Chimney and fireplace work in Roseville

Roseville incorporated as a village in 1948, after building in the 1930s and 1940s had outgrown the old Rose Township, which dated to 1858. Its population climbed from 6,437 in 1950 to 23,997 in 1960 and 34,438 by 1970. The 2024 American Community Survey reflects that boom: 29.2 percent of the city's 16,666 housing units were built from 1940 to 1959, only 3.6 percent before that, and the median home dates to 1969.

A rambler from that era usually has one brick chimney with two flues, one for the fireplace and one that once carried the furnace and water heater. Gas heats 74 percent of Roseville homes. When either flue is 60 or 70 years old, the questions are the same: is the liner intact, is the crown shedding water, and is anything still venting into it that shouldn't be.

Two flues, one rambler

Minnesota's fuel gas rules (Minn. R. 1346.5501) say no appliance may be connected to a flue that serves a fireplace, and that a masonry chimney venting gas needs an approved metal liner. An unlined or clay-tiled appliance flue is worth checking against that rule whenever the furnace or water heater changes. After a furnace upgrade that vents out the side wall, the remaining water heater often needs its own smaller liner; an aluminum gas liner typically runs $625 to $2,250.

The fireplace flue has its own wear. Decades of fires leave cracked tiles and a rough smoke chamber, and parging that smoke chamber typically costs $800 to $2,000+. Firebox repair runs $150 to $1,000.

Winter on the St. Paul campus side of the metro

The closest NOAA station sits on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus, a short drive south. Its 1991–2020 normals show about 152 nights a year at or below freezing and about 24 at or below zero, with heating demand near 8,000 degree days. That is a lot of freeze-thaw work on a crown poured in the 1950s, often flat and without a drip edge. Crown crack repair typically runs $200 to $700+, and a new sloped crown $1,000 to $3,000.