When the smoke keeps coming back and nobody can say why

"We had it swept, the inspector said it looked fine, and it still smokes." That is the most common reason a Level 2 ends up on the calendar. A Level 1 sees what a light can reach, and the trouble is often hidden around a bend or behind a coat of soot. NFPA 211 lists the situations where the deeper look is called for, and they are worth knowing. A home being sold or transferred is one. A chimney fire, even a short one you only heard as a roar in the flue, is another. Any event that could have damaged the structure counts too, and on the Westside that usually means an earthquake or a wildfire nearby. A change of fuel, such as converting a wood fireplace to gas logs or adding an insert, calls for a Level 2 because the flue has to suit the new appliance. Relining a flue does as well. The fifth trigger is ours rather than the standard's: smoke or smell that a Level 1 cannot explain.

The camera runs on a flexible rod from the firebox or the roof, depending on the chimney, and it records the full length of the flue. On screen, a clay liner looks like a row of square or round sections stacked end to end. Between each pair there should be a full, smooth joint. What we find instead, on chimneys that have problems, are joints with missing mortar, tiles cracked vertically from heat, tiles shifted sideways so they form a ledge, and offsets where the flue bends around a floor and the liner did not follow cleanly. Each of these can leak smoke into the house or slow the draft enough to make the fire smoulder. Where we can reach them, we also check the chimney from the attic and crawl space for scorch marks, water stains and missing clearance to framing. In Pacific Palisades, where many chimneys pass through two storeys, the attic check is often where the answer turns up.

Two kinds of events shape chimneys in this part of Los Angeles. Wildfire is the first. The Palisades fire of January 2025 and the Woolsey Fire of 2018 both sent heat, ash and embers across hillsides in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, and a chimney can carry damage from that even when the house looks untouched. Heat cracks a clay liner from the inside, and ash that settled into an open flue can hide a gap at the smoke chamber. Earthquakes are the second. Southern California chimneys are tall masonry columns attached to wood-framed houses, and the two move differently when the ground shakes. A small quake can shift one flue tile against the next, or open a crack where the chimney passes through the roof, without leaving a mark you can see from the hearth. A camera inspection after either kind of event tells you whether the flue is still a sealed path for smoke, or whether it needs repair before the next fire is lit.

A Level 2 inspection runs $355. We confirm it when you book. You get the footage, still images marked with each finding, and a written summary that separates the urgent items from the ones that can wait. Buyers and sellers in Brentwood and Beverly Hills often use that record during escrow, and it holds up well because it shows the flue instead of describing it. If the camera finds damage, repairs are priced in writing as a separate step. A cracked liner might need a new stainless liner, and a chimney that has moved badly may need part of the stack rebuilt, which we explain with the footage in front of you. To arrange a visit, use the phone link at the top or the contact form, and tell us what prompted the question.