Skip to content

Mahoning County, Ohio

Chimney Services in Boardman, OH

Postwar ranches, splits and colonials with sound but hastily proportioned builder fireplaces — openings oversized for their flues, throat dampers that no longer fully open, and later changes to the opening that made it worse.

Call216-647-1882Get a free estimate

Boardman is the postwar half of the Mahoning Valley: ranches, split-levels and colonials built through the 1950s, 60s and 70s in the neighborhoods spreading off Market Street, on generous lots, by builders working at volume. The chimneys are of their era — sound masonry, single or double flue, nothing elaborate — and their condition is usually reasonable.

The complaint we get here is different from anywhere else on the list. It is rarely a leak and rarely a crumbling stack. It is that the fireplace has never drawn properly. Not since the current owners bought the house, and in a fair number of cases not since it was built.

There is a reason for that, and it is a design one. An open fireplace only works if the flue is correctly proportioned to the opening it serves — roughly a tenth of the opening's area for a round flue, closer to an eighth for a rectangular one, along with adequate flue height and the right firebox geometry. Builders working at speed in this era got that ratio wrong often enough that it is a recognizable regional pattern, and no amount of sweeping fixes an opening that is simply too big for its chimney.

What goes wrong with chimneys in Boardman

A fireplace opening too large for its flue

When the opening's area is too great relative to the flue, the chimney physically cannot move the volume of air the opening demands, and the surplus spills into the room as smoke. It happens on every fire, it is worse at startup and in mild weather, and it has nothing to do with how clean the flue is. The good news is that it is correctable without touching the chimney: reducing the opening height with a properly sized smoke guard, or raising the hearth, restores the ratio. We measure the opening and the flue before recommending anything, because the fix depends on how far out the proportions actually are.

Dampers that never fully open

The throat damper in a mid-century fireplace is a hinged plate, and when it opens it swings up into the throat — where, on many builder installations, it becomes a permanent obstruction in the middle of the smoke path even at its fullest travel. Add sixty years of corrosion, warping and creosote on the pivot and a lot of these plates now open perhaps two-thirds of the way and stop. That alone can be the difference between a fireplace that works and one that puffs. Sometimes the fix is freeing and re-seating the original; sometimes it is removing the throat damper entirely and fitting a top-sealing damper at the flue's crown, which also seals far better against heat loss when the fireplace is idle.

Glass doors and hearth changes that shift the numbers

Anything that alters the opening alters the ratio, and glass doors are the most common example. Fitted and operated correctly they help, because closing them down reduces the effective opening; fitted to a fireplace that was already marginal and then left wide open, they add a frame that restricts the opening's top edge while doing nothing for the draft. The same applies to a raised hearth added in a remodel, a new surround that changed the opening dimensions, or a heat-circulating insert put in and later removed. If your fireplace worked and then stopped, the question to answer first is what changed at the opening.

What we do here

Every chimney service we cover in Boardman

One crew for the whole system, so the diagnosis and the repair come from the same people. The pages marked for Boardmango into what this suburb’s housing stock does to that particular job; the rest cover the work across our whole service area.

Not sure which of these you need? That is what an inspection is for — or see how the whole chimney fits together and the way we work.

Working with us

What every Boardman job comes with

Evidence, not assertions

Photographs of every finding before you decide anything — including the parts of your chimney you have never seen.

Free estimates on repair work

Honest triage on what we find: urgent, plan-for, or fine.

One crew, whole system

One crew for the whole chimney — sweep, inspection, masonry, liner, crown, cap and flashing, with one person responsible for all of it.

Our work

The work Boardman chimneys usually need

Service area

Boardman is inside our service area

LAKE ERIECleveland HeightsBoardman

36 communities across Northeast Ohio · based in Cleveland Heights

FAQ

Boardman chimney questions

Our fireplace has smoked since the day we moved in. Is the chimney dirty?

It may be, but a fireplace that has never worked properly is usually describing a proportion problem rather than a maintenance one. If the opening is too large for the flue serving it, the chimney cannot move the air the opening demands and the surplus comes into the room. That is a measurement we take on the first visit, and it changes the whole direction of the fix.

What is a smoke guard and will it look bad?

It is a metal panel that reduces the height of the fireplace opening to bring it back into proportion with the flue. Sized correctly it is a modest band across the top of the opening, in a finish chosen to suit the surround, and most people stop noticing it within a week. It is far less intrusive and far less expensive than rebuilding a firebox or extending a chimney, which are the alternatives.

Should we replace the damper or add one at the top?

It depends on what the existing one is doing. If the original plate is simply stiff and dirty, freeing and re-seating it may be enough. If it is warped, corroded or obstructing the throat even when fully open — which is common at this age — removing it and fitting a top-sealing damper at the top of the flue usually gives better draft when the fireplace is in use and a much better seal when it is not.

We added glass doors and now it draws worse. Why?

Because doors change the opening, and the opening is half of the draft equation. On a fireplace that was already marginal, a door frame can restrict the top of the opening without improving anything else, and leaving the doors wide open during a fire removes the benefit they are meant to provide. Measuring the opening as it now stands, with the doors in place, is the way to sort out what is actually happening.

Free estimate

Chimney trouble in Boardman?

Tell us what you're seeing and we'll call or text back to schedule a look — with photos of what we find and an honest read on what's urgent and what can wait.

Call and tell us what the chimney's doing — if we're up on a roof, we'll call you back. You can also reach us on the contact page, or look through the other communities we serve if you are calling about a second property.

Call216-647-1882

No spam, no obligation — we call or text back to schedule a look.