Fireplace and Chimney Service in Littleton, Colorado

Littleton grew around Richard Sullivan Little, a New Hampshire engineer who came west to work on irrigation systems and settled here with his wife Angeline in 1862. The Rough and Ready Flour Mill followed in 1867, and in 1890, with 245 people, residents voted to incorporate. Littleton is now the county seat of Arapahoe County, and the 2020 census counted 45,652 residents. The city grew fast in the 1950s and 1960s as Denver spread south, and light rail reached its two stations, Littleton-Downtown and Littleton-Mineral, in 2000.

The housing still reflects that postwar boom. Census figures (ACS 2024) show about 17 percent of Littleton homes built from 1940 to 1959 and another 26 percent from 1960 to 1979, around a small older core downtown. Gas heats 69 percent of homes. Where a house from those decades has a fireplace, it is usually brick or stone with a clay-lined flue, now 45 to 85 years old. Newer parts of town have factory-built units. We check both kinds, from the roof and from inside, at no charge.

Arapaho Hills and Littleton's historic districts

Arapaho Hills, between South Lowell Boulevard and South Camargo Road north of Arrowhead Road, was platted in 1955. A 2009 survey for the city counts 56 modernist houses built there by Clyde Mannon and describes many of them as dominated by a massive chimney wall of pink rhyolite rubble, native red sandstone, brick or concrete block. The district was listed on the National Register in 2012. Littleton also has the Downtown Littleton Historic District, adopted in 2021, and the Louthan Heights district, 17 addresses on South Louthan Street.

The city says its preservation code protects designated properties from demolition and covers exterior alteration. If your house is a local landmark or in a local district, call the planning division (303-734-8076) before a rebuild or anything that changes how the chimney looks. We match stone and mortar where we can and give you photos and a written scope for the review. Repointing typically runs $500 to $2,500, and rebuilding the top few courses $1,000 to $3,500.

Old flues, new uses

A clay-lined flue from the 1950s can have cracked tiles or open joints after decades of heat and about 135 freeze-thaw days a year (NOAA 1991–2020 normals). That matters most when you want to add something: a wood insert, a gas insert, or a new furnace or water heater vented into the old chimney. A stainless liner typically runs $1,500 to $5,000, and a liner sized for a furnace or water heater $625 to $2,250. If a hidden problem is suspected, a camera scan is priced at the free inspection.

Burn days in Littleton

Littleton is inside the state's restricted area, so on an air-quality Action Day, November through March, an open wood fireplace can't be used. The state health department's FAQ allows one on those days only if it is fitted with gas logs, an EPA Phase III insert, an approved pellet insert or an electric device. Gas logs typically run $500 to $2,000, a gas insert $2,000 to $8,000, and a full wood-to-gas conversion $1,500 to $8,000.

Where we work in Littleton

Downtown Littleton · Louthan Heights · Arapaho Hills · Littleton Boulevard corridor · Sterne Park · Ridgewood · Littleton Village