Free written estimate before any work begins
Chimney Inspection in San Mateo, CA
Level 1 and Level 2 inspections to CSIA standard, with camera footage and a written report you can hand to an agent or an insurer.
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Chimney Inspection for San Mateo homes
San Mateo covers more ground and more decades than any of its neighbors, and the chimney work is correspondingly varied. San Mateo Park and Baywood hold substantial pre-war homes with tall, well-built masonry stacks and often more than one fireplace. Move east into North Central and the housing gets older, denser and considerably more mixed. Head south to Shoreview and the Hillsdale area and the stock is largely 1950s and 1960s, with lighter masonry and a growing share of prefabricated units. Because the city runs from the bay margin up into the hills, the exposure changes as much as the construction does, and two houses a few miles apart in the same city can present entirely different problems in the same rainy week.
The widest span of housing stock on this stretch of the Peninsula: substantial pre-war masonry in San Mateo Park and Baywood, dense older mixed housing in North Central, and 1950s-1960s construction with lighter masonry and prefabricated units toward Shoreview and Hillsdale. Exposure varies sharply between the bay margin and the hills.
Included in every job
- You see what we see
- Written and defensible
- Escrow deadlines met
- Repairs quoted, not guessed
Warning signs
When San Mateo homes need this service
- You are buying or selling a house with a fireplace
- The chimney has been through an earthquake or a heavy storm
- There has been a chimney fire, even a small one
- You are switching fuels or fitting a new stove or insert
- The fireplace has been unused for several years
- You can see cracks, missing mortar or a leaning stack from outside
- Water is getting in, or there are damp patches on the wall around the chimney
Chimney Inspection in San Mateo
Call (209) 447-0752 for same-week availability.
Process
How the visit works
Confirm the right level
Level 1 for an annual check on a system in continued service. Level 2 for a sale, a fuel change, or after an event that could have damaged the flue.
Inspect the readily accessible
Firebox, damper, smoke chamber, hearth, the visible exterior structure and the clearances to combustible material.
Camera the full flue
A camera run of the whole liner, which is what turns a Level 1 into a Level 2 and what finds cracked tiles and open joints.
Check the exterior and roof
Crown, cap, flashing, mortar joints and the condition of the stack above the roofline.
Deliver the report
Findings, photographs, the standard applied and a clear statement of what is safe to use and what is not.
Questions
FAQs
Do you cover all of San Mateo?
Yes, from North Central and downtown through Baywood and San Mateo Park out to Shoreview and Hillsdale. It is a short drive from our Millbrae shop and it is one of the areas we are in most weeks.
Why does my neighbor's chimney need work when mine does not?
In San Mateo that is genuinely common, because the housing stock changes so much street to street. A 1920s stack in San Mateo Park and a 1960s prefab a few miles away in Shoreview are different systems with different lifespans and different failure points.
What is the difference between Level 1 and Level 2?
Level 1 covers the readily accessible parts of a system that is in continued service with no changes. Level 2 adds a camera scan of the full flue and is the standard required when a property is sold, when the fuel or appliance changes, or after an event such as an earthquake or a chimney fire.
I am selling my house and the buyer wants a chimney report.
That is a Level 2 inspection. We schedule around the escrow date, run the camera through the whole flue and send a written report with photographs, usually the same or next day.
Contact Alpine Chimney
Alpine Chimney Company
1080 Broadway
Millbrae, CA 94030
(209) 447-0752
info@alpinechimneycompany.com
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