Chimney Level 2 Inspection in Studio City: Written Report, Licensed Technicians

A homeowner on the Moorpark Street corridor called us last fall after listing her 1960s ranch-style home. She'd converted her wood-burning fireplace to gas logs about eight years earlier, hired a handyman to run a flex connector, and never thought about the chimney again. Her listing agent flagged it during the pre-market walkthrough: the buyer's inspector would almost certainly require a Level 2 chimney inspection because the fireplace had been modified. She wanted to know if the original masonry flue was even safe for the gas log setup, or if the whole thing would stall her escrow.

Her situation is common in the Ventura Boulevard flats and Tujunga Village, where postwar single-story homes were built with unlined or single-wythe brick chimneys designed for open wood fires. When someone drops in a gas log set without verifying the flue condition, the masonry stays hidden behind a working appliance for years. Cracks from the 1994 Northridge quake or decades of thermal cycling go undetected. A Level 2 inspection is triggered any time a fuel type changes or a property changes hands, per NFPA 211. Her agent was right to catch it before a buyer's inspector did.

We ran a CSIA-standard Level 2 inspection, which includes a video camera scan of the entire flue interior. The camera revealed two things: a horizontal crack at the smoke shelf where mortar had separated from the firebrick, and deteriorated clay tile liner joints in the upper third of the chimney. Neither issue was visible from the firebox or the rooftop. Both are consistent with seismic micro-cracking that's extremely common in Studio City masonry chimneys built before 1970. The gas log conversion itself was functional, but the flue wasn't rated to contain combustion gases with those breaches present. We documented everything in a report formatted for escrow review.

The fix was a stainless steel chimney liner sized for her gas log BTU output, plus repointing at the smoke shelf joint. We completed the repair within six days and issued a passing reinspection letter. Her escrow closed on schedule. If you're selling a home in the Tujunga Village area or anywhere in Studio City where a gas log set replaced the original wood-burning setup, expect a Level 2 inspection to be part of the transaction. Call Family Home Chimney Experts to get it done before it becomes a negotiation point.