Level 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterChimney Cleaning Before & After in Brentwood, NY
Photos don’t lie the way a sales pitch can. When Wendell and his crew finish a chimney cleaning in Brentwood, you see exactly what came out and what stayed behind. The before-and-after work below shows what 29 years of sweeping on Long Island actually looks like, from first-degree creosote to the kind of glaze that makes a chimney unsafe to burn.
Recent Transformations
Heavy Creosote Removal, Two-Story Colonial
The homeowner burned softwood all winter and hadn’t swept in four years. The flue was lined with first-degree creosote thick enough to peel in strips, and the smoke shelf held a full bucket’s worth of debris. Wendell’s crew brushed the full length, vacuumed out the firebox and smoke shelf, and ran the camera through to confirm nothing was left behind. Your flue doesn’t care how the fire looks. It cares how it breathes.
Third-Degree Glaze Breakup, Raised Ranch
Third-degree creosote is a glaze, not a powder. It forms when fires burn cool and the tar bakes onto the flue wall, and it takes more than a standard brush to break it up. Wendell used a rotary cleaning head to strip the glaze, then swept and vacuumed the entire system. First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze, catch it early.
Smoke Shelf and Firebox Dig-Out, Split-Level
The homeowner hadn’t used the fireplace in two seasons, but the chimney had become a storage unit for birds and every oak leaf that blew off the neighbor’s tree. Once a year, burn or no burn. Chimneys break in the off-season too. Wendell removed two full vacuum bags of debris, brushed the flue, and left the firebox clean enough to build a fire that same night.
Stage-One Cleaning Before Home Sale, Cape Cod
The seller wanted the chimney inspected and cleaned before closing. The flue had light stage-one creosote and a little surface soot, nothing structural. Wendell swept it, ran the camera, and handed over a plain-English report the buyer’s inspector accepted without a second look. The camera footage and a plain-English verdict, every time, no exceptions.
Neglected Fireplace, First Sweep in Fifteen Years
This one had everything: creosote layers from a decade and a half of fires, a damper rusted halfway open, and enough soot built up behind the lintel to fill a shoebox. Wendell’s crew brushed, scraped, vacuumed, and replaced nothing it didn’t need. Ask anyone on your street. A chimney that hasn’t been touched in fifteen years is not a mystery, it’s a pile of evidence.
Want Results Like These?
You don’t have to guess what’s inside your chimney. Wendell and his crew will show you the camera footage and tell you plainly what needs doing and what can wait. Call (934) 935-3847 for a free estimate, and if you already have a written quote from someone else, bring it in for a second opinion at no charge.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Brentwood since 1999.