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 North Hills
A chimney cap and crown in North Hills typically costs $340-$790 for a standard single-flue cap replacement with crown sealing, and $1,400-$2,900 when the crown needs full resurfacing or custom multi-flue cap work. Most North Hills jobs are completed in one visit. We’re Emberly Chimney Cleaners, and since 2009 our crews have worked the streets between Sepulveda and Woodley, from Roscoe down to Sherman Way, where the post-quake patchwork shows up more than anywhere else in the Valley. Call (980) 580-8641 for a written price before we touch anything.
Why Emberly Chimney Cleaners Is North Hills’s Preferred Chimney Cap & Crown Company
North Hills homeowners call us because they want to see what we found, not hear what we think. Every visit includes a camera scan of the flue interior, and the photo record is yours before we leave. Clause 4 of the Haven Standard requires it, and we’ve worked that way since 2009, years before insurers started asking for documentation. Corrine Halstead leads our team, and she holds every crew to the same standard: if a chimney doesn’t need work, we say so and show you why.
Our Chimney Cap & Crown crews have worked hundreds of homes in the tract neighborhoods north of Parthenia, where original 1950s and 60s brick chimneys still stand. We know which blocks show the most post-quake re-mortaring, and we know what that re-mortaring hides. When you call, a live person answers, never a voicemail. We text you when the tech is on the way, and the tech arrives in uniform with a named assignment and license number on the work order. No subcontracted crews, no mystery dispatchers.
Our Chimney Cap & Crown Services in North Hills
Cap Installation
A properly sized cap keeps rain, birds, and Santa Ana-driven debris out of your flue. On North Hills ranch homes with original single-wythe chimneys, we typically install stainless steel caps from Gelco or Famco, cut to the exact flue tile dimensions. A stock cap from a hardware store rarely fits the older terracotta tiles in this area, and the gaps let embers and nesting material through. We measure, fabricate, and fasten so the cap seats flush and stays put through the next wind event.
Cap Replacement
If your existing cap is rusted through, bent from falling branches, or was knocked loose by seismic movement, replacement is straightforward and usually done the same visit. We remove the old unit, inspect the flue crown beneath it, and install a replacement rated for the Valley’s heat cycling. This matters in North Hills because summers over 100°F expand metal caps and winters compress them; weak welds fail within a few seasons if the cap wasn’t built for that range.
Crown Repair
The crown is the concrete slab that caps the chimney stack and sheds water away from the flue. On 50-70-year-old North Hills chimneys, the crown has often shifted micro-inches from repeated seismic activity, and hairline cracks let water into the mortar bed below. We repair crowns by grinding out failed material, applying a bonded repair mortar, and re-slopping the surface so water drains off instead of pooling. Small crown cracks caught early save you from spalling brick and liner damage later.
Crown Coating
For crowns that are cracked but still structurally intact, a flexible crown coat from Olympia Chimney can buy 10-15 years of service. The coating bridges hairline fractures and moves with the chimney during minor seismic shifts without splitting. On North Hills chimneys that already show light spalling, we’ll brush out the loose material, treat the surface, and coat it. If the crown has already delaminated in slabs, we’ll tell you the coating won’t hold and quote the repair instead, with photos showing exactly why.
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.
BeforeAfterTrusted Brands We Service in North Hills
We stock and install components from Gelco, Famco, and Olympia Chimney because they hold up to the Valley’s temperature swings and Santa Ana grit better than the generics. For multi-flue runs on larger North Hills homes near Bull Creek, Famco custom caps give us the ability to cover two or three flues with one rust-resistant unit. Corrine Halstead’s buying network keeps these materials priced honestly, and every install carries the written warranty you get before work starts.
Common Chimney Cap & Crown Problems We See in North Hills Homes
- Post-quake cosmetic re-mortaring hiding broken flues. Homeowners along Sepulveda and Woodley re-pointed exterior brick after the 1994 Northridge quake but never scoped the interior tiles. The brick looks fine from the street; the terracotta liner behind it is shattered and letting CO into the attic chase.
- Crowns shifted out of slope by repeated seismic events. Even small quakes, the kind North Hills feels a few times a decade, work on crown mortar over years. Water pools where it should drain, freezing and thawing across winter nights, and the cycle widens cracks until spalling begins.
- Santa Ana winds packing flues with dry fuel. Caps loosened by seismic movement or rusted at the fasteners leave gaps. Valley winds push leaf litter, palm fronds, and fine debris through those gaps, and by the first fire of the season the flue is carrying a ready-made fuel load.
- Rust-through on original 1990s caps. A lot of North Hills homes got cheap galvanized caps installed right after the quake. Thirty years of Valley sun and winter moisture has eaten through the seams, and the cap is now shedding rust scale down the flue while doing nothing to keep rain out of the firebox.
Pricing for Chimney Cap & Crown in North Hills, CA
We Also Serve Cities Near North Hills
Our crews cover the neighboring communities of North Hills, Northridge, San Fernando, Van Nuys, and Encino. Most of these areas share the same post-quake housing stock and the same cap and crown failure patterns, so the camera-scan standard we bring to North Hills applies everywhere we work.
Serving North Hills, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the North Hills 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 North Hills
How can I tell if my North Hills chimney crown was damaged by the Northridge earthquake even if the brick looks fine?
You can’t tell from the ground, and that’s the point. The damage from the 1994 quake is frequently inside the flue, not on the exterior brick face. A crown that shifted a quarter-inch during the quake may look fine from the curb while its hairline cracks have been letting water into the mortar bed for 30 years. The only way to confirm is a camera scan of the interior plus a physical inspection of the crown surface. That inspection is included on every visit, and you get the photo record. Call (980) 580-8641 to schedule one.
My house is 60 years old and I’ve never replaced the chimney cap. Is that a problem in North Hills?
Yes, in most cases it is. A 60-year-old chimney in North Hills predates the stricter cap standards that came after the quake, and the original cap, if there is one, was likely galvanized steel not rated for the Valley’s heat cycling. Without a proper cap, rain gets into your firebox, birds and squirrels nest in the flue, and Santa Ana winds load the flue with dry debris. The fix is a measured, custom-fitted cap, not a generic unit from a big-box store.
I re-mortared my chimney after the 1994 quake. Why should I still get a camera inspection?
Because re-mortaring repairs the brick, not the flue. On a street near Nordhoff and Sepulveda, our tech pulled a chimney cap that looked intact from the curb but had hidden a shattered clay flue liner below. The owner had re-mortared the exterior brick right after the ’94 quake, but no one had ever scoped the flue. We showed them the camera feed of displaced tile shards and a failing crown, then replaced the cap with a custom-fit Famco unit and sealed the crown so the next Santa Ana event wouldn’t push debris straight into the firebox. A visual exterior inspection cannot see inside your flue. A camera can.
Does a crown coating really help on a North Hills chimney that has already spalled?
Not if the crown has lost structural material. A flexible crown coat works on hairline cracks and surface wear, but once spalling has removed slabs of the crown, coating over the remaining surface is a temporary patch that will fail again. We’ll show you the camera and surface photos so you can see whether the crown is a candidate for coating or needs full repair. We don’t sell a coating where a repair is what’s actually required.
What makes North Hills chimneys different from other parts of the San Fernando Valley for cap and crown work?
Proximity to the Northridge earthquake epicenter. North Hills sits within roughly two miles of the 1994 rupture, meaning the ground acceleration here was among the strongest in the entire event. Masonry chimneys absorbed that force directly, and while many were patched cosmetically, the interior flue tiles and crown beds on the original 1950s and 60s ranch homes were never properly inspected. That pattern, re-mortared brick over shattered tile, is more concentrated here than in Van Nuys or Encino, and it’s exactly what our camera-scan standard was built to catch.
Need a cap or crown looked at in North Hills? Call (980) 580-8641. A live person answers, we quote in writing before work starts, and the camera record is yours to keep.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Emberly Chimney Cleaners, serving North Hills under the Haven Standard since 2009.