Chimney sweep and cleaning in Pleasant Ridge

How the fireplaces get used

Pleasant Ridge houses run from Colonial and Dutch Colonial to Tudor, English Cottage, French Eclectic and Spanish Colonial, and their fireplaces were built for wood. A hundred years on, some still burn wood every weekend in winter. Others have had an insert fitted, like the one in the photo. Some have gas logs, and some are only for looks. If yours hasn't been lit in years, have it swept and inspected before the first fire.

Wood leaves soot and creosote on the flue walls. An insert's liner needs sweeping too, and since it's narrower than the old flue, the same buildup takes up more of it. Gas logs leave little behind, but the flue still needs a check every year for nests and fallen debris.

What falls into an old flue

An old clay flue has rough joints and sometimes chipped tiles, and leaves, twigs and soot catch on them. Squirrels and birds nest in an uncapped flue. If you hear chirping between May and August, it's most likely chimney swifts. They're protected by federal law, and the nest stays until the young have gone. Our guide to chimney swifts covers what to do. After they leave, we sweep and can cap the flue. On a chimney with two or three flues, one cap can often cover all of them, and we measure for it on the same visit if you want a price.

Price and timing

A sweep is $349 per flue and includes an inspection on the same visit. We cover the area around the fireplace, sweep the flue, inspect the fireplace and the chimney, and clean up before we go. A camera through the flue is $75 more. On a flue this old, the camera is often worth it.

Pleasant Ridge covers a little over half a square mile, so getting to you isn't the hard part. Getting on the schedule is. Book before the first cold weekend, when half the street decides it's fireplace season. Our guide on how often to clean a chimney helps you tell when yours is due. If the inspection finds damage, our chimney repair page has the Pleasant Ridge prices.