Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Masonry repair
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 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.
Trusted Chimney Repair for Pomona Homeowners
Chimney repair in Pomona usually means one of five problems: a cracked crown, failed flashing, a deteriorating liner, a rusted-out cap, or spalling brick. Most jobs we diagnose run between $175 and $2,400 depending on what we find once we get eyes on it, and we’ll show you photo evidence before any work is approved. Len Castorena started Lantern Chimney Sweep to fix a gap he kept seeing in the field: sweep companies that cleaned your flue and left without telling you what was wrong with it. We do both, in one visit. If you’re seeing water stains near the fireplace, crumbling mortar on the chimney exterior, or a cap that’s more rust than metal, call us at (855) 341-8132 and we’ll give you a straight answer.
Chimney Cap Installation
Chimney Cap Installation is the process of fitting a new protective cover over the flue opening to keep water, animals, and debris from entering the chimney. You need it when your chimney has never had a cap, or when the existing cap is the wrong size for the flue. In Pomona, where Santa Ana winds can drive rain sideways and push nesting material into open flues, a properly sized cap matters more than in most climates. We install Gelco chimney caps because they’re built from heavier-gauge stainless steel and copper than the hardware-store versions, and they’re sized to your specific flue dimensions, not generic fit-most. Expect to pay between $225 and $650 for cap installation, including the cap itself and a proper mechanical fastening to the flue tile. It’s a job that takes about an hour, but we’ve seen carpenters and roofers charge more to do it wrong with a caulk gun.
Why Cap Fit Matters
A cap that’s too small restricts draft and makes smoke back up into the house on cold starts. A cap that’s too big leaves the flue exposed at the edges and lets water in around the perimeter. We measure the flue inner dimension and outside tile dimension before recommending anything.
What You’re Actually Paying For
The rough cost split on a cap install is about 60% material, 40% labor. With a Gelco cap, that material dollar buys 18-gauge stainless or 16-ounce copper, a screen that stays attached after years of heat and weather, and a lid profile that won’t wobble in high wind.
Styles & brands we work with
Chimney Cap Replacement
Chimney Cap Replacement swaps out a failed cap before it stops doing its job, usually because of rust-through on steel, dented or torn mesh, or a mounting system that’s worked loose. You’ll know it’s time when you see rust streaks on the chimney crown, hear a rattling in the wind, or find squirrel nesting material inside a fireplace that’s never been an animal problem. In Pomona’s coastal-influenced air, uncoated steel caps fail in four to seven years. We specify the same replacement caps we use for new installations, which means the replacement you buy from us won’t be a repeat problem in three seasons. Replacement typically runs $250 to $700, including removal of the old cap, inspection of the flue opening, and secure installation of the new one. If the cap is failed because it was the wrong size to begin with, we’ll tell you that plainly and fix the sizing at the same time.
When to Replace Versus Repair
A cap with a single torn seam can sometimes be patched, but once rust has penetrated the body or the mounting legs are weakened, patching is wasted money. We’ll show you the condition on camera before you commit to anything. If the cap is under five years old and already failing, we’ll look for what caused it, not just swap it out.
The Pomona-Specific Wear Pattern
We see more wind-driven cap failure in Pomona than in inland cities like Chino or Ontario, because the foothill gusts hit the cap at an angle that works on the fasteners. That’s why we install with mechanical fasteners designed for uplift, not just friction fit.
Chimney Liner Installation
Chimney Liner Installation places a new flue liner inside the existing chimney structure, either because the original clay tile liner has cracked, spalled, or separated, or because the appliance being vented has changed. If you’re seeing sand-like grit at the bottom of the fireplace, or if a camera inspection shows gaps between tile sections, that’s liner failure. We use DuraFlex flexible liner systems for most installations, a professional-grade aluminum or stainless product that’s the standard spec for restoration contractors, not the thin consumer product available off the shelf. A liner install in a Pomona home typically runs $1,200 to $2,400 depending on flue height, liner diameter, and whether insulation is required. The work includes removal of damaged tile sections where necessary, liner installation, a new top plate, and a proper termination cap. It’s a full-day job for a single-story fireplace, longer for two-story homes or steep roofs.
Why Liner Material Matters
A liner is the barrier between combustion gases and the combustible framing of your house. A cracked clay liner lets those gases reach brick and mortar, and from there, the wood structure. DuraFlex liners are continuous wall, no mortar joints, which eliminates the most common failure point in older clay tile systems.
HeatShield as an Alternative
When the damage is localized rather than extensive, we can sometimes restore the existing flue with HeatShield ceramic resurfacing instead of a full liner install. In Pomona’s older housing stock, especially 1950s and 60s ranch-style homes, we find tile liners that are cracked at just one or two points, and HeatShield can seal those without a full reline. It runs less than a liner install and preserves the original flue’s vintage look if that matters to you.
Chimney Flashing Repair
Chimney Flashing Repair seals the transition point where the chimney passes through the roof, and it’s the most common source of chimney leaks in Pomona homes. Flashing fails because the metal expands and contracts at a different rate than the masonry, or because a previous repair used roofing tar instead of proper step flashing, which cracks within a season or two. The telltale sign is a water stain on the ceiling near the fireplace or on the wall directly below the roofline, not necessarily a visible problem on the chimney itself. Flashing repair ranges from $350 to $800 depending on whether we’re replacing just the counter-flashing or the full step-and-counter system. We cut a proper reglet into the mortar joint and tuck the flashing into it, then seal with a professional-grade urethane, not silicone caulk. A correct flashing repair lasts 15 to 20 years; a caulked patch lasts until the next wind-driven rain.
What We Find Under the Old Flashing
About half of the flashing repairs we do in Pomona reveal rotted roof decking underneath, because the leak has been active longer than the homeowner realized. We work carefully with that in mind, document what we find, and coordinate the roof-side portion if it extends beyond the chimney’s footprint.
Material Choice for Pomona’s Weather
We specify copper or steel flashing depending on the existing roof material and the home’s age. Copper flashing on a 1920s Pomona bungalow is the right call aesthetically and structurally; steel works fine on newer homes with asphalt shingle roofs.
Chimney Crown Repair
Chimney Crown Repair restores the concrete or mortar slab that caps the masonry at the top of the chimney, the flat surface that seals the brick from water intrusion. That crown is the first thing to fail on most chimneys because it’s exposed to full sun and rain year-round, and over time it develops hairline cracks that widen with freeze-thaw cycles. In Pomona, the damage is more often sun-related than freeze-related, but the result is the same: water gets into the crown, into the brick, and eventually into your living room ceiling. Crown repair runs $450 to $950 for a standard residential chimney, depending on crown size and the extent of resurfacing required. We remove loose material, assess the expansion gap between the crown and flue, and apply a proper crown coat with a flexible, weatherproof sealant that can span minor cracks. A crown that’s more than 50% deteriorated typically needs a full re-cast instead of a resurface, and we’ll tell you which category yours falls into.
Why Caulk Isn’t a Crown Fix
A lot of handymen approaches to crown repair involve filling cracks with roofing caulk or patching compound. Caulk can’t span the thermal movement of a concrete slab, so the cracks reopen within months. What we use is a crown-specific sealant that remains flexible through Pomona’s 40-degree winter-to-summer temperature swings.
What Happens If You Wait
A cracked crown lets water into the top courses of brick, and in Pomona’s clay brick homes, that leads to spalling, which is the face of the brick popping off in chunks. Crown repair is a $500 to $1,000 job; masonry repair after years of neglect is a $2,000 to $4,000 job. That’s the math we lay out for customers, no pressure needed.
Chimney Repair Companies
Chimney Repair Companies in Pomona fall into three rough buckets: roofing companies that work on chimneys from the top but don’t know the flue, sweep companies that know the flue but don’t do structural repair, and full-service chimney contractors that do both. Most of the repairs we’re called in to redo were performed by one of the first two. Lantern Chimney Sweep is in the third category, with full-service capability across sweeping, repair, and restoration handled by one crew, no subcontracting of critical work. When we sweep a chimney, we’re already looking at the liner, the crown, the cap, and the flashing, so repair recommendations come from direct observation, not from a script. That’s the difference. You can expect a diagnostic visit from us to run $175 to $250, which is credited toward repair work if you proceed with us. And because Len Castorena runs the crew directly, every quote carries his name and his phone number behind it.
What Separates Us From the Others
We work exclusively with professional-supply brands, DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, and materials sourced through Olympia Chimney and Copperfield. Those are the same systems restoration contractors specify, not what’s available on a shelf at the big-box store. Most Pomona homeowners can’t see that difference on the invoice, but they’ll see it in six or seven years when the repair hasn’t failed.
How to Evaluate Any Repair Company
Ask whether they perform the repair with their own crew or subcontract it out. Ask what brand of liner or cap they’re quoting, not just the price. And ask for camera images of the problem. A repair company that can’t show you what they’re fixing is working from assumption, not observation.
Chimney Masonry Repair
Chimney Masonry Repair addresses the damage that happens to brick and mortar when water has been getting in for years: spalling brick, eroded mortar joints, and, in the worst cases, structural movement of the chimney itself. In Pomona, we see widespread masonry issues in the historic neighborhoods, Craftsman bungalows with original brick that’s now 70 to 100 years old, and in 1950s ranches where the mortar was mixed softer than modern standards. Masonry repair on a chimney typically runs $800 to $2,500 depending on the number of bricks replaced, the extent of repointing, and how much of the chimney requires scaffold or roof access. We do brick replacement, tuckpointing, and crown reconstruction, and we’ll tell you honestly when a chimney has moved beyond repair and into rebuild territory, which we do not subcontract and will not pretend is a patch job.
Tuckpointing Versus Full Repair
If the bricks are solid but the mortar is crumbling, we do tuckpointing: grinding out the old joints to a proper depth and packing in new mortar that matches the original in color and composition, not just a caulk line smeared over the top. In Pomona’s older brick, matching the mortar color takes a practiced eye, and Len’s been doing it long enough that the repair disappears after a rain or two.
When Masonry Damage Signals a Bigger Liner Problem
Sometimes what looks like a masonry problem is actually a liner problem presenting through the brick. If flue gases have been leaking through tile cracks, they can condense inside the brick and accelerate deterioration from the inside out. When we see masonry damage in an older Pomona home, we always run a camera up the flue to check the liner before recommending a masonry-only repair.
Brands We Service
Have a fireplace or flue built with DuraFlex components? We install and repair DuraFlex liner systems regularly, and we keep the proper connectors and terminations on hand for standard residential flue sizes. DuraFlex is our default spec for liner work because it’s what we’d want in our own homes, continuous-wall construction, no joints to fail, and it’s covered by a manufacturer warranty we can stand behind.
Our caps and covers come from Gelco, a manufacturer-grade brand that builds to trade spec, not retail price point. And HeatShield is our solution for flues that don’t need a full reline but do need surface restoration. We’re also set up through Olympia Chimney and Copperfield supply networks, which means we can source repair components the public can’t walk into a store and buy. Whether you have a fireplace with components from any of these brands or a chimney that was built before brand names mattered, we can help.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterSigns You Need a Pro Right Now
- Water stains on the ceiling or wall near the fireplace. This is almost always flashing or crown-related, and the leak has been active long enough to soak through the roof deck or masonry. Call before the drywall gives way.
- Crumbling or flaking brick on the chimney exterior. Spalling brick is a sign of water damage that’s been compounding for years, and it will not stop on its own. Each piece that falls off weakens the chimney’s structure.
- Grit or sand at the bottom of the fireplace after a fire. This is clay tile liner deterioration, and it means combustion gases are no longer fully contained within the flue. A camera inspection will confirm the extent.
- A cap that’s rusted through or missing entirely. An open flue is an invitation to animals, debris, and water. Once the cap fails, everything below it starts deteriorating faster.
- Bad smells or smoke backing into the room. If draft has changed recently, something has shifted inside the flue, a cracked liner, a collapsed tile, or a restriction. This is a combustion safety issue, not an inconvenience.
Our Process, Step by Step
- 1
Inspect and document. We start with a full chimney inspection, including a camera run through the flue. You’ll see live images of what we’re seeing, and we’ll walk you through what’s normal, what’s not, and what can wait.
- 2
Diagnose and explain. Len Castorena will tell you what the actual problem is in plain language, including whether it’s urgent or can be scheduled. No jargon, no assumptions, and no repair you can’t see evidence of.
- 3
Propose the right repair, not the most expensive one. We quote the fix that matches the findings: a HeatShield resurface when the liner is salvageable, a full reline when it’s not. You’ll get a flat-price quote before work begins.
- 4
Do the work with the right materials. We use the materials we already talked about, DuraFlex for liners, Gelco for caps, professional-grade mortar and crown sealants. No substitutions, no hardware-store shortcuts.
- 5
Document the finished job. After the repair, we run the camera again and show you the result, before and after images you keep. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to, and it’s the thing that keeps our reputation in Pomona word-of-mouth strong.
How Much Does Chimney Repair Cost in Pomona?
A typical chimney repair in Pomona runs $175 on the low end for minor crown patching or a simple cap fix, up to $2,400 or more for a full liner replacement or extensive masonry work. Here’s the breakdown by common scenario: chimney cap installation or replacement runs $225 to $700, flashing repair runs $350 to $800, crown repair runs $450 to $950, liner installation runs $1,200 to $2,400, and masonry repair falls between $800 and $2,500 depending on scope. Several factors move these numbers: the height of your roof and access difficulty, whether the chimney is on an exterior wall or runs through the center of the house, the age of the existing materials, and whether the damage is isolated or widespread. The best way to avoid overpaying is to insist on camera documentation of the problem before approving a quote. That’s standard practice with us. We’ll do a full diagnostic inspection for $175 to $250, show you the images, and if you proceed with the repair, that inspection fee is credited back to the job. Estimates are free for anything we can see from the ground or the attic; the diagnostic visit covers what we can’t see without getting on the roof and into the flue.
Our Service Area Near Pomona
Lantern Chimney Sweep serves Pomona and the surrounding San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire communities, including La Verne, Claremont, Montclair, Chino, Ontario, Los Serranos, Upland, Walnut, Covina, Glendora, and San Antonio Heights. Most chimney repair jobs in Pomona can be scheduled within a week of inspection, and we batch our route so that nearby cities get efficient service without a travel surcharge. If you’re in Claremont and need Chimney Repair in Claremont, or over in La Verne, we’ll work you into the same weekly schedule. And if you’re reading this from Pomona proper, you’re already in our core service area. For the full picture of what we do and where, start back at the home page.
Serving Pomona, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Pomona area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
Frequently Asked Questions About Chimney Repair in Pomona
Chimney repair is the process of fixing structural, waterproofing, or venting problems in a chimney system: the cap, crown, flashing, liner, or masonry. In Pomona, the most common repairs we perform are crown resurfacing and flashing replacement because our climate and wind patterns accelerate those two failure points. A proper repair restores the chimney to safe, functional condition and stops water damage from compounding.
Most chimney repairs in Pomona are completed in a single visit of two to six hours, depending on the scope. A cap replacement is about an hour of on-site work, flashing repair takes two to three hours, and a full liner installation can take the better part of a day. Masonry work sometimes requires multiple visits if mortar needs to cure between stages.
Chimney repair in Pomona runs $175 to $2,400 for most residential jobs, with the price driven by what’s actually wrong. Cap work is the least expensive at $225 to $700, and liner installation is the most at $1,200 to $2,400. We quote flat-price repairs after a camera inspection, so you know the total before any work starts. Call (855) 341-8132 for an exact quote, estimates are free.
Yes, we install and repair DuraFlex liner systems and Gelco caps on a regular basis, and we keep compatible components in stock for common residential sizes. If you have a chimney with components from these brands, we can service it without a special-order delay. If you have a different brand, we’ll assess compatibility and recommend accordingly.
If you have an active leak during a rainstorm or a chimney fire, we’ll prioritize your call and get out as quickly as the schedule allows. We don’t run a 24/7 emergency line, but we do hold same-week slots for urgent chimney safety issues. Call (855) 341-8132 and tell us what’s happening, and we’ll tell you honestly whether it can wait.
Every repair we perform carries a workmanship warranty, and the materials we use, DuraFlex, Gelco, HeatShield, all carry their own manufacturer warranties that we register on your behalf. The length of coverage depends on the specific repair and material, and we’ll put it in writing on your invoice. If something we fixed fails because of our work, we’ll make it right.
There’s not much to do on your end: clear the area around the fireplace so we can work inside, and make sure we can access the roof from at least one side of the house. If you have pets, securing them during the visit helps us work faster, especially if we’re going in and out through the house. We’ll handle the rest, drop cloths, ladder setup, and cleanup included.
Schedule Your Chimney Repair Service in Pomona Today
If something in your chimney doesn’t look right, or if it’s been more than a year since anyone inspected it, now’s the time to get it looked at before the rainy season adds more damage to the pile. Call Lantern Chimney Sweep at (855) 341-8132 and we’ll set up a diagnostic inspection with a straight answer at the end of it. No pressure, no upsell, no repair you can’t see evidence for. That’s how Len Castorena runs every job in Pomona.
Chimney Repair in Pomona is our core service, and we treat every house like it’s the only one that matters today.
Written by Len Castorena, Owner at Lantern Chimney Sweep, serving Pomona and the surrounding communities.