guide on a water heater in an old chimney explains why that matters.
Older houses come up too. On Vincennes there are houses from 1917 to 1921 built from Lewis Company catalog kits, and the district along Franklin Road has houses much older than that. The old church on German Mill had its fireplace and chimney added between 1906 and 1908, more than forty years after the building went up, so a chimney in Franklin isn't always as old as the house it's on. A chimney that has been in use for a hundred years may have cracked clay tiles inside, or no liner at all, and nothing on the outside will tell you.
Which inspection you need
A Level 1 inspection is $49. We check the fireplace, the damper, the flue we can see, the outside of the chimney, the crown and the flashing. The $49 is credited toward any repair or service we do after it.
A Level 2 inspection is $149. It adds the chimney areas in the attic, basement and crawl space, and a camera through the flue. People book a Level 2 when they buy or sell a house, change the heating system, or after a chimney fire or a storm. Our guide to chimney inspection levels goes through the difference. You can add the camera to a Level 1 for $75.
What you hear afterward
We tell you what we found in plain language and show you photos. Some things will be fine and some may need watching. If something needs repair, you get a written quote and decide in your own time.
If you plan to use the fireplace this winter, a chimney sweep and cleaning in Franklin is $349 and includes the same inspection on that visit.
Questions
I'm buying an older house in Franklin. Is the home inspector's look at the fireplace enough?
A general home inspection usually looks at the fireplace from the room and the chimney from the ground. That misses most of the flue and the parts of the chimney inside the attic and basement. A Level 2 inspection at $149 covers those areas and puts a camera through the flue. Call early in your inspection period so there's time to price anything we find.
Our furnace and water heater vent into the chimney. Should that be part of the inspection?
Yes. Tell us when you book. We check each flue in the chimney, the one for the fireplace and any others. On a lot of Franklin ranches from the 1950s through the 1970s, the furnace or water heater shares the chimney with the fireplace in a separate flue, and that flue needs to be open and in good shape.
Chimney inspection in Franklin
Pick a day and a 3-hour arrival window online. If you'd rather talk it through, call (248) 266-9991.