Chimney sweep, inspection and repair in Walled Lake

Cottages near the water

From about 1919 into the 1960s, Walled Lake was a summer resort with dance halls, a beach and an amusement park, and cottages went up all around the lake. Some of them are still standing on small lots near downtown, along East Walled Lake Drive and on the dead-end streets off Pontiac Trail. Others have been added onto or torn down and replaced with bigger houses.

A cottage fireplace was built for summer weekends. If yours now carries a furnace or water heater flue too, that flue needs to be lined and sized for what it vents, and an inspection tells you whether it is. On houses right on the lake, the side of the chimney facing the water takes the most wind and weather, and that's where we look hardest at the crown and the mortar.

The 1950s and 1960s streets

The houses around Gamma Road and along West Walled Lake Drive and Angle Street are mostly from the 1950s. There are 1960s ranches on bigger lots along Leon Road and Decker Road, and more 1950s and 1960s subdivisions north of the old railroad line. These usually have one brick chimney, often with a second flue for the furnace or water heater. When the furnace gets replaced with one that vents out the side wall, the water heater can be left alone in a flue that's too big for it. Our guide to a water heater in an old chimney explains what to look for.

Newer houses and framed chases

Oak Grove was built in the 1980s, and Chestnut Hills, Glenwood Hills and Woodland Hills came later. Many houses from those years have a factory-built fireplace inside a framed chase, a wooden box sided to match the house, with a sheet metal chase cover on top. The oldest of those covers are now around forty years old. Rust streaks on the siding below the top of the chase usually mean the cover is letting water in.

Chase cover and crown repair

We measure the chase and replace a rusted cover with a chase cover made to fit it, and set a new cap at the same time. On the older brick chimneys near the lake, the crown is the repair we'd expect to quote most, and we'll show you the damage before we talk about anything bigger.

Getting to you

We work across Walled Lake on Pontiac Trail, Maple Road, Decker Road, East Walled Lake Drive and Ladd Road, and pair visits with Novi, Wixom and Commerce Township. Book online and pick a 3-hour arrival window, or call for same-day availability when the schedule allows.