Chimney inspections in Portland, Level 1 with a sweep or Level 2 with a camera

What you are seeing

Homeowners book an inspection on its own for reasons like these, with no fire planned until they know the answer.

• You are buying or selling and someone in the deal asked for a chimney report.
• A new insert, stove or gas log set is going into an old fireplace and the installer wants the flue checked.
• There was a chimney fire, or you suspect one: a roar, a hot tar smell, black flakes on the roof.
• The house shook, a tree hit the roof, or the chimney looks different from the yard.
• The furnace was replaced and the old brick flue is down to the water heater.

What we do on an inspection visit

A Level 2 runs from the hearth to the roof and back down through the attic, and every step adds a page to the report.

1. Start at the hearth with the damper, firebox and smoke chamber

   We work the damper through its travel, check that the plate seats, and read the frame for warping and rust. In the firebox we look for cracked firebrick, open joints behind it, and the gap between the hearth and the floor framing. A mirror and a strong light go up past the smoke shelf to read the smoke chamber. This part is the Level 1.

2. Run the camera up the full length of the flue

   On a Level 2 the camera head goes up on rods from the firebox, or down from the top when a damper frame or an offset blocks the way. It pans each tile joint for cracks, missing pieces, shifted tiles, washed-out mortar, and the glaze or puffed creosote that marks an earlier fire. Behind an insert it confirms the liner runs all the way up. The screen stays in the room, so you can watch.

3. Check the roof and the attic where we can reach them

   Up top we check the cap and screen, look over the crown for cracks, test the flashing and note spalled brick. In the attic or crawl space we measure the gap between the chimney and the framing, look for scorch marks, and confirm what else vents into the stack. A steep or wet roof means a ladder plan before anyone climbs.

4. Photograph everything we will write about

   Every finding gets a photo with its position noted, so a cracked tile at the third joint can be found again by the next person who looks. Sound tile gets photographed too, because a report that shows only problems is hard to trust. The images go to you with the report, and you own them.

5. Write the report and give you one of three answers

   The report lists what we examined, what we found and what we recommend, and it lands in one of three places: fit for use as it is, fit once a named repair is done, or cold until a hazard is dealt with. We walk you through it before we leave, so the next call you make is to the right trade.

The three inspection levels and which one you need

NFPA 211 defines three inspection levels, as the trade describes them: Level 1 for a chimney used as it always was, Level 2 for a sale, a new appliance or after a fire, quake or storm, and Level 3 for a suspected hidden hazard.

What the camera sees that a flashlight misses

A flashlight from the firebox shows the first few feet of tile; the camera shows every joint from the smoke chamber to the cap.

Cracks in clay tile hide in shadow until a light crosses them at an angle. Washed-out mortar between tiles reads as dark lines, and a tile shifted by a quake shows as a step.

The camera also reads creosote by texture. Dry soot looks matte, glaze reflects the lamp like wet paint, and puffed, honeycombed deposits mean the flue has already burned once.

When a Level 2 is the right call in a Portland house

Book a Level 2 before you buy or sell, before a new insert, stove or gas log set goes in, and after a chimney fire, an earthquake you felt or a storm that hit the roof.

Real estate chimney inspections have their own page here. A new appliance changes the heat and moisture going up the flue, so the flue is checked against it first.

After a chimney fire, the Level 2 comes before the next fire. Puffed creosote, a warped damper and cracked tile are what we hunt for, and nothing burns in that fireplace until the report is in your hands. If a fire is in the flue right now, get everyone out of the house and call 911 first.

Portland adds two more. An unreinforced brick chimney can break and fall in a quake, so any shake you felt earns a look at the tile joints and the stack. After the January 2024 ice storm dropped trees onto houses in Multnomah and Clackamas counties, chimneys that took a branch needed their crowns, caps and flashing read.

What moves the price of a chimney inspection

The posted inspection price is the Level 1 alone, the Level 2 camera inspection is listed separately, and here is what moves either one up.

• Another flue in the same stack, since each one gets its own camera run and its own pages in the report.
• An insert or stove that has to be pulled to get the camera into the liner.
• A roof too steep or too wet to walk, which means a second ladder setup for the top-end checks.
• A flue so sooty that the camera cannot read the tile, so a sweep comes first.
• An attic or crawl space that has to be cleared to reach the chimney.

What the written report covers and how to read it

The report is written so that someone who has never seen the chimney can act on it: a buyer, a mason, an installer, or you in five years.

Page one is the verdict and the reason. Then a photo for each component, cap through cleanout, each marked sound, worn or a hazard, with what we recommend and how soon. Worn items you plan for; hazards keep the system cold until they are fixed.

Keep a carbon monoxide alarm on whichever floor holds the fireplace, stove or fuel-burning appliance, whatever the report says; an inspection reads the chimney on one day, the alarm watches it every day after.

When a repair stops making sense

An inspection stops being a yearly formality when it keeps finding the same thing. Tile that cracks again after a patch, mortar that keeps falling out of the smoke chamber, or glaze back within a winter all point to a liner, not another report.

When the camera finds bare brick with no liner, or tile broken in several places down the run, the honest recommendation is a stainless liner for a fireplace that will be used, or a cap and a closed damper for one that will not.

Related pages

Services, symptoms, fireplace types and guides that connect to this page.