What should I check on the fireplace when buying a house in the Phoenix area?

Phoenix Fireplace & Chimney · November 8, 2026

The clock you are working against

The Arizona Association of REALTORS residential resale contract sets the buyer's inspection period at 10 days after contract acceptance unless the parties write in a different number. Your BINSR, the Buyer's Inspection Notice and Seller's Response, has to be delivered within that period. The seller then has 5 days to respond.

Ten days goes quickly once a general home inspection, an HVAC check and a termite report are on the calendar. A fireplace report that arrives on day nine leaves no time to get prices. Book it in the first few days. We work Sunday to Friday in 3-hour windows and call to confirm the visit.

Step one: know what kind of fireplace you are buying

The listing may say wood-burning fireplace, but the build year tells you more. Under A.R.S. 9-500.16, homes built in Valley cities after 1998 could only get gas or electric log fireplaces or EPA-certified units. A 2006 house in Goodyear or Surprise with a fireplace almost certainly has a factory-built box with gas logs, and in Phoenix the code says such a unit shall not be altered to burn wood.

An older house is different. Census ACS data shows median build years of 1985 in Phoenix, 1984 in Tempe and 1973 in Sun City, so a masonry wood fireplace with a damper is common there. Some of those have since been converted to gas, some properly and some not.

What to check inside the window

A general home inspector usually looks at what is visible and may note that the fireplace was not operated. These are the items worth covering on top of that:

• Light a gas unit. Confirm the pilot holds, the burner lights evenly and the flame is not sooty.
• Look for soot on the face, the glass or the ceiling above, which can mean a log set out of adjustment or venting trouble.
• Check the top: the cap on the flue, the chase cover on a stucco chimney, or the crown on a brick one. Rust streaks on stucco are a warning sign.
• Go into the attic where the chimney passes through and look for water stains on the framing and decking.
• On a wood fireplace, open and close the damper and look at the firebox walls and the flue.
• Find the gas shutoff for the fireplace, and confirm there is a working CO alarm. Phoenix's adopted residential code requires CO alarms in new homes and permitted remodels; we recommend one in any home with a gas fireplace.
• If the home is in a master-planned community with an outdoor fireplace or pit, check the HOA's architectural guidelines for fire-feature rules.

Turning findings into a BINSR request

Written findings with photos make a BINSR request concrete. Instead of asking the seller to fix the fireplace, you can ask for a specific repair or a credit tied to a published range. For example, Fixr lists chase cover replacement at $300 to $700 and refractory panels at $100 to $300 per panel, and HomeGuide puts a chimney cap at $200 to $850.

Sellers fill out the Arizona SPDS, the seller property disclosure statement, which asks about known problems with the property. A written report helps you compare what was disclosed with what you found.

What our home-sale inspection includes

The visit is free for buyers and sellers. We inspect from the firebox to the top of the chimney, light any gas unit, photograph what we find and send written findings you can hand to your agent. If something points to a hidden problem inside the flue, such as staining that suggests a leak, a camera scan is priced at the inspection.