Blog
Notes from the roof
Straight answers to the chimney questions we hear most around Contra Costa County: each piece points to a single relevant service page.
What a Contra Costa home sale actually requires from a chimney inspectionA pending sale in Concord, Danville or San Ramon often triggers a chimney inspection request. Here is what level is needed, and what a report should cover.
Refinery-corridor air and older masonry: what decades near Martinez and Pittsburg do to a chimneyMartinez and Pittsburg’s Carquinez Strait corridor has hosted heavy industry since the early 1900s. Here is what that industrial air does to older masonry.
The BART-era building boom and what it means for a 1970s Contra Costa chimneyBART’s 1973 arrival triggered a fast Contra Costa building boom. Here is what that means for the factory-built chimneys common in its tract housing.
Building near Mount Diablo’s wildland-urban interface: what fire code asks of a chimneyHomes near Clayton and the Mount Diablo foothills sit inside a wildland-urban interface with stricter ember-resistant venting rules. Here is what applies.
Delta humidity, ag dust and what they do to flashing in eastern Contra CostaAntioch, Pittsburg and Brentwood sit closer to the Delta’s humidity swings and agricultural dust than central Concord. Here is what that does to flashing seams.
Why 1950s and 60s Diablo Valley ranch homes need different chimney carePostwar ranch homes around Concord and Pleasant Hill carry masonry chimneys now decades past their original service life. Here is what actually ages on them.
Diablo winds, ember risk, and what a chimney cap actually has to surviveDiablo winds carry embers toward any exposed chimney opening every fall. Here is what that means for cap and spark-arrestor condition on a Contra Costa home.