Chimney repair, inspection and sweep in Pleasant Ridge

Two historic districts

Almost the whole city is on the National Register. West of Woodward, Alfred Wilcox began platting an old farm into house lots in 1906, and most of the houses there went up between 1910 and 1930 for doctors, lawyers and corporate executives. The Pleasant Ridge Historic District was listed in 1992 and stretched in 2010 out to the Royal Oak, Huntington Woods, Oak Park and Ferndale lines.

East of Woodward, the Rose family platted LaBelle Heights and Hamilton Woods in 1914. The first houses there went up in 1915 and 1916, and the 1920s brought most of the rest: Tudors and English cottages in brick, many with stone or half-timber trim. That's the Pleasant Ridge East Historic District, listed in 2007.

So a Pleasant Ridge chimney is usually somewhere between 85 and 115 years old, and almost always original to the house.

Styles you don't see much elsewhere

The west side has the usual Colonial Revival and Tudor houses, and also Dutch Colonials and a few Prairie School houses. A Dutch Colonial often has its chimney on the end wall, running up outside the house past the gambrel roof, where it's open to the weather on three sides. A Prairie house tends to have one wide, low chimney with a broad flat top. A wide top holds snow and standing water longer than a narrow one, so we look hard at the crown and the joints just under it.

On the east side, the stone and half-timber trim on the Tudors adds joints where two materials meet the chimney. Those seams are where water gets in first. Our guide to chimney flashing leaks covers the signs of a leak where the chimney meets the roof.

The oldest flues

Clay tile liners were not in every chimney when the first houses here went up. On a house from the 1910s, it's worth finding out whether the flue has a tile liner at all, and on one from the 1920s, whether the tiles have cracked or pulled apart at the joints. Neither shows from outside. An inspection with a camera answers both. If the flue needs one, a stainless liner goes down inside the old chimney without taking it apart.

Repairs that fit a historic block

On a street of hundred-year-old brick houses, a repair that doesn't match stands out. We match the brick, the mortar color and any stone trim. When the crown is gone, we pour a new one that sits past the face of the brick, like the one in the photo, so water drips off instead of running down the chimney. Ask us about a new crown when we quote.

Getting to you

Pleasant Ridge is small enough that we can be anywhere in it from Woodward in a couple of minutes. We come in on Woodward, Ridge Road and 10 Mile along I-696, and pair visits with jobs in Ferndale, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods. Book online and pick a 3-hour arrival window, or call for same-day availability when the schedule allows.