Chimney sweep near you
We serve Parkrose and Argay Terrace, which meet the Gorge east wind first, so the calls are about wind and ice: caps torn loose, rain driven into the east face, lifted flashing and smoke pushed back down the flue on a windy night.
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Parkrose homes are 1910s and later houses south of NE Sandy Blvd, platted from October 5, 1911, and Argay Terrace, begun in 1957, is East Portland's largest mid-century tract of ranches and split-levels on loops and cul-de-sacs.
The two halves have different chimneys. An older Parkrose house carries a brick stack built for a fireplace and an oil or coal furnace, often unlined, while an early Argay ranch, split-level or split-entry more often has a single masonry fireplace with a clay tile liner. The condos and apartments around Argay's edges mostly have gas fireplaces.
What both halves share is the weather. Pressure differences across the Cascades push cold east wind out of the Columbia River Gorge, and this end of the city gets it first, so rain is driven sideways into the east face of a chimney, caps work loose, and a fire that drafts fine on a calm night pushes smoke back on a windy one.
Parkrose and Argay Terrace run from often unlined early brick on the Parkrose plat to tile-lined masonry fireplaces in Argay's first houses, and what ages both is the east wind rather than moss, since tree cover in Argay is only about 13 percent.
Wind-driven rain finds the east face first: open joints and spalled brick on that side, flashing that has lifted at the uphill edge, and a cap rocking on its screws or gone altogether. On a windy night the same wind pressurizes the top of the flue and pushes smoke back into the room, which is why a taller or wind-directional cap comes up here.
Wind and ice shape the Parkrose and Argay Terrace list, and these five jobs cover what the east wind leaves on a roof and what the fireplace below it needs.
The first casualty of an east wind event in Argay is the cap: screens bent, a cap rocking on two screws, or a bare flue with the cap somewhere in the yard. We fit stainless caps anchored to the flue tile or the crown rather than friction-fit, sized so they do not choke the draft, and on a flue that smokes back in wind we talk about a taller or wind-directional cap.
Rain blown sideways into the east face of a chimney finds the flashing before anything else, and in Parkrose the call is a stain on the ceiling beside the chimney after a windy storm rather than a steady drip. We trace the water to its entry, reset or replace the base and counter flashing, add a cricket on the uphill side of a wide chimney, and check the crown while we are at the top.
Argay's tile-lined fireplaces from 1957 onward get the yearly sweep and Level 1 look-over, with a close look at the tile joints on the east side of the flue, which take the cold and the wet first, and at the damper, which rusts when a missing cap lets the rain down. Parkrose's older brick gets the same sweep plus a light down the furnace flue.
A Level 2 camera inspection is the right call after an ice storm has dropped a limb on the chimney or shaken a cap loose, after a chimney fire, and at any sale; the camera finds cracked tile at the joints, a shifted crown and a furnace flue still carrying a water heater in the older Parkrose houses. The photos come with a written report you can hand to a buyer or keep on file.
A throat damper that no longer seals is a bigger problem on the windward end of the city than on a calm street, because the east wind pushes cold air down an open flue and into the room all night. A top-sealing damper on a cable closes the flue at the cap with a gasket, which stops the draft and keeps the wind-driven rain out at the same time; a rusted throat damper with a good frame can often be freed and re-seated.
Parkrose and Argay Terrace sit along I-205 north of I-84, and we come in from either freeway onto NE Sandy Blvd, NE Halsey St or NE 122nd Ave, with NE 148th Ave at the far edge toward the Gorge.
Argay's loop streets and cul-de-sacs do not connect to the grid, so give us the loop name and the nearest way in off 122nd or Sandy, and Argay Park or Parkrose High School on NE Shaver St as the landmark. On an east wind day we plan roof work around the gusts and say so when we book.
Argay was established in 1957 by Art Simonson and Gerhardt (Gay) Stavney, and the name joins Ar and Gay; its curving loop streets and cul-de-sacs do not connect directly to the Portland grid.
The Parkrose plat was filed on October 5, 1911, and Parkrose High School on NE Shaver St opened in 1913 as the only high school in the Parkrose School District.
Columbia Pioneer Cemetery at NE 99th Ave and Sandy Blvd was established in 1877.
Pressure differences east and west of the Cascades draw very cold east winds toward the west mouth of the Columbia River Gorge, which helps set up the snow and ice storms this end of the city sees first.
During the January 2024 ice storm ODOT warned of up to half an inch of ice for Portland and the Gorge and closed I-84 between Troutdale and Hood River, and PGE reported more than 25,000 metro customers without power on January 16.
Yes, both neighborhoods and both ZIP codes, from the Parkrose plat south of Sandy out through every loop of Argay Terrace to 148th. The industrial land north of Sandy is commercial work, but houses, split-levels and the condos around Argay's edges are all booked the same way: posted price, drive included when we do the job, and a photo of the chimney top texted ahead if you can get one safely.
Usually the same week, and we group the calls when a wind event has taken caps off across the east side at once. Until then, keep the damper closed when the fireplace is cold so rain and wind stay out of the room, and leave the fireplace unlit if the cap came off while a fire was burning, since the draft will have changed. A photo of the top from the yard tells us what to bring.
The tile-lined fireplace flue is brushed from firebox to cap with the opening sealed and a vacuum running. The damper, smoke chamber and firebox get the Level 1 look-over, and the tile joints get a light and, where something looks off, the camera. We also check that the cap is anchored and the crown is sound, since the wind works those two parts hardest here, and the photos from inside and on top come with the visit.
Leave it unlit until the camera has looked. A bare brick flue from 1915 that has taken a century of east wind on one face may well have open joints on that side, and an open joint is a route for heat and gases into the framing. If the camera confirms there is no liner, a properly sized stainless liner restores a continuous flue, and the wind problem gets handled with the cap on top.
The county posts the color by late morning, and our wood burning rules guide links the status page. A red day stops fireplaces, wood and pellet stoves and outdoor wood fires from noon until noon the next day unless the county has approved an exemption for your household, such as wood being your only heat; a yellow day asks you to consider limiting burning. The county can call either in any month, including summer wildfire smoke.
Expect a Level 2 camera look, which the trade recommends at a sale though no law requires it, and a label check on any wood stove or insert. Oregon law sends an unlabeled, uncertified unit out of the house, removed and destroyed, around the closing date. On a 1958 ranch the camera checks clay tile joints, the crown and the damper, and on this end of the city what the east wind has done to the cap and the flashing.
Start with our contractor-check guide, which walks through the state lookup for any Oregon contractor and what the result tells you. Then ask two questions: is the price posted before anyone comes out, and will you see the camera images from your own flue. On this end of the city, add one more: how do they anchor a cap so the next east wind does not take it off again.
Sandy and I-205 carry the same crew from Parkrose and Argay Terrace west to Roseway and Cully and south into Gateway and Montavilla, and I-84 takes it east to Fairview and Troutdale.
Call with what the fireplace is doing, or text a photo of the opening and one of the chimney top, and we will name the service and its posted price before we come out.