Chimney sweep, inspection and repair in Pittsfield Township

The northern part of the township

Our service area takes in the northern part of Pittsfield Township, near Ann Arbor and the I-94 corridor. If you live farther south, toward Saline or below Michigan Avenue, call and ask before you book, and we'll tell you whether we can get to you.

Plenty of houses here have an Ann Arbor mailing address. The line has moved before: the 1920s subdivisions around Packard and Platt were Pittsfield Township until they became the city of East Ann Arbor in 1947, and that city joined Ann Arbor in 1956.

Built in the 1980s and 1990s

Pittsfield had about 13,000 people in 1980 and about 30,000 in 2000. University Palisades, off Ellsworth near Carpenter, went up in three phases from about 1989 to 2000, with ranches, colonials and split-colonials. Arbor Creek, near Waters Road and Oak Valley, is 178 houses built from 1996 to 2000. The older, more settled neighborhoods are in the northeast corner, around Washtenaw and Carpenter.

Houses from those years went both ways on fireplaces. Some have a brick chimney, some have a factory-built fireplace in a framed chase, and some have a chase faced with brick so it looks like masonry from the yard. An inspection tells you which one you have.

Pots, caps and crowns

The chimney in the photo has two clay pots on top, with a stainless cap on the flue between them. Each pot sits on a flue and is bedded into the crown. The joint where a pot meets the crown is one more place for water to get in, and a pot that has cracked or worked loose can let rain straight down the flue. A flue with no pot or cap on top is open to rain and to animals. Our guide to a rusted chase cover or missing chimney cap covers what goes wrong when nothing is up there.

Crown repair

A crown twenty-five or thirty-five years old is often where the trouble starts on these chimneys. We tell you whether a crown repair will do or the crown has to be replaced, with pots reset if there are any, and show you the photos before we quote either one.

Getting to you

We work across northern Pittsfield on Washtenaw, Carpenter, Packard, Ellsworth, State Street and Ann Arbor-Saline Road, and pair visits with Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Superior Township. Book online and pick a 3-hour arrival window, or call for same-day availability when the schedule allows.