Chimney Repair in Healdsburg, CA

On the older homes near the Plaza, the issues are the familiar ones for nineteenth-century masonry: eroded mortar joints, unlined flues, and crowns that have been patched rather than rebuilt. On a period home the repair has to be sympathetic as well as sound. wrong-coloured mortar or a modern brick is permanent and obvious, On a home in the historic district it can be a genuine problem.

Out in the valleys the work is different again. Larger properties here often have substantial stone fireplaces, multiple flues, and chimneys that are architectural features rather than utilities. That is masonry as much as it is repair, and it needs someone who is comfortable with stone.

Second homes carry their own risk. A chimney nobody has used for two years, in a house nobody has been in, is exactly where you find a bird’s nest or a cracked flue liners.

A good deal of our Healdsburg work is not repair at all. It is building outdoor fireplaces, stone surrounds and outdoor kitchens for properties where the garden is the point. Done properly, in stone that suits the setting, these last decades and look better with age.

If you are considering outdoor fireplace construction, it is worth talking through the site early: prevailing wind, the view you actually want to sit facing, and where the smoke will go all matter more than the catalogue picture.