Chimney Inspection in San Francisco, CA

Chimney Inspection for San Francisco homes

San Francisco chimneys are old, tall, narrow and built into houses that share walls with their neighbors, and that combination makes the city its own specialty. Victorian and Edwardian homes across Noe Valley, the Richmond, the Sunset and Bernal Heights typically have unlined brick flues serving fireplaces that were the original heating for the room, often several stacked on a single chimney breast. A great many have been decommissioned, partially filled, or connected to a later appliance without the flue ever being brought up to a state that suits it. On top of that sits the seismic question: unreinforced masonry above the roofline in a city that has twice demonstrated what that means. Almost every San Francisco job we take starts with a camera rather than a brush.

Victorian and Edwardian housing with tall, narrow, commonly unlined brick flues, frequently several serving one chimney breast, on shared-wall lots. Widespread historic decommissioning and improvised later connections. Unreinforced masonry above the roofline is a live seismic concern in a city with two major earthquakes on record.