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.
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AfterFast, Reliable Chimney Inspection Across Fort Collins
A chimney inspection in Fort Collins typically costs $149 – $349 depending on the level, and most inspections take 45 – 90 minutes on site. We work throughout Fort Collins, from Old Town to the foothills neighborhoods, and every inspection includes camera work plus a photo report you can see for yourself. If you’ve been putting off a look at your flue, call (830) 251-4560 and we’ll get you on the schedule.
Flint Chimney Sweep has been inspecting chimneys since 2002 as part of the Garrison Partners family. Our techs know the two things that keep Fort Collins chimneys on the edge: pine and fir smoke from the foothills that gums up flues fast, and freeze-thaw cycles that crack crowns and mortar joints. A ten-minute visual walk-around won’t catch either one early. Our Chimney Inspection team runs a camera up every flue we look at, and you get the photos.
Why Flint Chimney Sweep Is Fort Collins’s Preferred Chimney Inspection Company
Homeowners in Fort Collins call us because they want a straight answer, not a scare pitch. Our background-checked, uniformed technicians show up inside the window we give you, and they hand you a written price before any work starts. That’s the Garrison Standard, and it applies to every inspection we do in Fort Collins, no exceptions.
The written guarantee matters here. Every repair we recommend after an inspection carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if a covered repair fails within one full year, we return at no charge. No argument, no re-inspection fee. That’s the kind of commitment that keeps Fort Collins customers calling us back when they move to a new house or pass our name to a neighbor near Spring Canyon.
Phones at Flint Chimney Sweep are answered by a live person around the clock. No voicemail trees. Call (830) 251-4560 at 6 a.m. or 11 p.m. and a human picks up. When a Fort Collins homeowner has questions about a damp smell in the living room or a chimney that smoked during last night’s burn, they get answers that day, not a callback form.
You also know exactly who is walking through the door. Every technician is background-checked and wears a uniform with the Flint Chimney Sweep name on it. We dispatch crews from our Denver metro office to serve Fort Collins and the surrounding area.
Chimney Flue Inspection in Fort Collins
Chimney Flue Inspection in Fort Collins is exactly what it sounds like: a camera run up the inner liner that channels smoke safely out of your house. A standard Level 1 visual check catches what’s visible at the firebox and damper, but a flue inspection takes a camera past the smoke chamber, up through the liner, and across any offsets. That’s where first- and second-degree creosote lives, and in Fort Collins, it lives there fast.
Homeowners in Fort Collins who burn pine and fir from foothill properties should expect gummy early-stage creosote to build inside the flue within a single season. When the city’s temperature swings bake that residue through repeated hot-cold cycles, it moves from sticky to flaky to glazed. A flue inspection shows you which stage you’re at and whether you can safely burn another month or need to put the poker down on the next fire.
Camera Inspection and Photo Report
We do not ask you to take our word for anything. Every flue inspection in Fort Collins includes a camera feed and a written photo report you keep. If our tech finds second-degree creosote flaking off a liner or a crack behind the damper, you see it on the screen and in the report, not in a vague summary.
That matters because a swept flue is not automatically a safe flue. A brush can leave creosote behind that a camera catches in thirty seconds. If you’ve had a sweep but never a camera look, you’ve had half the job done.
When Fort Collins Homeowners Need It
Book a flue inspection before your first burn of the season, after a chimney fire, or before you buy a house in Fort Collins. Real estate transactions almost always require at least a Level 2 inspection here, and a camera flue check is the part that actually protects you from buying a five-thousand-dollar liner problem.
Chimney Fire in Fort Collins
Chimney Fire in Fort Collins is a real risk, not a hypothetical, and it almost always starts with creosote that was never caught. Pine and fir smoke from the foothills produces exactly the kind of gummy, fast-building creosote that turns a routine fire into a chimney fire. A camera inspection is the only way to see how much of it is sitting on your liner before it ignites.
Chimney fires run from slow-burners you never notice to loud, rumbling events that crack flue tiles and send embers over the roof. Either way, after a chimney fire in Fort Collins, the National Fire Protection Association requires a Level 2 inspection before the chimney can be used again. We handle those inspections regularly, and we do not sign off on a chimney until the camera proves the liner is sound.
Post-Fire Protocol
After a chimney fire, we run a camera through the entire flue and look for cracked tiles, compromised mortar, warped dampers, and creosote that the fire may have expanded into hard glaze. We document everything with photos and give you a written report that says exactly what is safe and what is not.
If the fire cracked the liner, we specify the repair in writing before any work begins. That could mean a HeatShield resurfacing job or a DuraFlex relining, depending on what the camera shows. You will see the same images we are basing the recommendation on.
What a Fort Collins Homeowner Should Check
Before you call us, check for a few things: a loud rumbling or popping from inside the chimney during a burn, visible smoke puffing from the flue exterior, or a hot, sharp smell near the firebox even when no fire is lit. Those are near-field signs of a chimney fire or creosote at ignition temperatures. Shut the fire down, close the damper if and only if it is safe to do so, and call (830) 251-4560.
Trusted Brands We Service in Fort Collins
We install and work with professional-grade chimney products, and we name the brands so you can check them yourself. For Fort Collins homes with pine-smoke creosote problems, we often specify HeatShield resurfacing for cracked flue tiles and DuraFlex liners for full relining jobs. Olympia Chimney and Copperfield components round out the list of parts we keep local access to for Fort Collins customers, which means less waiting on orders and faster turnaround when a repair is urgent before burning season.
We do not push a brand because it carries a higher margin. The job determines the material. If a liner is holding but creosote is glazed, a sweep plus HeatShield treatment is the right call. If the liner is cracked or warped, DuraFlex is probably the specification. You get the recommendation in writing with the price, and you can verify every product against the manufacturer’s published specs.
Common Chimney Inspection Problems We See in Fort Collins Homes
Every town has its own chimney fingerprint. Here is what we find most often when we run a camera up a Fort Collins flue.
- Glazed third-degree creosote from pine and fir smoke. Foothill firewood creates sticky first-degree creosote that bakes into hard glaze during Fort Collins’s repeated freeze-thaw and heating cycles. A brush can’t scrape it off. It requires chemical treatment or a pro-grade roto-clean.
- Cracked chimney crowns and spalled mortar from freeze-thaw cycling. Water seeps into tiny fissures, freezes overnight, and wedges the masonry apart. That lets meltwater run down behind the flashing and onto the damper and firebox. A Level 1 visual check alone often misses the crown damage.
- Hairline cracks in clay tile liners, usually near the smoke chamber. Old Fort Collins homes built before modern liners often have tile that’s started to split. A camera inspection is the only way to see it before a chimney fire makes it a full-blown failure.
- Seasonal assumptions about a “clean” chimney. Homeowners in Fort Collins assume a swept flue equals a safe flue, so they skip the camera check that catches second- and third-degree creosote the brush leaves behind. We see this weekly during October and November.
Pricing for Chimney Inspection in Fort Collins, CO
A Level 1 visual inspection in Fort Collins typically runs $149 – $199. A Level 2 camera inspection, which includes the flue camera work and a written photo report, runs $249 – $349. A Level 3 inspection, required when there are structural concerns or after significant chimney damage, starts around $500 and depends on what access is needed. Every inspection gets a written price before any tools come off the truck, and the number on the invoice is the number you approved.
The cost moves with a few things: whether the chimney has an offset that makes camera work slower, how much creosote needs to be cleared before the camera can see the liner, and whether we need to access the roof. But you’ll know the exact number before we start. Call (830) 251-4560 for a free estimate, and we’ll give you the ballpark over the phone before you commit to a booking.
We Also Serve Cities Near Fort Collins
While this page focuses on Fort Collins, our Chimney Inspection team also covers Greeley, Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs. If you’re in one of those cities and need a camera inspection before burning season, call (830) 251-4560 and we’ll get you scheduled with the same written pricing and guarantee.
Serving Fort Collins, CO - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Fort Collins 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 About Chimney Inspection in Fort Collins
The questions below are the ones Fort Collins homeowners actually ask us on the phone. Direct answers first, then the details.
Once a year, before the first burn of the season. Fort Collins pine and fir smoke builds creosote faster than hardwood, and the city’s freeze-thaw cycles damage masonry quietly. A camera inspection every year catches early glaze before it becomes a fire risk, and it catches crown cracks before they let water into the damper and firebox. Call (830) 251-4560 and we’ll set you up with a free estimate.
A Level 2 inspection includes a full camera run through the flue, the smoke chamber, the damper, and the chimney crown, plus a written photo report showing everything. A basic sweep only removes what a brush can reach. If you are buying a house in Fort Collins, selling one, or have had a chimney fire, a Level 2 is the standard. Ask us for a copy of our standard Level 2 report format before you book.
Not honestly, and we will not pretend otherwise. No one can tell you a chimney is safe to burn without putting eyes and a camera on the flue. What we can tell you before we arrive is what to look for: smoke smell on no-burn days, loud pops during a fire, visible cracks in the crown, or black flaky chips falling into the firebox. If you see any of those, hold off on the next fire and call (830) 251-4560.
First-degree creosote is soft and gummy and brushes off. Second-degree is flaky and crusty, like coffee grounds compressed into hard flakes. Third-degree is glazed, shiny, and hard as a rock, and a brush will not touch it. Fort Collins homes that burn pine and fir typically move from first- to third-degree faster than the national average, which is why a camera inspection is so important here. If we find third-degree, we’ll show you the footage before recommending treatment.
Yes, every inspection includes a camera run. In Fort Collins, the two biggest hidden problems are glazed creosote from pine smoke and freeze-thaw crown cracks. Neither shows up in a visual check from the firebox. A camera catches both in minutes, and you get the photos. We will never recommend a repair without showing you the image that justifies it. Call (830) 251-4560 for a free estimate.
One More Thing About Fort Collins Chimneys
We were called to a ranch-style home near Edora Park after the owner noticed a damp, ashy smell in the living room even on no-burn days. Our tech pulled the firebox grate, ran a flue camera up past the smoke chamber, and found second-degree creosote flaking off the liner plus a hairline crack in the chimney crown that was letting meltwater drip onto the damper. We swept the flue, applied HeatShield to the cracked crown, and gave the homeowner a photo report with a straight answer: no fire until the next scheduled sweep.
That is the job in Fort Collins. Not a scare. Not a upsell. A camera, a written report, and a flat price you agree to before we start. If your chimney has not been inspected this year, call (830) 251-4560 and we’ll take a look.
Get Your Chimney Inspected in Fort Collins Before Burning Season
Call Flint Chimney Sweep at (830) 251-4560 and we’ll schedule your inspection at a time that works for you. You get a written price before any work starts, a camera inspection with a photo report, and a one-year written guarantee on any repair we recommend. Homeowners near Edora Park, Old Town, Spring Canyon, and throughout Fort Collins trust us to tell them the truth about their chimney. That is the whole job.
Written by Hank Delano, Owner at Flint Chimney Sweep, serving Fort Collins since 2002.