Service
Chimney inspection in Placerville and El Dorado County
A chimney inspection tells you whether the system is safe to burn. There are three defined levels, and picking the right one saves money and arguments. A Level 1 is the annual check and usually comes with a sweep. A Level 2 adds a camera scan of the flue and is the standard for a home sale. A Level 2 runs $250 to $450 in this county. Call to get connected with a licensed local chimney contractor.
Selling a house? Get the Level 2 done before the contingency, not during it.
The three levels, and which one you actually need
These are not marketing tiers. They are defined in NFPA 211, the national standard for chimneys and venting, and every competent contractor in the country works to the same definitions. Knowing them means you cannot be sold the wrong one.
Level 1: the annual check
A visual inspection of the readily accessible portions of the chimney exterior and interior, plus the appliance and the connection between them. The contractor is confirming the structure is sound, the flue is clear of obstruction and combustible deposits, and there is nothing obviously wrong.
You need a Level 1 when nothing has changed: same appliance, same fuel, no problems, routine annual service. This is what comes bundled with a normal sweep. Standalone it runs $100 to $180, but most contractors here fold it into the sweep rather than itemize it.
Level 2: sales, changes, and problems
Everything in a Level 1, plus accessible attics, crawlspaces, and basements where the chimney passes through, plus a video scan of the flue interior. No demolition, no special tools beyond the camera. You get a written report.
You need a Level 2 when the property is changing hands, when you have changed the appliance or the fuel type, after a chimney fire, after an earthquake or any event that could have moved the structure, or when a Level 1 found something it could not fully explain. Budget $250 to $450, more with multiple flues.
This is the one that matters most in El Dorado County, and the reason is real estate. This county moves a lot of houses with wood-burning appliances, and buyers and agents ask for a Level 2 on essentially all of them. The camera is the whole point: cracked flue tiles, gaps in the liner, and separated joints are invisible from the firebox and obvious on video.
Level 3: when something is genuinely wrong
A Level 3 involves removing part of the structure to reach a concealed area: a crown, a chase cover, a section of wall. It is used after a serious chimney fire, or when a Level 2 found evidence of a problem it could not see fully.
You need a Level 3 rarely, and only on the evidence of a Level 2. There is no table price because it depends entirely on what has to come apart. If a contractor recommends one, ask to see the Level 2 footage that justifies it. A reputable one will show you immediately.
Level 2 inspections and home sales in this county
If you are listing a house with a fireplace or a wood stove anywhere from El Dorado Hills to Pollock Pines, assume the buyer will ask for a chimney inspection, because they almost always do.
The timing advice is simple and people ignore it constantly: get the Level 2 done before you list, not during the inspection contingency. The reason is leverage. A cracked flue tile found in week one of your own inspection is a repair you schedule and price. The same crack found on day eleven of a seventeen-day contingency is a negotiation you lose, because the buyer knows you cannot re-list without disclosing it. A $400 inspection becomes a $4,000 credit at closing. That swing is the single most expensive thing in this trade and it is entirely a scheduling problem.
Buying instead of selling? If the seller provides a Level 2 report, read it rather than filing it. If nobody did one, get one. Inheriting somebody else's deferred chimney maintenance is the most common way people in this county discover a flue problem, and it always shows up in the first cold week after closing, which is exactly when every contractor in the county is booked three weeks out.
Buying a house up here? Get the flue on camera before you close.
What the camera actually finds
A flue scan is not theater. These are the things it turns up, in rough order of how often they show up here.
- Missing or rusted spark arrestor. The most common finding in this county by a wide margin, and the cheapest to fix. California requires one on solid-fuel chimneys in the State Responsibility Area, which is most of El Dorado County outside the cities.
- Cracked or spalled flue tiles. Clay tile cracks from thermal shock, usually from a chimney fire nobody knew they had. A cracked tile lets combustion gas reach framing.
- A crown that has failed. The concrete slab at the top. Hairline cracks let water in, water freezes at elevation, and the crack becomes a gap.
- Wrong liner for the appliance. Extremely common in houses where somebody dropped a wood stove into an old fireplace in the eighties or nineties without lining the flue to match. The flue is oversized, the gas cools, and the thing glazes up every season no matter how well you burn.
- Stage three creosote. Hard tar glaze. See the sweeping page for why it happens and the cost page for what removal runs.
- Animals and nests. Common in spring. Almost always paired with a missing cap.
- Separated or offset joints in the smoke chamber, often from settling in older Placerville houses.
Most of these are cheap when caught and expensive when ignored. That is the entire argument for the annual visit.
What you get, and what to ask for
A Level 2 should produce a written report with photographs or video stills, a plain description of anything found, and a clear separation between what is unsafe now and what should be watched. Ask for the footage. A contractor who will not show you the video either did not shoot it or does not want you to see how short the scan was.
Ask two questions when you book: does the price include the written report suitable for a real estate transaction, and how many flues are being scanned. Older houses here often have two in one stack, one for the fireplace and one that served a furnace. Both need looking at, and doing the second one on the same visit is far cheaper than a return trip.
Inspection questions
Is an inspection included when I book a sweep?
A Level 1 visual check almost always is. A Level 2 with camera work and a written report is a separate service, because it takes longer and produces a document. If you need it for a sale, say so when you book so the right service gets scheduled.
How long does a Level 2 take?
Usually 60 to 90 minutes for a single flue, longer with two. If someone quotes you a Level 2 and is gone in twenty minutes, you did not get one.
My house is new. Do I still need this?
If it is a new build with a factory-built fireplace and you have never burned in it, an inspection is low priority. Once you have burned a season, or if the house is a resale of any age, yes. Newer does not mean the chase cover was installed correctly, and in El Dorado Hills specifically there is a lot of factory-built equipment where the flashing and the chase are the weak points rather than the flue.
Do I need an inspection for insurance?
Increasingly, yes. Carriers writing policies in high fire hazard severity zones have started asking about spark arrestors and chimney condition. A Level 2 report answers the question in writing. Ask your carrier what they want before you book so you get the right level.
What if the inspection finds something?
You get told what it is, shown the evidence, and quoted separately for the repair. Nothing gets fixed on the spot without your say. See the repair page for what those jobs involve and roughly what they cost.
Book a Level 1 or Level 2 with a licensed local contractor.