Chimney repair, inspection and sweep in Northfield Township

The southern half of the township

Our service area takes in the southern half of Northfield Township, the part toward Ann Arbor. Most of Whitmore Lake, on the 48189 side, is outside it. If you live up there, call and ask before you book, and we'll tell you whether we can get to you.

Farmhouses from the 1800s

Settlers were farming in Northfield by the early 1830s, and the land toward Ann Arbor has been farmed ever since. A lot of the old farmhouses are still standing. The Sutton House, at Pontiac Trail and Sutton Road, is a two-story gabled house built around 1864. Groves Farm on Sutton Road went on the National Register in 2023. In 2018 the Northfield Township Historical Society surveyed more than 1,300 properties in the township.

A chimney on a house from the 1860s was built for a stove or an open fire, and it has probably been relined or rebuilt above the roof since then. A farmhouse like that may now run a furnace or a modern wood stove through a flue that was laid up long before either one existed. An inspection tells you what each flue is connected to and what shape it's in.

New houses among the fields

Along Earhart Road and the roads near it, new houses have gone up on country lots since the late 1990s, some of them right next to working fields. On a lot of those houses the chimney is a factory-built flue inside a framed chase, and the chase may be faced with stone so it matches the house.

The chimney in the photo is one of those. Under the fieldstone there's a metal flue, and the round cap on top belongs to it. The flue, the cap and the fireplace were made to go together by the same manufacturer, so a replacement cap has to fit that make of flue. We look up what's in the chase before we order parts. The flat stainless cover around the cap keeps rain out of the chase, and our guide to a rusted chase cover or missing chimney cap shows what it looks like when one starts to fail.

Old brick and new covers

On a farmhouse chimney, most of the work is at the top: loose brick, washed-out joints and a crown that has cracked. On a stone-faced chase, we replace a rusted cover with a stainless chase cover made to fit. Either way, you see the photos and get a written quote before anything starts.

Getting to you

We come into southern Northfield Township on Pontiac Trail, North Territorial, Earhart, Joy Road, Sutton Road and Whitmore Lake Road, and pair visits with Ann Arbor Township and Salem Township. Close to 48 miles of the township's local roads are gravel, so tell us when you book if your driveway is long or soft. Book online and pick a 3-hour arrival window, or call for same-day availability when the schedule allows.