"It smokes when we light it" and "the den smells like a campfire" are the two sentences we hear most from Malibu, CA. Everett Chimney Works answers both with a draft test before any fireplace inserts is quoted. Malibu homes face wind from two directions: onshore breezes most afternoons and hard offshore gusts in fire season. A chimney that draws well on a calm night can puff smoke back into the room when the wind comes over the ridge, so we often look at cap shape before anything else.
Town
Malibu, CA
Job
Fireplace Inserts
First postal codes
90265
Setting
beach roads, bluff lots and canyon drives strung along the Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu homes face wind from two directions: onshore breezes most afternoons and hard offshore gusts in fire season. A chimney that draws well on a calm night can puff smoke back into the room when the wind comes over the ridge, so we often look at cap shape before anything else.
Salt in the air eats plain steel caps, dampers and spark screens, and a rusted damper that no longer opens fully is a frequent reason for a smoky room. Since Woolsey in 2018, many owners also want spark screens checked before every fall.
Streets we reach
All of the town is on our route. The places listed below border it; if yours is not named, read the address to the desk and we confirm it while booking.
Malibu homes face wind from two directions: onshore breezes most afternoons and hard offshore gusts in fire season. A chimney that draws well on a calm night can puff smoke back into the room when the wind comes over the ridge, so we often look at cap shape before anything else. Most complaints we hear in town trace back to the damper, the flue size or the room air, in roughly that order.
With beach houses on pilings, canyon ranch homes, glass-walled modern builds, and houses rebuilt since the Woolsey Fire around Malibu, flue height, opening size and how airtight the rooms are vary a lot. That changes how long fireplace inserts takes and what follows it.
Phone or send the form with the symptom and your street. Homes in ZIP 90265 and toward Point Dume and Topanga are on the same calendar.
Smoke problems often lead to a second job, a damper, a cap or a gas part. These are booked the same way.
Soot, nests and creosote narrow the flue until smoke backs up; brushing them out is usually the first draft fix we try.
Open this jobFlashlight, mirror and a smoke test: a visual look at every reachable part of the chimney, priced at $57 for Level 1.
Open this jobCracked liners, gaps in the smoke chamber and broken caps all leak draft; we repair the part that lets smoke escape.
Open this jobFirebox, damper, lintel and hearth looked over with a draft test at the opening, so you learn why smoke spills.
Open this jobWarped dampers, oversized openings and missing smoke guards push smoke indoors; we fix the one causing your spillage.
Open this jobCamera footage from the full flue, used when smoke, a chimney fire, a sale or an earthquake raises questions; $355.
Open this jobDowndraft from gusty canyon wind often stops with the right cap; we fit stainless caps sized to the flue, $170 to $695.
Open this jobDamp, musty fireplace smells often start where roof meets chimney; we reseal that joint so the masonry dries out.
Open this jobLoose brick and crumbling joints let air leak into the flue and water into the walls; we repoint and rebuild them.
Open this jobSometimes a short or damaged stack can only draw properly once rebuilt taller or straighter; we quote that honestly.
Open this jobLingering campfire odour usually comes from ash and creosote left in the firebox; a deep clean removes most of it.
Open this jobYellow, lazy flames and soot on the glass mean the burner or logs need attention; we clean and reset them yearly.
Open this jobPilot that will not hold, burner that shuts off, a gas smell or a headache near the unit: we find the failed part.
Open this jobRemodeling a smoky fireplace? We fix the draft first, then change the surround, mantel or opening so it stays fixed.
Open this jobSooty glass, smoke puffs on startup or a stove that shuts down: often a dirty exhaust path or a tired fan.
Open this jobSmoke leaking from the door, a stove that runs hot or will not hold a fire: worn gaskets and baffles are the usual culprits.
Open this jobBurning wood but tired of smoke? Vented gas logs in the existing firebox give a cleaner fire, with the damper clamped open.
Open this jobNeighbouring towns get the same draft test and the same written price. Each page notes what the weather and houses there do to a flue.
the bluffs, canyon rims and rebuilt streets between Sunset Boulevard and the ocean
Here the smoke call often comes from a house that was just rebuilt or remodeled: a new tight envelope pulls air down the old flue, or a new roofline now sits higher than the chimney. Owners who stayed through the January 2025 fire also ask us whether heat or ash reached the flue, which a camera answers.
Go to that townthe flats below Sunset and the winding hillside streets above it
Large Beverly Hills living rooms often have wide, tall fireplace openings that look grand but are too large for the flue above them. That mismatch is a classic cause of smoke spilling at the top of the opening, and a smoke guard or glass doors usually cure it without changing the look much.
Go to that townthe leafy streets and canyon roads north of Sunset and down toward San Vicente
Big Brentwood houses often have two or three fireplaces sharing one masonry stack. When one fire is lit, smoke can drift down a neighboring flue into another room, a problem that looks like a leak but is really a short flue partition or uneven flue heights at the top.
Go to that townbeach-adjacent blocks and older residential streets from Ocean Park up to North of Montana
Many Santa Monica houses share a lot line closely with taller neighbors, and a two-storey addition next door can leave an old chimney sitting in a wind shadow. That is a common cause of smoke rolling out of the fireplace on a breezy evening even when the flue is clean.
Go to that towntightly packed blocks of apartments, duplexes and bungalows between the Sunset Strip and Melrose
In multi-unit buildings, one chimney stack can serve several fireplaces, and a smoky unit may be caused by a neighbor's fire or an old shared flue. We check which flue is which before suggesting any fix, and we note when the work needs the owner or HOA on board.
Go to that townStart with the symptom and let the test decide. If the draft check points at fireplace inserts, Everett Chimney Works books it for your Malibu address; if it points at something else, you hear that before any work. Streets toward Point Dume and Topanga are on the same drive.
Expect Sealed units that stop room spillage, Firebox and flue measured for fit, Full-length liner run for the exhaust. Before any of that we watch how smoke or flame behaves at the opening, because that tells us which item matters most in your particular house and flue.
Most Malibu visits are set within the week. Open same-day slots go first to smoke spilling indoors or a gas smell, and calls from ZIP codes 90265 are booked on that route.
