Chimney sweep, inspection and repair in Novi

Two waves of building

The first big wave came in the late 1970s and 1980s, around the time Twelve Oaks Mall opened in 1977. Meadowbrook Glens went up from 1976 to 1981 and Whispering Meadows from 1978 to 1987. Willowbrook, near 10 Mile and Meadowbrook, is from the same years. Those subdivisions are mostly colonials, ranches and split-levels, and the houses are now forty-some years old.

The second wave kept going through the 1990s and 2000s, farther west and north. Island Lake of Novi, off Wixom Road north of 10 Mile, is mostly two-story houses built from the early 2000s on. Houses from those years tend to be bigger, and some have more than one fireplace.

A brick chimney on a sided house

A lot of the 1970s and 1980s colonials have a brick chimney running up an outside wall, with siding on the rest of the house. A chimney like that is out in the weather on three sides from the foundation to the top. The first things to go are usually the crown and the top few courses of brick. If you see white powder on the brick or pieces flaking off the face, our guide to white stains and crumbling chimney brick explains what's happening.

Where the chimney meets the siding is worth a look too. Caulk along that joint dries out, and water that gets behind the siding there can show up inside as a stain on the wall next to the fireplace.

Newer houses and factory-built fireplaces

In the houses built from the 1990s on, the fireplace is often a factory-built unit, wood or gas, with a metal flue inside a framed chase. Some of those chases have brick or stone veneer on the outside, so they look like masonry from the street. The chase cover on top and the cap keep the water out, and we check both. A gas unit still needs its venting and glass checked, even though it never makes soot.

Crown and brick repair

On the older Novi chimneys, most of what we quote is at the top: a cracked crown, loose brick in the last few courses, or mortar joints that have washed out. We show you photos first and tell you whether a crown repair will do before we talk about rebuilding any brick.

Before you light the first fire

If you just bought a Novi house and don't know when the fireplace was last used, book a cleaning and inspection before the first fire of the season. We sweep the flue and look at the whole chimney on the same visit.

Getting to you

We work across Novi on Novi Road, Grand River, 10 Mile, 12 Mile, Meadowbrook and Beck, and pair Novi visits with jobs in Wixom, Northville and Farmington Hills. Book online and pick a 3-hour arrival window, or call for same-day availability when the schedule allows.