Level 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.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterFast, Reliable Chimney Cap & Crown Across Hollywood
Our Chimney Cap & Crown in Hollywood work typically runs $180 to $640 for a standard cap installation, $350 to $900 for a full crown repair with coating, and $400 to $1,200 for a custom multi-flue cap on 1920s-1940s Spanish Colonial Revival and Mediterranean bungalows. Most jobs are completed in one visit, with a written price delivered before any work starts. We serve every Hollywood neighborhood, from Beachwood Canyon and Hollywood Dell to the flats off Melrose and the Cahuenga Pass slopes. If you’re seeing water stains near your fireplace or hearing birds inside the flue, call (980) 580-8641 for a free estimate and a camera-scan inspection.
Key Takeaways
- Hollywood chimney crowns on pre-1940 bungalows fail from earthquake micro-activity, not heavy fireplace use. Cracks let water in and spall the flue liner behind them.
- Steep hillside lots in Beachwood Canyon and Hollywood Dell often make rooftop ladder access unsafe. We run sectional rods from the firebox to install and inspect caps and crowns.
- Attached Spanish Colonial bungalows with shared chimney stacks create a cross-venting risk. A properly sized and configured Chimney Cap & Crown prevents a neighbor’s exhaust from pushing into your living space.
- Every job includes a camera-scan inspection (NFPA 211 Level 2) and a written price before work begins. No exceptions.
Why Emberly Chimney Cleaners Is Hollywood’s Preferred Chimney Cap & Crown Company
Hollywood homeowners call us because we show them exactly what’s wrong before asking them to spend a dollar. Our camera-scan inspection goes down the flue on every visit, and the photo record is yours to keep. That practice has been our standard since 2009, and it’s now Clause 4 of the Haven Standard we work under. Most of the caps and crowns we replace in Hollywood had never been inspected with a camera before we arrived. The owner could see the cap was rusted or missing, but they had no way to know the crown was cracked underneath until the photos came back up.
Our technicians service every part of Hollywood, from the 90028 flats near Hollywood Boulevard to the winding streets above Franklin Avenue in the 90068 hills. They know which 1930s bungalows have decorative street-facing chimneys that were never built to vent properly, and which attached properties on Cherokee Avenue and Whitley Heights share a flue stack with the unit next door. That local knowledge means the cap we recommend actually fits the chimney you have, not a generic answer from a catalog.
Every estimate is written, signed, and delivered before work starts. You’ll see the scope, the price in dollars, and the warranty in writing, because Haven Standard Clause 1 requires the price in writing before anyone touches your chimney. Corrine Halstead, our owner, has built the company on that commitment. If a written quote from another company comes in lower, bring it to us. We’ll give you a free second opinion, and if our scope matches theirs, we’ll match the price.
BeforeAfterOur Chimney Cap & Crown Services in Hollywood
Cap Installation
A missing or undersized cap on a Hollywood chimney is an open invitation to Brewer’s blackbirds, roof rats, and raccoons common to the Hills neighborhoods. It’s also how Santa Ana winds pack dry leaves and twigs into the flue, which becomes kindling the first time you light a fire after the winds pass. Cap installation in Hollywood runs $180 to $540 depending on flue size and cap material. We stock stainless steel and copper caps from Olympia Chimney and Famco locally, so most installations happen in a single visit.
Cap Replacement
Rusted-out caps are the most common call we get from homeowners in the flats around Melrose Avenue and La Brea. A cap that’s rusted through does nothing to keep water out, and on attached bungalows it can’t keep a neighbor’s exhaust out either. Replacement means removing the old cap, checking the flue crown beneath it for damage while we’re already up there, and installing a new cap sized to the actual flue dimensions. A standard single-flue replacement in Hollywood runs $160 to $420.
Crown Repair
The crown is the concrete or mortar slab that seals the top of the chimney around the flue. On Hollywood’s 1920s and 1930s Spanish Colonial Revival bungalows, the crown is usually original, and it’s usually cracked. Decades of seismic micro-activity have opened hairline fractures that let water in. That water soaks the mortar joints, freezes rarely but expands enough in the dry heat to spall the flue tiles behind it. Crown repair in Hollywood typically runs $350 to $900, which includes removing the cracked material, rebuilding the crown with proper slope away from the flue, and applying a waterproof coating. We use Gelco CrownSeal for its durability in dry, hot conditions.
Crown Coating
If the crown on your Hollywood chimney is intact but aging, a crown coating can buy years of protection without a full rebuild. We apply Gelco CrownSeal to the existing crown after cleaning and prepping the surface. This seals against water penetration and protects against further UV and heat degradation. Crown coating alone runs $250 to $450 in Hollywood. During every crown repair or coating, we camera-scan the flue to confirm nothing below the crown needs attention. You’ll see the footage before any work proceeds.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Hollywood
We install and service caps and crowns from Olympia Chimney, Famco, Gelco, and Copperfield. These are the same brands we’d put on our own homes, because they hold up to Hollywood’s sun, Santa Ana winds, and the occasional salt air coming over the hills from the coast. Because we stock local inventory for Hollywood jobs, most cap and crown work doesn’t wait on a parts shipment. If you have a custom or multi-flue chimney, we can fabricate a matching cap in stainless steel or copper and have it installed and documented with photos.
Common Chimney Cap & Crown Problems We See in Hollywood Homes
- Seismic crown cracking: The unreinforced brick chimneys on Hollywood’s 1920s-1940s bungalows have absorbed decades of small earthquakes. Hairline cracks in the crown are the norm, not the exception. They let water in, and the water spalls flue tiles you can’t see without a camera.
- Shared-flue cross venting: Attached Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean units in neighborhoods off Fountain Avenue and Wilcox often share a chimney stack. If a neighbor’s water heater or furnace vents into the same stack and your cap isn’t properly configured, their exhaust can push into your unit through an open or rusted cap.
- Rooftop access failures: On hillside lots in Beachwood Canyon and Hollywood Dell, the chimney crown is frequently level with or below the uphill grade. Standard ladders can’t safely reach these rooftops. We run sectional rods from the firebox to install and inspect caps and crowns from below.
- Santa Ana debris loading: Open flue tops on rarely used fireplaces collect dry leaves, twigs, and nesting material during wind events. Homeowners don’t notice until the first fire of the season, and by then the debris is packed deep. A proper cap stops this before it starts.
Pricing for Chimney Cap & Crown in Hollywood, CA
Here’s what homeowners in Hollywood can expect to pay, in real dollars:
- Standard single-flue cap installation: $180-$340
- Stainless steel cap replacement (single flue): $160-$420
- Multi-flue or custom cap, fabricated locally: $400-$1,200
- Crown repair with Gelco CrownSeal: $350-$900
- Crown coating only: $250-$450
What changes your price: the number of flues, whether the chimney is on a steep hillside lot requiring firebox-access installation, the condition of the crown beneath the old cap, and whether a matching custom cap needs fabrication. You’ll always see the full price in writing before work starts. Call (980) 580-8641 for a free estimate, and you’ll get the camera documentation as part of the visit.
We Also Serve Cities Near Hollywood
If you’re in a neighboring community, we handle Chimney Cap & Crown work every week in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco. Dispatch and scheduling for Hollywood jobs are coordinated from our Los Angeles office, with crews serving the Hollywood area locally. Wherever you are, you get the same written price, camera-scan inspection, and 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Serving Hollywood, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Hollywood 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 - Chimney Cap & Crown in Hollywood
We run sectional rods from the firebox, which means we work upward from inside your home rather than from the rooftop. This is standard for us on Beachwood Canyon and Hollywood Dell lots where the roof pitch exceeds 6:12 or the crown sits below the uphill grade. The rods extend through the flue to the top, and we install, inspect, or replace caps and crowns from there. It’s slower than a rooftop ladder setup, but it’s the only safe way on many Hollywood hillside homes. Call (980) 580-8641 and we’ll walk through the access plan for your specific lot before we schedule anything.
First, we camera-scan the flue to map exactly which flue tiles serve your fireplace and which serve your neighbor’s appliances. Then we size the cap to your specific flue and install it with the correct draft clearance so your neighbor’s exhaust still vents while your flue is sealed against rain, debris, and animals. This is the shared-flue constraint we deal with regularly on attached Spanish Colonial bungalows in Hollywood. A generic cap installed without this check can redirect exhaust into your living space, which is a carbon monoxide hazard. Call (980) 580-8641 for a camera-backed assessment before anyone puts a cap on a shared stack.
It’s not urgent in the way a gas leak is, but it won’t get better on its own, and the damage compounds. A cracked crown lets water into the chimney structure year-round, even when the fireplace is never used. That water spalls the clay flue tiles, rusts the damper, and eventually pushes into the walls around the firebox. We’ve seen Hollywood chimneys that looked fine from the street but needed full rebuilds because a cracked crown went unaddressed for a decade. If the crown is cracked but the flue tiles below are intact, repair now runs $350 to $900 in Hollywood. Wait until the liner is spalled, and you’re looking at a liner replacement. Call (980) 580-8641 for a camera assessment and we’ll tell you plainly what needs doing now and what can wait.
A generic cap will keep most animals out, but on Hollywood’s older chimneys it often creates a new problem by restricting draft. Many of the original flues on 1920s and 1930s Spanish Colonial Revival homes are undersized for modern caps, which means smoke backs up into the house on windy days. We size caps to the actual flue dimensions, not a one-size-fits-most opening. If raccoons or Brewer’s blackbirds have already nested in the flue, you need the flue swept and camera-inspected before any cap goes on. Most Hollywood homeowners in the Hills neighborhoods are dealing with both. Call (980) 580-8641 for a free estimate and we’ll have the cap sized and installed correctly.
Repairing a crown means removing cracked or spalled material, rebuilding the crown with fresh mortar or concrete, and then sealing it. Recoating means the crown is structurally sound but the surface needs a fresh waterproof layer. We determine which you need with a camera inspection and a visual check of the crown surface. Most Hollywood chimneys from the 1920s and 1930s need repair, not just recoating, because the cracking goes deeper than surface-level. But some crowns in protected locations or on newer chimneys only need coating. We’ll show you the photos and explain which applies to your chimney before any work proceeds. Call (980) 580-8641 to schedule the inspection.
Get Your Chimney Cap & Crown Done Right in Hollywood
If you live in Hollywood, from the 90028 flats to the 90068 hills, and your chimney cap is rusted, missing, or your crown is cracked, we’ll show you exactly what’s wrong with the camera before you spend anything on repairs. Every job comes with a written price, a written scope, a written warranty, and a photo record of the completed work. That’s the way we’ve operated since 2009, and it’s Clause 4 of the Haven Standard our company is built on. Call (980) 580-8641 today for a free estimate. A live person answers, 24 hours a day.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Emberly Chimney Cleaners, serving Hollywood, CA with camera-documented chimney cap and crown inspections and repairs.