Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Masonry repair
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Fast, Reliable Chimney Sweep Across Westwood
A chimney sweep in Westwood, CA typically costs $189 – $349, and most appointments take under two hours from setup to final camera check. We work throughout the 96137 ZIP and the surrounding Lassen County mountain country, including the older mill-era streets near Ash Street and the seasonal cabins along the Almanor basin. If you’ve just opened up a house that sat empty since last fall, or you’re seeing smoke back up into the room when the wind shifts, call (866) 520-4943. We’ll schedule a sweep, inspect the flue, and tell you straight whether you’re safe to burn.
Why Firebrick Chimney Sweep Is Westwood’s Preferred Chimney Sweep Company
Most Westwood homes were built in the first half of the twentieth century, when the lumber mill drove construction along tight streets with shared property lines. That creates a specific set of chimney problems: adjacent stacks, shared flues, and older masonry that’s been through eighty or ninety freeze-thaw cycles. Our team knows what that looks like because we see it every week, not once a season. Homeowners here call us after a home inspector flags a chimney deficiency on a sale, or after a neighbor’s chimney starts drafting into their own.
We’re a full-service chimney company, not a sweep-only operation. That matters in a place like Westwood, where finding a cracked flue tile or a spalling crown usually means you need more than a brushing. Our Chimney Sweep team handles the cleaning. We also do the repair work, including HeatShield ceramic resurfacing and DuraFlex liner installation, so you’re not handed a phone number for someone else when a problem shows up. Nelson Quijada leads the company, and he built it around one idea: chimney work is all we do, and that depth shows in every inspection.
Styles & brands we work with
Chimney Sweep Certified in Westwood
Chimney Sweep Certified work in Westwood means one of our techs arrives with a rotary brush system, an inspection camera, and the experience to read what the flue tells them before and after the sweep. The job involves removing creosote and soot from the smoke chamber, flue liner, damper, and firebox, then running a camera to confirm the walls are clean and the liner is intact. A standard Level 1 sweep runs $189 – $279 for a straight, accessible flue. When we find heavy glaze, a Level 2 inspection with video documentation is usually called for, and that adds $150 – $250.
In Westwood specifically, we schedule sweeps around the two burn seasons: the first real cold snap in October, and again in late winter when homeowners notice drafting problems. Many of our customers here burn pine and fir from the Lassen National Forest area, and softwood resin produces creosote faster than hardwoods. If you’re burning three or more cords a winter, you need an annual sweep, not an every-other-year sweep.
Creosote and Soot Removal
Pine is the default firewood in this part of Lassen County, and it’s a heavy creosote producer. We remove second- and third-degree glaze from shared stacks and single flues, and we’ll show you the camera footage afterward so you can see exactly what was in there. A heavy glazed-flue removal in Westwood typically adds $80 – $120 to the base sweep because of the extra passes and chemical treatment involved.
The Shared-Stack Inspection
Before we put a brush in your flue, we check whether the stack is carrying more than one appliance. In the older sections of Westwood, it’s common for a neighbor’s gas unit or an old wood stove to tie into the same masonry chase. We identify the flue paths, isolate where needed, and make sure what’s venting into your chimney is only your appliance. This is not a standard add-on in most markets, but here it’s the first thing we look at.
Gas Fireplace Cleaning in Westwood
Gas Fireplace Cleaning in Westwood is a different process than wood flue sweeping, and skipping it is how glass gets permanently clouded and burners clog with dust from a long off-season. We remove the glass, vacuum the firebox, clean the burner and pilot assembly, clear the venting, and check for any sign of sooting or delayed ignition. The work costs $149 – $229 for a standard direct-vent gas insert. If the unit’s been run for several seasons without service, or the venting runs through an older masonry flue, the price can reach $275 with added vent inspection.
A lot of Westwood homes use gas as the shoulder-season heat source when the wood stove isn’t lit, so the gas fireplace sees steady use from September through May. Dust from dirt roads and the dry summer months settles into the blower and burner assembly, and that’s the leading cause of service calls we get here. A gas fireplace that hasn’t been cleaned will often show a lazy yellow flame instead of a sharp blue one, and that’s a sign the burner ports are partially blocked.
Vent and Log Set Inspection
We check the termination cap and the entire vent path for blockage. In Westwood’s seasonal cabins, birds and rodents are a real problem: a nest in a gas vent is a carbon monoxide risk, not just a nuisance. We confirm the log set is positioned correctly and that no embers or media have shifted over the burner.
Glass and Firebox Detailing
We use a non-ammonia ceramic glass cleaner to remove the white haze that builds on gas fireplace glass, and we never use abrasive pads on ceramic surfaces. If the glass has etched hazing that doesn’t come clean, we’ll tell you plainly and give you a price for replacement glass rather than polishing it until it gets worse.
Trusted Brands We Service in Westwood
We carry and install professional-grade chimney components, not hardware-store substitutes. That means HeatShield for ceramic flue resurfacing, DuraFlex for stainless relining, and Olympia Chimney caps and dampers when a Westwood chimney needs hardware retrofitted. We also work with Famco and Copperfield components when a repair calls for a specific part. Storing these materials locally means we can start a liner repair or crown job in Westwood without waiting a week on a generic part to ship. If your chimney needs a stainless liner, you should know what brand is going in and why. We’ll show you the label and explain the spec before any work starts.
Common Chimney Sweep Problems We See in Westwood Homes
- Shared-stack cross-venting. Older mill-era cabins on tight streets often have chimneys tied together, so a neighbor’s wood stove or gas appliance drafts into your flue. We map the flue paths and isolate them with liners when needed.
- First-fall animal nests. Cabins that sit empty from May through September collect birds, squirrels, and debris. We’ve pulled full nests out of flues on the first visit after a seasonal home opens up.
- Freeze-thaw crown damage. At 5,000 feet, masonry crowns crack from heavy snow and repeated ice cycles. Once water gets into the brick, the damage accelerates quickly, and a crown replacement is far cheaper than rebuilding the stack.
- Glazed second- and third-degree creosote. Pine and fir burned heavily through long winters creates a hard, shiny glaze that won’t brush out with standard equipment. This requires mechanical removal and, in some cases, HeatShield resurfacing after the fact.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterPricing for Chimney Sweep in Westwood, CA
You should know what a sweep costs before you book. A standard wood chimney sweep in Westwood runs $189 – $279 for a one-story, straight-flue home. Two-story homes, steep roof pitches, or chimneys with significant creosote glaze add $75 – $150. A gas fireplace cleaning runs $149 – $229, and a Level 2 camera inspection adds $150 – $250 to any service call. The single biggest cost driver in Westwood is access: some of the older mill-era cabins have steep roof lines and narrow side yards that require extra equipment setup. We give you a fixed price over the phone before we arrive, and we don’t recommend repair work without showing you camera evidence of the problem. Call (866) 520-4943 for a free estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Westwood
Our crews cover the mountain communities within a reasonable drive of Westwood, including Silver Lakes, San Fernando, Northridge, and Adelanto. If you’re in one of those towns and your chimney hasn’t been inspected in years, the same team that works in Westwood will handle your job. Call and let us know where you are; we’ll tell you straight whether we can get to you this week.
Serving Westwood, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Westwood area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Chimney Sweep in Westwood
If you smell wood smoke in your house when your own fireplace isn’t burning, or you notice your damper is closed but the living room still gets hazy when the wind blows from a certain direction, there’s a decent chance the flue is shared or cross-connected. The only way to confirm it is with a Level 2 camera inspection that maps the flue paths from the cap to the firebox. In the mill-era blocks of Westwood, this is common enough that we check every time. Call (866) 520-4943 and we’ll schedule the inspection.
Check for a blocked flue first, because birds and rodents nest in empty chimneys through the warm months, and a blocked flue is how a chimney fire or carbon monoxide backdraft starts. Shine a flashlight up from the firebox or, better, book a sweep and camera inspection. We see the worst blockages in seasonal cabins between September and November, when part-time residents reopen their places and light the first fire. A pre-season sweep costs less than a chimney fire.
Once a year, minimum, if you burn wood through the winter. In a high-elevation mountain climate with long burn seasons, heavy softwood use, and snow loading on masonry, annual inspection catches crown cracks and flue damage before they become structural failures. If your home is seasonal, book the inspection before the first burn of the season, every year. Gas-only fireplaces can go two years between cleanings unless the unit shows sooting or delayed ignition.
Yes. We clean direct-vent gas fireplaces, gas inserts, and the venting that runs through older masonry chimneys. The process is different from a wood sweep because it focuses on burner ports, glass, pilot assemblies, and vent termination, but our team handles both on the same visit if you have both appliances. Many Westwood homes do; the wood stove handles deep winter and the gas insert covers shoulder seasons.
We install and service DuraFlex stainless liners, HeatShield ceramic resurfacing systems, Olympia Chimney caps and dampers, and components from Gelco, Famco, and Copperfield. These are professional-grade chimney-industry products used by certified technicians. We stock common sizes locally so a Westwood repair can start quickly, and we’ll always show you the product spec before it goes into your chimney.
Call Firebrick Chimney Sweep in Westwood
If you’ve got a chimney that needs a sweep, a gas fireplace that needs cleaning, or a flue that’s been sitting untouched in a seasonal cabin, call (866) 520-4943. Nelson Quijada and the Firebrick team serve Westwood with the same standard we’ve built the company on: real inspection, honest diagnosis, and repair work done right the first time. We sweep it, we repair it. One company, no referrals.
Written by Nelson Quijada, Owner at Firebrick Chimney Sweep, serving Westwood and the Lassen County mountain communities.