From the hearth, a chimney hides almost everything about its real condition, which is the whole reason a proper inspection earns its keep. It swaps a guess about whether the fireplace is safe for a documented look at the parts you cannot reach. Clean Draft Chimney Sweep inspects chimneys throughout Newark, OH whether you are buying or selling a home, firing up a fireplace that has sat idle for years, or simply want to head into the burning season certain the flue is sound. We run a camera the full length of the flue, study the masonry and cap from the roof, and hand you a written report with photos and a frank grade on every component.
- Camera run up the entire flue length
- Liner, crown, cap, and flashing all examined
- Firebox, smoke chamber, and damper assessed
- Masonry checked for spalling and joint failure
- NFPA 211 written report backed by photos
- Clear fix-now, watch-this, or fine grading
Matching the inspection to your actual situation
Chimney inspections come in tiers, and fitting the right tier to the question in front of you is part of doing the job straight. A basic look is right for a chimney in regular use with no known problems and nothing recently changed, where the task is to confirm the accessible parts are sound and that nothing obvious has gone wrong since the last sweep. A deeper inspection is the honest call when the home is changing hands, when a fireplace has sat cold for years and its history is a blank, or when something has shifted, a new appliance vented into the flue, a past chimney fire, a storm that may have cracked the crown.
We tell you which level fits before we open the toolbox, instead of billing for the most exhaustive version out of reflex. A house that has burned the same fireplace every winter and was swept last fall does not need the same scrutiny as a chimney no one has looked inside in a decade. The point of an inspection is to settle the real question, is this chimney safe to use and how much life is left in it, with the right amount of looking and not a step more.
What the camera and the rooftop check turn up
The camera is the core of a modern inspection. We feed it the full length of the flue so the liner can be read wall by wall, hunting for cracked clay tiles, gaps opened in the mortar joints between tiles, hardened creosote glaze, and the scorching a past chimney fire leaves behind. A cracked or gapped liner is the finding that carries the most weight, because it lets heat and combustion gases reach the wood framing around the chimney and can let carbon monoxide slip into the house, and there is no judging it from the firebox without a camera. We record what it shows so you are watching the very same footage we are.
From the roof we check the parts that take the full force of an Ohio winter. The crown, the sloped masonry surface that sheds water off the top of the stack, is usually the first thing to crack under freeze and thaw, and once it does it channels water straight down into the structure. We look over the cap that keeps rain and animals out of the flue, the flashing that seals the seam where the chimney passes through the roof, and the exposed brick and mortar for the spalling and joint erosion the local climate drives. Every one of those gets photographed and graded on the spot.
The report that goes home with you
An inspection is worth exactly what it leaves in your hands afterward. Our report runs through each component of the chimney, grades it in plain words, and ties the grade to the photo that proves it. Fix-now flags a genuine safety or water problem that should be settled before the next burning season. Watch-this marks a condition that is developing but not yet pressing. Fine as is means just that. There is no vague verbal recap delivered from the cab of the truck. You get a document you can read, file, and hold up next to any second opinion you care to seek.
That openness is the entire point of how we operate. A homeowner who can study the evidence reaches a sounder decision than one asked to take a technician at his word, and a company that welcomes that kind of checking is usually the one worth hiring. Nothing is owed at the end of the inspection and no closing pitch is lying in wait. The report and the photos are yours to keep whether or not you ever hire us for the repair, because the honest assessment is the service itself, not bait for a sale.
The whole chimney, in one place
A chimney is a system, so chimney inspection rarely stands alone, it connects to fireplace sweep, flashing repair, chimney caps, a new chimney liner, chimney masonry repair, and our crew handles all of it under one roof. We bring the same service to Chimney Inspection in Heath, Chimney Inspection in Granville, Chimney Inspection in Hebron, Chimney Inspection in Buckeye Lake and everywhere else across the Newark area.
If you searched for a local chimney crew near you, you have reached a local crew, call 740-437-3274 any time. For background, read Creosote Buildup in Newark, OH Wood Burners: Why It Happens and How to Stop It on our blog, or head back to our Newark home page to see everything we do.