Surround, hearth and fuel-change remodels built on a dry chimney breast, with direct-vent gas fireplaces at $4,250 to $8,500. In Westlake Village, we plan the visit around the local weather and the roofline each house type has.
Describe any stain, drip or rust you have seen, and we will set up the Westlake Village visit around it.
A new surround over a damp chimney breast stains and loosens, so the breast is checked for moisture and any leak is fixed before the design work begins. In Westlake Village and nearby Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks, Alderwood Chimney Services plans each fireplace remodel visit around that. Storms here are few but heavy, and a single wet week in February can put more water on a chimney than the rest of the year combined. Summer heat comes on hard once the marine layer burns off, which dries out sealant at the flashing line. The 2018 Woolsey Fire burned through the hills south of the city, so a cap with a sound spark screen keeps out both rain and embers.
Service city
Westlake Village, CA
ZIP codes covered
2
Nearby
Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks
Houses we work on
1960s and 1970s custom homes around the lake, tract homes under concrete tile and old shake roofs, and newer two-story houses with stucco chases
Westlake Village was laid out as a planned community in the 1960s, so whole streets share the same chimney details and the same weak spots. On the original homes we often find step flashing that was never replaced when the roof was redone, sealed over with roof cement that has since dried and pulled away from the brick. Homes along the lake also see more morning damp than the hills around them, and that slows how fast a wet crown dries out.
Storms here are few but heavy, and a single wet week in February can put more water on a chimney than the rest of the year combined. Summer heat comes on hard once the marine layer burns off, which dries out sealant at the flashing line. The 2018 Woolsey Fire burned through the hills south of the city, so a cap with a sound spark screen keeps out both rain and embers.
Where we work
These are the parts of town we visit most, but we cover the whole city. If your street is not listed, send your address and we will confirm before booking.
Most of what we see in Westlake Village is 1960s and 1970s custom homes around the lake, tract homes under concrete tile and old shake roofs, and newer two-story houses with stucco chases. That mix changes how a chimney meets the roof, where water collects and which part of the system fails first, so we set up each fireplace remodel visit for the house rather than the street.
Storms here are few but heavy, and a single wet week in February can put more water on a chimney than the rest of the year combined. Summer heat comes on hard once the marine layer burns off, which dries out sealant at the flashing line. The 2018 Woolsey Fire burned through the hills south of the city, so a cap with a sound spark screen keeps out both rain and embers. A new surround over a damp chimney breast stains and loosens, so the breast is checked for moisture and any leak is fixed before the design work begins.
We serve Westlake Village and the area toward Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks. ZIP codes 91359 and 91361 are inside our standard coverage. Send the form or call, and a photo of any stain helps us plan the visit.
If the leak turns out to start somewhere else, these are the related services in the same area.
Flue cleaning from $210 that also reads the liner for rust streaks, wet creosote and other signs that rain is getting in.
View local serviceA top-to-bottom chimney check that follows any stain or drip back to its source, with Level 1 inspections at $52.
View local serviceRepairs that stop water at the crown, cap, flashing or mortar first, then fix the damage it caused, quoted in writing.
View local serviceA firebox, damper and hearth check for the rust, staining and soft mortar that water leaves when it gets down a chimney.
View local serviceFirebox, damper and smoke chamber repairs, done after the leak above them is found and fixed so the work lasts.
View local serviceA camera inspection through the full flue that shows cracked tiles, open joints and the tide marks water leaves inside.
View local serviceCaps fitted to the flue, $155 to $635 installed, that keep out rain, animals and leaves and catch embers on the way up.
View local serviceStep and counter flashing rebuilt where the roof meets the chimney, the seam behind most ceiling stains near a fireplace.
View local serviceBrick, mortar and crown repair for spalling, white salt stains and open joints, with the water source fixed first.
View local servicePartial or full rebuilds for stacks that water or earthquake damage has loosened, finished with a crown, flashing and cap.
View local serviceFirebox, smoke shelf and damper cleaned of ash, soot and damp deposits, with a note on any rust or staining found.
View local serviceBurner, pilot, logs and glass cleaned, with the vent termination checked for the leaks that rust gas fireplace parts.
View local servicePilot, burner, valve and vent repairs for gas fireplaces, with a check for the water that often causes repeat faults.
View local serviceGas inserts at $2,650 to $5,300 installed, with a sealed liner, top plate and cap that close the old flue to rain.
View local serviceAuger, igniter, blower and vent repairs for pellet stoves, with a look at the moisture that swells pellets and rusts pipe.
View local serviceWood stove and stovepipe repairs, from gaskets and firebrick to the roof jack and storm collar where most stove leaks begin.
View local serviceGas log sets sized to the firebox and installed with a capped flue, so rain stays off the burner and the logs.
View local serviceThe same visit runs in each of these cities. Each page notes where chimneys there tend to let water in.
the Conejo Valley neighborhoods from Newbury Park to Westlake Village
Tile roofs are everywhere in Thousand Oaks, and they make chimney leaks harder to spot because the tiles hide the flashing underneath. Many calls here start with a ceiling stain beside a stucco chase, and the cause is often a flat, rusted chase cover holding water at the top. Brick chimneys on the hillside streets more often leak at the counter flashing.
View nearby citythe foothill city along the 101 below Ladyface Mountain, from Old Agoura to the Liberty Canyon streets
Many Agoura Hills chimneys rise from a roof valley or the low side of a slope, which is the worst place for water to meet brick. Leaves from the oaks collect behind the stack, hold moisture against the flashing and send it down the back face. When we trace a ceiling stain here, the cricket behind the chimney, or the lack of one, is often where the story starts.
View nearby citythe hillside city at the west end of the San Fernando Valley, from Old Town and Mulwood to the gated streets above Las Virgenes Road
Tall stucco chases are common on the larger Calabasas homes, and a chase that tall has a lot of siding for wind-driven rain to work into. The chase cover on top is often a flat sheet of galvanized steel that rusts through at the center, where water pools. Under clay tile roofs the flashing is hidden, so the first sign of a leak is usually a stain on a vaulted ceiling or a damp patch beside the fireplace.
View nearby citythe southwest corner of the San Fernando Valley, from Warner Center to the hillside streets south of Ventura Boulevard
Woodland Hills chimneys were shaken hard in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and plenty of the brick stacks on the flats were rebuilt or patched afterward. A patch that looked fine thirty years ago can now have hairline cracks where the new mortar met the old, and water finds those first. On the hillside homes we see more leaks at the crown, which takes the full force of the winter storms.
View nearby cityYes. Alderwood Chimney Services books fireplace remodel in Westlake Village and toward Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks. Tell us what you have noticed, a stain, rust in the firebox or a damp smell, and we will plan the visit around it.
It covers moisture check on the chimney breast before design, stone, tile or plaster surrounds, mantels made to measure, plus a check of the crown, cap and flashing for any sign that water is getting in. Each finding is photographed, and any repair is quoted in writing before work is booked.
Water is behind most chimney damage, from rusted dampers to spalled brick. Storms here are few but heavy, and a single wet week in February can put more water on a chimney than the rest of the year combined. Summer heat comes on hard once the marine layer burns off, which dries out sealant at the flashing line. The 2018 Woolsey Fire burned through the hills south of the city, so a cap with a sound spark screen keeps out both rain and embers. Homes in ZIP codes 91359, 91361 see the same weather, so we check where rain could reach the system on every visit.
