Serving Berkeley Homes: Chimney, Fireplace & Dryer Vent Service

Chimney services Berkeley homes can book

Homes in Berkeley can book the same chimney, fireplace and dryer vent work we do across the rest of our service area. That includes sweeping and creosote removal, camera inspections, crown and masonry repair, liners, caps and spark arrestors, wood-burning and gas fireplace repair, fireplace and insert installation, and dryer vent cleaning and rerouting.

Berkeley service pages

• Chimney repair in Berkeley covers cracked crowns, worn mortar joints, flashing leaks and damaged liners. Book it if you see water stains near the chimney, flaking brick or loose mortar.
• Chimney cap installation for homes in Berkeley covers new and replacement caps, animal screens and spark arrestor screens. Start here if your chimney has no cap, a rusted one, or needs a screen that meets the City's spark arrestor requirement.
• Fireplace cleaning in Berkeley covers the firebox, doors and glass. It is worth scheduling before the first fire of the season or when soot and smoke odor build up.

What Berkeley's rules mean for your chimney

Spark arrestors in fire hazard zones

Berkeley's Wildland-Urban Interface Code (BMC Chapter 19.49) requires chimneys serving fireplaces that burn solid or liquid fuel to have a spark arrestor of 12-gauge woven or welded wire screen with openings no larger than 1/2 inch. The requirement applies in Berkeley's High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, including the Panoramic and Grizzly Peak mitigation areas. Source: City of Berkeley, Ordinance 7,991-N.S., adopting the 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code as BMC Chapter 19.49 (Council item 41, Dec 2, 2025).

If your home is in one of those zones and you burn wood, look at the top of the chimney. A bare flue, or a cap whose screen is missing, torn or coarser than half an inch, does not match that requirement. During a chimney inspection we check the cap and screen. If the screen is missing, damaged or the wrong size, we can install a spark arrestor.

Branches within 10 feet of the chimney outlet

Within Berkeley's locally designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, the City's WUI Code requires owners to remove all branches within 10 feet of any chimney or stovepipe outlet. Source: City of Berkeley, Ordinance 7,991-N.S. (BMC Chapter 19.49), Council item 41, Dec 2, 2025.

The 10 feet is measured from the outlet, the top of the chimney or stovepipe, so check overhead branches as well as those beside the chimney. This clearance and a proper spark arrestor screen are separate requirements, and the screen does not replace the clearance.

Seismic transfer-tax rebate and chimneys

Berkeley's transfer-tax seismic rebate lists securing chimneys and stacks and removing unreinforced masonry chimneys as qualifying voluntary seismic work. A buyer can recover up to one-third of the City's base 1.5% transfer tax, and the City asks owners to confirm eligibility with Building & Safety before starting. Source: City of Berkeley, Transfer Tax Rebates for Seismic Work web page, supported by Building and Safety Form #145, "Transfer Tax Reductions for Qualifying Seismic Retrofit Work."

If you are buying a home with a masonry chimney, a real estate chimney inspection records the chimney's condition before you decide what work to plan. That gives you specifics to bring when you check eligibility with the City.