Chimney sweep in Los Angeles, CA

Updated September 28, 2026 · Every figure checked twice against its source · How we verify

A chimney sweep in Los Angeles costs about $150 to $375 for a masonry chimney with a wood-burning fireplace and $80 to $150 for a gas fireplace, going by HomeGuide's national price survey; no survey publishes Los Angeles-only prices, so compare two written quotes against those ranges. The NFPA says to have chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional. Use the form below and we send your request to a chimney company that serves your Los Angeles ZIP code.

Chimney sweep Los Angeles: the local facts

Housing: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates for Los Angeles city, California. Climate: NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals, Los Angeles Downtown (USC) station. Fire figures: our analysis of FEMA NFIRS records for California, 2020 to 2024.
	Los Angeles, CA
Population	3,857,263
Homes built in 1939 or earlier	19.1%
Median year homes were built	1965
Single-family detached homes	36.1%
Nights at or below freezing, per year	0
Average temperature, December to February	58.4°F
Chimney fires, share of residential fires, California	2.9%
California chimney fires in December to February	52%

Los Angeles homes and their chimneys

19.1% of Los Angeles's homes were built in 1939 or earlier, and half were built in 1965 or earlier. HomeGuide lists lining old and unlined brick chimneys among the most common uses of a stainless steel liner, and says clay flue tiles were traditionally used in older homes. HomeGuide's chimney repair price table puts liner replacement at $1,500 to $7,000, so in an older Los Angeles house, ask for the liner to be checked on camera during the inspection.

Los Angeles winters and your chimney

NOAA's normals for Los Angeles record no nights a year at or below freezing, and a December to February average of 58.4°F (NOAA normals, Los Angeles Downtown (USC) station). A chimney used only on cold nights still needs the yearly check: the NFPA says to have chimneys cleaned and inspected every year, and CSIA says creosote that builds up enough can catch fire when the flue gets hot enough.

Chimney fires in California

Chimney fires confined to the chimney or flue made up 2.9% of residential structure fires in California fire department records for 2020 to 2024, below the national 3.4%. 52% of California's chimney fires happened in December, January and February, a smaller winter share than the national 57.4%. State-by-state figures: chimney-fires-by-state.csv.

Local rules and resources in Los Angeles

South Coast AQMD Rule 445 applies in the South Coast Air Basin, which the rule defines as the non-desert portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and all of Orange County. From November through February, on a day the district declares a no-burn day for areas below 3,000 feet, the rule bars using an indoor or outdoor wood-burning device, with exemptions that include homes where wood is the sole source of heat and properties with no natural gas service within 150 feet; the district's Check Before You Burn page calls a no-burn day a 24-hour ban on wood-burning in residential fireplaces, stoves or outdoor fire pits.

Planning a new fireplace? Rule 445 bars permanently installing any wood-burning device in new development, meaning construction that began on or after March 9, 2009, with exemptions for properties with no natural gas service within 150 feet, sites at or above 3,000 feet, and devices replacing one at a property damaged in a declared natural disaster. It also limits permanently installed fireplace devices that are sold or installed to EPA certified wood-burning heaters, pellet-fueled heaters, masonry heaters and dedicated gaseous-fueled fireplaces, with exemptions such as devices included in the sale of an existing home and registered historical sites.

For earthquake-damaged masonry chimneys, the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety's permit site says a chimney may be repaired with the same masonry construction, with a permit but no plan check, when the repair costs less than 10% of replacing the whole chimney and the damage is limited to the upper half of the part above the roofline or the upper 2 feet, whichever is less.

Chimney cleaning, inspection and repair in Los Angeles

A yearly Level 1 inspection costs $100 to $250 with a basic cleaning, according to HomeGuide, and a Level 2 inspection, which adds a video inspection, costs $250 to $600; HomeGuide recommends Level 2 when buying a home with a chimney. Common repairs such as a cap replacement or crown repair cost $200 to $850. Ask whether the sweep is CSIA certified. Details: chimney sweep cost, chimney inspection and chimney repair.

Other cities we cover

Sources

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates, tables B01003, B25024, B25034, B25035: data.census.gov
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991 to 2020: www.ncei.noaa.gov
NFPA, Heating safety tip sheet: content.nfpa.org
Chimney Safety Institute of America, "Preventing Chimney Fires": www.csia.org
HomeGuide, chimney sweep cost, page dated February 9, 2026: homeguide.com
HomeGuide, chimney inspection cost, page dated February 9, 2026: homeguide.com
HomeGuide, chimney repair cost: homeguide.com
HomeGuide, chimney liner cost: homeguide.com
FEMA, OpenFEMA, NFIRS Annual Data, fire files 2020 to 2024, downloaded September 25, 2026: www.fema.gov
Vent & Flue analysis, chimney fires by state (CSV): chimney-fires-by-state.csv
South Coast AQMD, Rule 445, Wood-Burning Devices: www.aqmd.gov
South Coast AQMD, Check Before You Burn: www.aqmd.gov
LADBS, PermitLA, chimney repair: www.permitla.org

All sources read September 28, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).