Warren, Macomb County
Chimney inspection in Warren
In the ranches around the GM Tech Center, the chimney often carries the furnace and water heater exhaust as well as the fireplace smoke, and that second flue is the one people forget about.
Around the Tech Center
We work in the northwest part of Warren, west of Van Dyke and north of 10 Mile, and you should call first if you're south or east of that. General Motors opened its Technical Center in 1956, on the land bounded by 12 Mile, Mound, Chicago Road and Van Dyke, and a lot of the houses on the surrounding streets went up in the same decade. Many are small ranches with a single brick chimney carrying two flues: one for the fireplace and one for the furnace and water heater.
The flue nobody looks at
The fireplace flue gets attention because you can see the fire. The furnace flue just runs, every day of the heating season, and nobody looks at it. When a 1950s house gets a new high-efficiency furnace vented through the side wall, the water heater is sometimes left alone in a flue built for both. The exhaust cools off before it gets to the top, the water vapor in it condenses, and the inside of the flue starts to break down.
The photo shows a metal flue with flaky deposits crusted along its walls. Deposits like that narrow the flue and can fall to the bottom. From the basement or the roof, you'd never see them.
When people book
Buying or selling is the most common reason. A Level 2 inspection, $149, covers the chimney in the attic, basement and crawl space, plus a camera through each flue. Our guide to chimney inspection levels explains when that's the one to get. Other reasons: a furnace or water heater replacement, a fireplace nobody has used in years, or a storm that knocked off a cap. After a chimney fire, start with a Level 2.
Prices
A Level 1 inspection is $49 for one chimney, and the $49 is credited toward any repair or service we do after it. We check the fireplace, the damper, the flues as far as they can be seen, and the outside of the chimney. Adding a camera is $75. If you burn wood and the fireplace flue needs cleaning, a chimney sweep in Warren is $349 and includes the inspection.
Questions
My Warren ranch doesn't have a fireplace. Why would the chimney need an inspection?
Because the furnace or water heater vents through it. Gas exhaust is full of water vapor, and in a flue that's too big or too cold for what's venting into it, that vapor condenses and wears on the liner and mortar from the inside. An inspection checks whether the flue is drafting and whether anything is falling apart or blocking it.
Is a Level 1 or Level 2 inspection better for a Warren house we're buying?
For a purchase, a Level 2. It's $149 and covers the chimney in the attic, basement and crawl space plus a camera through every flue. On a 1950s ranch with a furnace flue and a fireplace flue, the camera shows the inside of both. Call early in your inspection period so there's time to price any repair.
Chimney inspection in Warren
Pick a day and a 3-hour arrival window online. If you'd rather talk it through, call (248) 266-9991.