Professional Chimney Sweeping in Pasadena

Last November, a homeowner on a tree-lined block just south of Old Pasadena called us after lighting the first fire of the season in their 1923 Craftsman bungalow. Within minutes, smoke backed into the living room. They shut the damper, opened the windows, and started searching for a chimney sweep. Their concern was reasonable: they'd owned the house for six years and never had the flue cleaned. Craftsman-era fireplaces in Pasadena are beautiful, with their clinker-brick surrounds and original tile hearths, but the flue dimensions are narrow by modern standards. A few seasons of even light use can pack those tight flue tiles with enough creosote to restrict airflow.

When we arrived, the homeowner walked us through the house, pointing to the original mantel and the slightly offset damper plate that's common in bungalows along the Arroyo Seco corridor. They wanted to know if the fireplace was safe to use at all, or if the age of the chimney meant it was permanently retired. That's a question we hear often from homeowners near San Marino and throughout Pasadena's historic neighborhoods. The answer depends on what's happening inside the flue, and you can't know that without getting a CSIA-certified sweep up on the roof with the right brushes and a camera.

Our sweep started with a visual check from the firebox and the roofline. The clay flue tiles were intact, which is a good sign for a hundred-year-old chimney. But the interior walls were coated in 2nd-degree creosote: dark, flaky tar deposits that had built up from years of slow-burning fires. In Southern California, homeowners tend to burn fires infrequently, maybe 15 to 30 times per winter. That intermittent use actually promotes creosote buildup because the flue never gets hot enough to self-clean. We swept the full flue with rotary brushes sized for the narrow 8-by-8 tile liner typical of Craftsman construction, then ran a camera to confirm the tiles were clear and uncracked.

NFPA 211 calls for a Level 1 inspection with every annual sweep, and that's what we performed. No hidden damage, no cracked mortar joints, no signs of earthquake-related shifting. We cleaned the smoke shelf, checked the damper plate for proper seating, and vacuumed every bit of debris from the firebox. The homeowner had a working fireplace again before Thanksgiving. If your chimney hasn't been swept in two or more seasons, the creosote conditions we found in this Pasadena home are likely present in yours. We serve homes throughout the Arroyo Seco corridor, Old Pasadena, San Marino, and surrounding neighborhoods.