Chimney and Fireplace Service in Plymouth, Minnesota

Plymouth started in 1855 as a cluster of claims on the northwest shore of Parkers Lake and became a village only in 1955. It counted 81,026 people in the 2020 census, which makes it the seventh-largest city in Minnesota, and Wikipedia notes it has 863 cul-de-sacs. That layout tells you a lot about the houses: two-story and split-entry homes from the 1980s, '90s and 2000s, set on curving streets between Medicine Lake and the Wayzata school district line.

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2024 five-year figures) puts the median Plymouth home at 1988. Fewer than 6 percent of homes predate 1960, and about a quarter went up in 2000 or later. Utility gas heats about 82 percent of them. In practice that means we spend far more time here on chase tops, direct-vent gas fireplaces and pilot assemblies than on brick, though the older lake houses near Medicine Lake still have masonry stacks worth a look.

The chase cover on a Plymouth roof

A factory-built fireplace sends its exhaust up a metal pipe inside a wood-framed box clad in siding. The flat sheet-metal lid on top, the chase cover, is the only thing keeping snowmelt out of that box. Older galvanized lids rust, sag in the middle and hold a puddle, and the water finds the seam around the flue collar. Signs inside are a rust streak on the firebox panel, a damp smell or a stain on the drywall beside the chase.

A replacement chase cover with a crossbroken or sloped top typically runs $300 to $700. Repairs to the factory-built chimney itself, such as a damaged section of pipe or a cracked firebox panel, usually fall between $250 and $1,200. We photograph the top and the inside of the chase so you can see what we saw.

Gas fireplaces that stop lighting

When a Plymouth gas fireplace clicks but won't catch, or lights and drops out after a minute, the cause is usually a worn igniter, a sooted pilot or a weak thermocouple or thermopile. Typical part prices: igniter $90 to $150, pilot assembly $100 to $350, thermocouple $150 to $350, thermopile or gas valve $150 to $300. We clean the pilot and burner, check the glass gasket and look at the vent termination on the outside wall at the same visit.

If you ever smell gas near the unit, leave the house, then call 911 and your gas utility from outside. Do not try to relight it first.

Cold nights and permits next door

The NOAA station at the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen, a short drive southwest, averages about 156 nights a year at or below freezing and 27 nights at or below zero (1991–2020 normals). Snow drifts against the uphill side of a chase and sits there for weeks, which is why a lid with no slope causes so much trouble here.

Neighboring Brooklyn Park lists chimney and chimney liner work, gas fireplaces and wood stoves among the jobs that need a mechanical permit. We check what Plymouth requires before scheduling and tell you what applies to your job.

Where we work in Plymouth

Medicine Lake · Parkers Lake · East Medicine Lake Boulevard · Wayzata school district side · Highway 55 corridor · Along I-494