Royal Oak, Oakland County
Chimney inspection in Royal Oak
Royal Oak's houses come mostly from two building periods, the 1920s and the years right after the war, and their chimneys raise different questions at an inspection.
Two eras, two kinds of question
Royal Oak became a city in 1921, and many of the blocks near downtown were built up during that decade with brick bungalows, Tudors and colonials. On those houses the questions are about age: whether the original crown is still holding, and whether the clay flue tiles have cracked or separated at the joints after a hundred years of heat and frost.
In Northwood, most of the houses went up in the 1940s and 1950s. Their chimneys are younger and simpler, but the furnace and water heater were often built to vent into a flue next to the fireplace. When the furnace is replaced with a high-efficiency unit that vents out the side wall, the water heater can be left alone in a flue sized for two. That's the question we're asking on a Northwood chimney. Our guide to a water heater in an old chimney goes into it.
When people call
- Buying or selling, when everyone wants the same clear picture of the chimney.
- A fireplace that hasn't been used in years.
- After a new furnace or water heater goes in.
- After a storm, or a chimney fire. Our guide on what to do after a chimney fire covers the first steps.
Prices
A Level 1 is $49. We check the fireplace, the flue and the outside of the chimney wherever we can reach without tools, and the $49 is credited toward any repair or service we do after the inspection.
A Level 2 is $149. It adds the attic, basement and crawl space areas of the chimney, plus a camera through the flue. It's the one used for home sales, changes to the system, and after a fire or storm. If you only want to see inside the flue, a camera is a $75 add-on to a Level 1. Our guide to chimney inspection levels compares the two, and chimney inspection cost puts all the prices in one place.
What you get
A walkthrough in plain language, with photos. If something needs work, we'll explain what a smaller fix would and wouldn't do, then give you a written quote for the chimney repair. The work waits for your go-ahead.
Questions
We're buying a house in Royal Oak. Is the home inspection enough for the chimney?
Usually not. A general home inspector looks at the fireplace from the room and the chimney from the ground or the roof edge. Our Level 2, $149, covers the chimney where it runs through the attic and basement and puts a camera through the flue. On an older Royal Oak house, the inside of the flue is where the open questions usually are.
Our water heater vents into the chimney. Does that change the inspection?
We check that flue the same way we check the fireplace flue. A water heater sends warm, wet exhaust up the chimney all year, and in an old clay flue that can break down the mortar joints or leave the flue too big for the appliance once the furnace has been moved off it. Our guide to a water heater in an old chimney explains it.
Chimney inspection near Royal Oak
Chimney inspection in Royal Oak
Pick a day and a 3-hour arrival window online. If you'd rather talk it through, call (248) 266-9991.