Fireplace and chimney service in Douglas County

About 83 percent of Douglas County's homes were built in 1990 or later, and the median home dates to 2002, according to the Census Bureau's 2024 survey. Highlands Ranch's median is 1997, and Parker's and Lone Tree's are both 2004. Fewer than 1 percent of homes in those three places were built before 1960. That means very few brick chimneys and a great many factory-built fireplaces, most of them gas, with a metal flue running up inside a framed chase on the outside wall or through the roof.

Gas heats about 73 percent of Douglas County homes, and propane a little over 2 percent. Gas fireplaces are easy to live with, but they are not maintenance-free. Pilots and igniters fail, glass seals wear, and vents get blocked by nests and debris. At altitude they need the right setup to burn cleanly. The county is inside the state's winter no-burn area, though gas fireplaces are not restricted on Action Days.

Chase covers, caps and hail

NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory says the corner where Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming meet averages seven to nine hail days a year. On a factory-built chimney, the parts that take the damage are the sheet-metal chase cover and the cap. A dent lets water pool, the metal rusts, and water finds its way into the chase and the fireplace. A chase cover typically runs $300 to $700 and a cap $250 to $850. We photograph damage for your insurance adjuster.

A gas fireplace service at altitude

Gas appliances usually lose about 4 percent of their input for every 1,000 feet above 2,000 feet. A unit set up for sea level can burn with a lazy yellow flame, soot the glass and make more carbon monoxide. A yearly service typically runs $150 to $350, and repairs to the pilot, thermocouple or igniter $100 to $350.

Colorado requires a carbon monoxide alarm within 15 feet of every bedroom after permitted work such as replacing a gas appliance, and when a home with a fireplace or gas appliance is sold.