Chimney Services in Middletown, NY
Our chimney services start with sweeping, which is what most homes need on a schedule. Everything else here follows from what a sweep or an inspection finds.
Sweeping is the service, the rest is what it uncovers
Most of our calendar in Middletown is chimney sweeping. It is the one job a working fireplace or wood stove needs again and again. It is also the job that reveals everything else. With the flue open, a light on it and a brush running the full length, we see more of the system in an hour than a homeowner sees in ten years.
So the other four services here are not a menu of unrelated products. They are what a sweep or an inspection turns up. A flue that needs a closer look. Mortar that has washed out. An open flue with no cap. A liner that has cracked. Each one starts with a specific finding on a specific chimney.
Not sure what you need?
Most people start with a sweep or an inspection and decide from there. Call and describe what is happening.
Chimney sweeping
The primary service, and where nearly every job starts.
Sweeping clears soot and creosote from the full length of the flue. It also removes whatever else has collected up there. Nesting material, leaves, fallen mortar, broken bits of tile. We seal the fireplace opening and run a vacuum the whole time, so the deposits end up in the machine instead of your room.
Creosote is why it matters. It is the tarry residue wood smoke leaves when it cools against a flue wall. It builds up every time you burn, and it is flammable. A flue coated in creosote can catch fire. A chimney fire burns hot enough to crack clay tiles and damage the masonry around them.
How often depends on how much you burn, not on the calendar. A wood stove used as main heat through a Middletown winter builds deposits far faster than a fireplace lit a few weekends a year. The usual guidance is a look every year, and a sweep once deposits reach about an eighth of an inch.
Read about the sweeping process in detail, including what happens at each stage of a visit and the signs that a chimney is due.
Supporting chimney services
Four services that follow from what sweeping and inspection turn up.
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Chimney Inspection
A closer look at the flue, the firebox and the visible exterior masonry to find out what condition the system is actually in before anything is recommended.
More about chimney inspection -
Chimney Repair
Repointing crumbling mortar joints, rebuilding spalled brick, patching cracked crowns and addressing the water paths behind most masonry damage.
More about chimney repair -
Chimney Cap Installation
A properly sized cap keeps rain, leaves, squirrels and nesting birds out of an open flue — the least expensive protection a chimney can have.
More about chimney cap installation -
Chimney Liner Installation
When clay tiles crack or an old flue no longer suits the appliance venting into it, a new liner restores a continuous, correctly sized path for exhaust.
More about chimney liner installation
How the services connect
A quick map of what usually leads to what.
- Heavy or glazed creosote found during a sweep
- Deposits that will not brush out point to how the appliance is being run and how the flue is sized. Often worth pairing with an inspection, and sometimes with a correctly sized liner, since an oversized flue is a common cause.
- Pieces of clay tile on the smoke shelf
- The liner is breaking up somewhere above. This calls for a camera scan during an inspection before deciding whether the flue needs relining.
- Water in the firebox, or a stain on the ceiling
- Something above is letting water in. Usually a cracked crown or open flue, which means crown repair and a cap, though flashing at the roof line is another common path.
- Mortar or brick fragments in the yard
- Freeze-thaw damage has reached the point of shedding material. Repointing or brick replacement, and the sooner the better, because open joints accelerate everything.
- A nest, or scratching sounds in the chimney
- The flue needs clearing during a sweep, then capping so it does not happen again next spring.
- Buying a house, or fitting a wood stove
- Both are moments where an inspection is the right first step, before you own the problem or before the appliance is ordered.
Not sure which service you need?
Describe what is happening with your fireplace or stove and we will tell you what the right first step is.
40 Mulberry St, Middletown 10940 · Serving Middletown and nearby Orange County communities.