Paramount Fireplaces That Smoke, Smell or Stall
What Does Your Paramount Fire Do?
A line on the smoke, the smell or the flame is plenty. We call back from San Pedro with a few questions about when it happens.
Paramount ZIP Codes and Neighbors
Find yours, or one of the bordering names, and mention it when you describe what the fire is doing.
Ramsey Fixes for Paramount
What we most often find behind it here: a taller structure built close to a low postwar chimney, which breaks the wind and leaves stale air at the outlet. Each card below lays out that work for Paramount.
Chimney Sweep in Paramount
Choked flues are a common reason a fire smokes into the room, so we brush the whole run until smoke draws upward again.
How it helpsChimney Inspection in Paramount
Draft trouble usually leaves clues in the flue, the damper and the crown, and a Level 1 look finds most of them.
How it helpsChimney Repair in Paramount
Leaks, loose bricks and cracked crowns change how a chimney draws, so each repair starts with finding where air and water get in.
How it helpsFireplace Inspection in Paramount
Smoke rolling out the top of the opening tells us where to look, and the inspection covers the firebox, damper and smoke chamber.
How it helpsFireplace Repair in Paramount
Spilled smoke has a cause, from a stuck damper to an oversized opening, and each one gets its own fix.
How it helpsChimney Level 2 Inspection in Paramount
Video goes down the full flue to find cracked tiles, gaps and offsets that a flashlight from the firebox will never reach.
How it helpsChimney Cap Installation in Paramount
Wind coming off the water can push smoke back down an open flue, and the right cap blocks the gusts, rain and birds.
How it helpsChimney Flashing Repair in Paramount
Water stains beside the chimney breast usually start where the roof meets the brick, and resealing that joint stops the drip.
How it helpsChimney Masonry Repair in Paramount
Salt air eats at soft mortar, so we repoint joints, swap spalled brick and recast crowns before water works behind them.
How it helpsChimney Rebuilds in Paramount
Leaning or shaken stacks get rebuilt from the roofline up, or from the footing, with the flue sized to draw properly.
How it helpsFireplace Cleaning in Paramount
Soot on the glass doors, ash under the grate and a smell that lingers get cleaned out of the firebox and smoke chamber.
How it helpsGas Fireplace Cleaning in Paramount
Yellow, sooty flames and a faint smell when the logs light point to dirty burners, misplaced embers or a blocked vent.
How it helpsGas Fireplace Repair in Paramount
Flames that die after a minute, a pilot that will not hold, or a clicking igniter usually trace back to one small part.
How it helpsFireplace Remodel in Paramount
Rebuilding the face, hearth or firebox is a chance to fix a smoky opening too, so the new look also draws properly.
How it helpsFireplace Inserts in Paramount
Drafty, smoky open fireplaces can take a sealed insert that heats the room and vents through a liner sized to its own outlet.
How it helpsPellet Stove Repair in Paramount
Hoppers that stop feeding or fires that die with pellets left often trace to the auger, igniter or a choked vent.
How it helpsWood Stove Repair in Paramount
Leaky door gaskets, cracked baffles and weak draft explain most wood stoves that smoke, run away or die overnight.
How it helpsGas Logs in Paramount
Switching to gas logs lets you light the hearth on no-burn days, with no ash, no splitting and no smoky mornings.
How it helpsReading a Paramount Chimney
Only about 4 in 10 units are detached, and those postwar single-story houses tend to have low chimneys with modest draw. Later building around them can change how wind reaches the cap, so we look at what has gone up nearby. Marine influence and low May and June clouds keep the mornings damp in this inland setting, with mild winters. Southwest of town by a few miles is the Newport-Inglewood Fault, and old brick that has been shaken can bleed heat from the draft.
What Owners Notice
A draft that got worse after a new building or second story went up nearby, with no other change.
What the Tests Turn Up
A taller structure built close to a low postwar chimney, which breaks the wind and leaves stale air at the outlet.
Local Air and Wind
Low clouds common in May and June hold damp in a cool flue, and winters here stay mild with marine influence.
Houses on These Streets
In Paramount the chimneys we test belong to mid-century single-story houses and many apartment complexes on the old Hynes and Clearwater farm land.
Start With the Symptom
Is the Paramount hearth acting up again?
Say when the trouble shows: lighting up, on windy nights, with the hood on, or the morning after. That account points us toward a sweep, a damper, a cap or a pressure problem before we arrive.