Chimney inspection and camera survey

Every repair we do starts here, and for many clients it is the only service they need. A proper inspection looks at far more than the visible brick. We examine the cap and crown from the roof, the condition and bond of the masonry, the mortar joints, the flashing at the roof intersection, the interior of each flue on video, the smoke chamber and smoke shelf, the damper, the firebox and the connection to whichever appliance the flue serves.

A Level 1 inspection suits a chimney in continued service with no change and no known problem: we check readily accessible parts and confirm the flue is clear of obstruction and sound in the areas we can see. A Level 2 adds a full video scan of the flue interior and inspection of accessible attic, basement and crawl space areas, and is the correct choice before a property sale, after a fuel conversion or appliance replacement, after a chimney fire, and after an earthquake, storm or impact. A Level 3 is reserved for cases where a serious hazard is suspected and confirming it requires removing part of the structure or an interior finish.

• Written report with dated photographs and video stills, delivered by email
• Clear separation between items that are hazardous, items that need attention this year, and items simply worth monitoring
• Suitable for insurers, buyers, sellers, boards and managing agents

Chimney sweeping and creosote removal

Burning wood deposits creosote, a tar-like residue that condenses on the flue wall as smoke cools. In its early stage it is a light, flaky soot that brushes away easily. Left to build, it hardens into a shiny glaze that is both far harder to remove and highly flammable — glazed creosote is what turns an ordinary fire into a chimney fire that can crack tiles and spread into the structure.

We sweep with rotary equipment and brush heads matched to the flue material, working under negative-air containment so the soot goes into a HEPA-filtered vacuum. Fireplace openings are sealed, floors and furnishings are covered, and we remove the debris when we leave. For glazed deposits we use rotary chain systems or approved chemical modifiers that convert the glaze into a removable form over a short period of continued use.

• Sweeping of fireplace flues, wood stove flues, pellet appliances, coal flues and oil flues
• Smoke chamber and smoke shelf cleaning, which most quick sweeps skip
• Post-sweep inspection so you know the condition beneath the soot, not just that it is gone

Chimney masonry repair and rebuilding

The section of a chimney above the roof takes weather from every side and has no heated building behind it to dry it out. That is why brick failure nearly always begins there. Water enters through a cracked crown or open joints, saturates the masonry, freezes, and pushes the face of the brick off in flakes — spalling. Once enough faces have gone, the wall loses thickness and the stack begins to lean.

Partial rebuilds take the chimney down to sound masonry and rebuild from there with matched brick and appropriate mortar. Full rebuilds above the roofline are common on older Brooklyn row houses where the top several courses have deteriorated together. Where the damage extends below the roofline, we open the surrounding roof area, repair, and reinstate the flashing and roofing properly rather than sealing over the intersection.

• Brick matched by colour, size and texture; salvaged brick used where a historic match matters
• Mortar specified to suit the age and hardness of the existing masonry
• Leaning, bulging and separated stacks assessed structurally before any cosmetic work
• Scaffolding, roof protection and sidewalk shedding arranged where required

Repointing and tuckpointing

Mortar is designed to be the sacrificial element in a wall. It weathers, it carries movement, and it is meant to be replaced periodically while the brick stays put. When joints are left too long they recede, water sits in the recess, and the damage transfers to the brick itself, which is expensive to reverse.

Proper repointing means cutting the failed mortar out to roughly two and a half times the joint width — deep enough for the new mortar to key in — and repacking it in layers, then tooling the joint profile to match the original. The common shortcut, smearing fresh mortar over a shallow surface, looks acceptable for a year and then falls out in sheets.

Mortar strength matters as much as depth. Soft nineteenth-century brick paired with a hard modern portland-rich mix will fail at the brick face, because the joint is now stronger than the unit around it. We select a mix appropriate to the existing masonry and, on historic buildings, match the colour and texture of the original.

Chimney crown repair and rebuilding

The crown is the slab across the top of the stack that surrounds the flue and sheds rain away from the brick. It is the single most important piece of waterproofing on a chimney and the most frequently built badly. A great many chimneys in Brooklyn have no true crown at all, just a sloped skim of mortar — a "mortar wash" — poured flush with the brick. Mortar wash cracks within a few years, water runs straight down into the masonry, and the whole stack begins the freeze-thaw cycle.

A correct crown is cast in reinforced concrete, slopes away from the flue tiles, overhangs the brick by an inch or more, and carries a drip edge on the underside so water falls clear of the wall. It includes a flexible expansion joint where it meets the flue liner, because the two materials move at different rates and a rigid junction cracks. Where a crown is sound but hairline-cracked, a flexible crown coating is often the cost-effective answer; where it is broken or was never a real crown, we remove and recast.

Chimney cap and damper installation

An open flue is an open pipe into your home. Caps keep out rain, snow, leaves and animals, and their mesh acts as a spark arrestor that stops embers landing on your roof or a neighbour's. On multi-flue stacks a single full-coverage cover protects the entire crown as well as the openings, which considerably extends the life of the masonry underneath.

We install stainless steel for longevity and value, and copper where appearance matters — copper weathers to the green patina you see on older Brooklyn rooftops and lasts for decades. Every cap is sized and secured for the flue it serves; wind uplift across an exposed roof will remove an undersized or poorly fixed cap in the first serious storm.

Dampers are the other half of the equation. A throat damper that no longer seats lets heated air escape all winter. A top-sealing damper mounts at the crown with a silicone gasket, closes the flue completely when the fireplace is not in use, and doubles as a cap. For homes that use a fireplace occasionally, it is usually the better investment.

Chimney liner installation and relining

The liner is the flue's working surface. It contains combustion products, protects the surrounding masonry and any adjacent framing from heat, and gives the exhaust a smooth, correctly sized path to the outside. When a liner is cracked, missing, badly sized or has open joints between clay tiles, the chimney is no longer doing its main job — and the failure is invisible from the ground.

We install UL-listed stainless steel liner systems in both rigid and flexible form, insulated where the installation requires it, complete with the manufacturer's connectors, top plate and termination. Sizing is done for the appliance being vented: an oversized flue lets exhaust cool and condense, an undersized one restricts draft, and both cause problems that no amount of masonry repair will fix.

Where a masonry flue cannot accept a stainless liner because of offsets or restricted space, cast-in-place systems form a new seamless flue inside the old one, reinforcing the structure at the same time. We will explain which approach suits your chimney and why, including the cases where relining is not necessary at all.

• Wood-burning fireplace and stove liners
• Gas boiler, furnace and water heater venting, including after oil-to-gas conversions
• Oil appliance flues
• Multi-flue stacks where each appliance needs its own dedicated path

Leak repair, flashing and waterproofing

Chimney leaks are the single most common reason people call us, and the water almost never enters where the stain appears. There are five usual entry points: the top of the flue where a cap is missing, a cracked or absent crown, porous or spalled brick, open mortar joints, and failed flashing at the roof intersection. Finding which one — often more than one — is the entire job.

Flashing is the most commonly botched detail in the city. Correct flashing is two layers: step flashing woven into the roofing course by course, and counter flashing cut into a mortar joint above it and mechanically fastened, so water is directed out and over. Tar or roof cement smeared into the gap is a temporary patch that hardens, cracks and fails, usually within two winters, and it has to be removed before a real repair can be made.

Once entry points are sealed, we apply a vapour-permeable masonry water repellent. The distinction matters: a film-forming sealer traps moisture inside the brick and accelerates spalling, while a breathable repellent keeps liquid water out and lets vapour escape. We never waterproof over unrepaired cracks — that seals the water in.

Fireplace and firebox restoration

Inside the house, the firebox takes direct flame and the smoke chamber shapes the transition from the fireplace opening into the flue. Firebrick cracks and joints erode, and gaps in the firebox let heat reach the masonry and framing behind it. We rebuild fireboxes in firebrick with refractory mortar, repair and parge smoke chambers so they form the smooth taper a good draft depends on, and correct throat and damper problems.

Many "my fireplace smokes" complaints turn out to be geometry rather than blockage: an opening too large for the flue area, a smoke chamber built with stepped corbels instead of a smooth slope, or a house so well sealed that the fire cannot draw air. Each has a specific fix, and we diagnose rather than guessing at a fan.

Draft correction and odour removal

A chimney works because warm exhaust is lighter than the outside air, and that pressure difference pulls smoke upward. When a flue is too short, too cold, obstructed, oversized, or competing with an extractor fan elsewhere in the house, the draft weakens or reverses. In multi-storey Brooklyn buildings, stack effect between floors adds another variable.

We diagnose with smoke testing and pressure observation, then correct the cause: clearing obstructions, resizing the flue with a liner, adjusting the fireplace opening, raising the termination height where a neighbouring parapet or an added roof deck is disrupting airflow, or fitting a draft-inducing termination where the structure genuinely cannot be altered. Summer soot odours usually resolve with a top-sealing damper plus thorough cleaning of the deposits producing the smell.

Animal removal and blockage clearing

Uncapped flues in Brooklyn regularly host pigeons, squirrels, raccoons and chimney swifts. Nesting material is a serious blockage risk — it obstructs exhaust from gas appliances, which is a carbon monoxide hazard, and it is highly combustible above a wood fire. We remove nests and debris, clear the flue, sweep it clean, and cap it so the problem does not recur. Where protected nesting birds are present, we advise on timing before any removal.

24/7 emergency chimney service

Some chimney problems cannot wait for an appointment window. We answer the phone around the clock for smoke entering living space, chimney fires, carbon monoxide alarms, storm or impact damage to a stack, collapsed masonry, and water pouring in during heavy rain. The first call is always about making the situation safe — usually shutting the appliance down, ventilating, and keeping people away from a compromised structure — and then getting a crew to you as quickly as conditions allow.

If you suspect carbon monoxide, leave the building first and call emergency services. Then call us, and we will inspect the venting before anything is put back into use.