Chimney sweep, inspection and repair in Superior Township

Dixboro

John Dix laid out Dixboro in the 1820s where Plymouth Road now crosses Dixboro Road, and dammed Fleming Creek for a sawmill and a gristmill. The general store went up before 1840 and the Methodist church in 1858. The railroad went through Ann Arbor instead, and the village stayed small. For about a century, most new houses there were built by the old families on their own land.

That changed in 1951, when Dixboro Heights went in on a former cornfield. Ford Estates, Autumn Hills and Tanglewood followed. So a few blocks from the 1800s houses around the village square, you'll find mid-century houses with chimneys now seventy years old. The township has design guidelines for the historic village, and on the old houses we match brick and mortar to what's already there.

Farmhouses and old chimneys

Much of the township is still farmland, with older farmhouses on the roads between the subdivisions. On a house that old, it's common to find a chimney that no longer serves anything, or one that used to vent a wood stove and now carries a furnace. We work out what each chimney and each flue does before we talk about repairs.

The chimney in the photo runs up between two gables and stands above both roof lines. The brick and mortar near the top are the most worn, because that part is out in the weather on every side. If the brick up there is flaking or stained white, our guide to white stains and crumbling chimney brick explains why.

South of Geddes

During World War II the federal government put in sewer and water south of Geddes Road for housing for Willow Run workers. That war housing was later torn down, and subdivisions and apartments went up in the area the sewer served. Newer subdivisions followed in the same part of the township. Prospect Pointe, at Prospect and Geddes, was started in the early 2000s and finished in 2019. Bromley Park's 266 houses were started in 2002. Newer houses like these often have a factory-built fireplace in a framed chase, with a metal chase cover and a cap on top, and we check both.

Repairs on farmhouse chimneys

When an old chimney is still in use, the work is usually at the top: loose brick, washed-out joints and a cracked crown. When a chimney is out of use, it still needs a cap or a cover to keep rain out of the flue. Either way, you see photos of the damage and get a written quote for the repair before anything starts.

Getting to you

We come into Superior Township on Plymouth Road, Geddes, Dixboro Road, Prospect, MacArthur Boulevard and Cherry Hill, and pair visits with Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Book online and pick a 3-hour arrival window, or call for same-day availability when the schedule allows.