Chimney sweep near you
Every curving street of Laurelhurst is on our rounds, and its 1909 to 1930s brick stacks stand under mature trees. Moss, failed crowns and water in the firebox drive the calls here more than anything inside the flue.
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Laurelhurst's homes are Craftsman and period revival houses of 1909 through the 1930s, on curving streets laid out with help from landscape architect John Charles Olmsted after the Laurelhurst Company bought the 462-acre Hazel Fern Farm from the Ladd Estate Company.
Laurelhurst's houses were given brick chimneys for a fireplace and a basement furnace, typically clay tile lined on the later houses and bare brick on the earliest, with two or more flues in one stack on the larger homes. The trees around the park are mature now, and a chimney under them that never sees direct sun stays wet through the rainy season.
About 91 percent of Laurelhurst homes were owner-occupied in 2010, so the person who calls is nearly always the person who lights the fire, and the questions are about keeping an original fireplace going rather than converting it. The 392-acre Laurelhurst Historic District joined the National Register on March 18, 2019; the city has not designated it as one of its own Historic or Conservation Districts.
Laurelhurst chimneys are brick stacks from 1909 to the 1930s, built to serve an open hearth and a basement furnace, and the ones under the park's canopy carry a green coat of moss on the shaded face.
Moss holds water against the brick, and water is what takes a Laurelhurst chimney apart: the crown cracks, the top courses spall, the flashing lifts where a tree limb has rubbed the roof, and the smoke shelf fills with a puddle that smells like a campfire after a storm. The flue may be in fair shape, but the tile joints near the top let water through before they leak smoke.
Trees and rain write the Laurelhurst job list, so three of the five jobs below happen at the top of the chimney rather than inside the flue.
A crown that has cracked across its width lets water straight down into the brick, and under the Laurelhurst canopy that water never dries out between storms. We rebuild a crown with a proper overhang and drip edge, or patch one that is only crazed, and the difference shows up as a dry firebox the following winter.
After the joints are tight and the crown is sound, a breathable repellent applied to the brick sheds rain from the face and lets the wall dry from the inside. We use a repellent that breathes rather than a sealer, because sealed brick traps water and spalls faster on a shaded Laurelhurst chimney than bare brick would.
Water stains on the ceiling beside the chimney in a Laurelhurst house often trace to flashing, not the chimney itself: a limb has worn through the counter flashing, or the last reroof sealed the joint with caulk alone. We reset the step and counter flashing in metal and, on a wide stack, add a cricket uphill of it.
A Laurelhurst fireplace that burns a few evenings a week through the wet months earns a sweep each year, and the Level 1 check that rides along with it is where crown and flashing problems get caught early. We photograph the flue and the top of the chimney, so you see the moss and the crown without climbing anything.
The Level 2 camera inspection is what we book when a Laurelhurst house sells, when a fireplace has sat unused since the previous owner, or when water has been getting in long enough to question the tile joints. The camera shows whether the bare brick flues of the earliest houses are still sound enough to take a liner or need more than that.
Laurelhurst is reached from I-84 by way of Cesar E. Chavez Blvd or NE 32nd Ave, or from downtown straight out E Burnside St or NE Glisan St, with SE Stark St closing the south edge.
Inside the plat the streets curve away from the grid, so give us the nearest cross street and whether you are north or south of Coe Circle. The canopy that keeps chimneys mossy also keeps the sky out of our ladder path, so tell us if a big tree stands tight against the roof on the chimney side.
A gilded statue of Joan of Arc, a First World War memorial, stands at Coe Circle in the center of the neighborhood where the curving streets meet.
Laurelhurst Park was designed in 1912 by park superintendent Emanuel Mische and was added to the National Register in 2001; Firwood Lake started as a spring-fed pond that watered cattle.
The 1910 entrance arch still stands at NE 33rd and Peerless Place, marking an entrance to the residence park.
The neighborhood spans both sides of E Burnside, and its addresses fall in two ZIP codes, 97232 and 97214.
The 392-acre historic district is roughly bounded by Stark, Senate, 32nd and 44th, with Laurelhurst School inside it.
Yes, all of Laurelhurst on both sides of Burnside is inside our regular rounds. Both ZIP codes get the same posted price, with nothing added for the drive once we do the work. If your house is one of the ones under the park's canopy, say so when you book, because we plan extra time there for moss and crown photos from the roof.
Most likely yes, and the water is probably coming in at the top rather than through the roof. A cracked crown or a missing cap lets rain down the flue onto the smoke shelf, where it soaks into old creosote and sends the smell back into the room. Keep the damper closed, set a pan in the firebox if it drips, and book a look at the crown and cap before the next big front.
Any moss thick enough to hold water is worth removing, and yes, we clear it as part of masonry work. Moss keeps the brick face wet, and wet brick spalls when it freezes, and Portland drops to freezing on about 32 nights a year. We brush it off, repoint whatever it was hiding, and finish with a breathable repellent so it has nothing damp to grow back into.
Not without a camera look first, and probably not without a liner after that. An unlined flue in a 1911 house has had more than a century for its mortar joints to open, and an open joint lets heat reach the framing around the chimney. A Level 2 inspection shows the condition of every joint, and a correctly sized stainless liner makes the fireplace usable again.
Only the county system applies in Laurelhurst, as far as we know; the neighborhood has no burning rule of its own. The county posts green, yellow or red for the day, and a red day halts wood fires in fireplaces, stoves and fire pits until noon the next day unless you qualify for an exemption. Our guide to the metro's wood burning rules explains how to check the color and apply.
Order a Level 2, which chimney professionals recommend when a property is sold, though it is not a legal requirement. It takes in the firebox and damper, the smoke chamber, a camera pass of the full flue, plus the crown, cap and flashing from the roof and the attic and basement where the chimney passes through. In a Laurelhurst house the attic pass matters, because that is where tree-driven flashing leaks first show.
Use the state's contractor lookup before you hire anyone, and the guide we wrote on vetting an Oregon contractor shows exactly where to click. Then ask two things: will the pictures from inside my flue be part of the visit, and was the price posted before anyone came out. A yes to both leaves little room for inventing work on a Laurelhurst chimney.
Out of Laurelhurst the crew crosses Burnside into Sunnyside and Richmond or heads north to Hollywood and Irvington on the same run.
Call with what the fireplace is doing, or text a photo of the opening and one of the chimney top, and we will name the service and its posted price before we come out.