Before & After Gallery - Top Hat Chimney

Chimney Cleaning Before & After in Natick, MA

Photos don’t need a sales pitch. When you can see a flue caked in third-degree glazing turn back to clean masonry, the difference stops being something you take on faith. Below are real jobs from around Natick, Wellesley, and the surrounding area. The camera footage is the same thing Wendell reviews with you before any recommendation leaves his mouth. What you see here is what a thorough sweep actually looks like.

Call (781) 378-5846

Recent Transformations

First-Degree Creosote in a Cottage Street Fireplace

The homeowner off Framingham Road called because smoke was drifting back into the living room on cold starts. We found the flue lined with dry, flaky creosote built up over two seasons of green wood fires. The brush run took most of it, the HEPA vacuum handled the dust, and the draft reversed within the hour. No liner work needed. The camera footage showed clean masonry from cap to smoke shelf. Wendell told them to switch to seasoned cordwood and call again next fall, burn or no burn.

Third-Degree Glaze in a 1970s Masonry Chimney

Near the Natick Mall, we pulled a stove insert out of a 1970s fireplace and found walls that looked like they’d been sprayed with roofing tar. Third-degree creosote doesn’t brush out. It hardens. We used mechanical rotary rods and a chemical glaze breaker, working top-down in sections until the masonry showed its original texture again. The whole job ran just under four hours. This is the one where the homeowner said the “before” footage looked like a different house from the “after.” Third-degree is a glaze. Catch it at first-degree and you’re paying for a brush job instead of a rescue.

Animal Nest in a South Natick Chimney

South Natick, off Eliot Street, and the fireplace smelled like a wet barn every time the wind shifted. The scope showed a squirrel had built a midden about six feet down the flue, complete with seeds, twigs, and a lot of unpleasantness. We fished it out, swept the flue down to clean clay, and mounted a new Olympia cap with proper screening. The smell disappeared the same week. The homeowner had no idea how close they were to lighting a fire under that thing. Now the cap does the guarding.

Smoke-Shelf Blockage in a Ranch on the West Side

West Natick ranch house. The complaint was a lazy draft and a faint campfire odor in the den. Inspection showed the smoke shelf, the ledge just above the firebox, was packed with crumbled brick and ash from years of ignored cleanings. That shelf is where debris settles and smoke stalls. We cleared it by hand, vacuumed the shelf flat, and verified the throat damper was still opening fully. The draft picked up immediately. Small fix, big difference. The homeowner said they’d been living with the smell for three winters, assuming it was normal. It’s not.

Oil Furnace Flue Cleanout in a 1940s Cape

This one’s for the oil heat crowd. A 1940s Cape near the Natick Community Organic Farm had an oil furnace venting through the original masonry chimney. Sulfur deposits were narrowing the flue to about a third of its diameter. That’s a carbon monoxide risk, not a cosmetic problem. We swept the full run, then ran the camera to check for pitting and weak mortar. The flue was sound, so no liner was needed. Wendell marked it as annual-cleanup territory and told them plainly: every oil system should see a sweep each fall before the burner kicks on for the season.

Fireplace Revival in a Condo off Route 9

The condo had a gas-log fireplace that hadn’t been touched since the previous owner. The firebox was filled with years of dust, soot, and the previous owner’s tinfoil from some long-forgotten attempt at reflecting heat. We pulled the unit, cleaned the burner, cleared the vents, and swept the dedicated vent flue. No rebuild, no liner. Just a proper cleaning. The camera showed a clear run and the unit fired clean the first time. Sometimes the transformation is the simple kind.

Want Results Like These?

Every job above started with a phone call and a look at what was actually going on inside the chimney. No guesswork, no scare tactics. You’ll see the same before-and-after footage on your own flue, and Wendell will explain what matters and what can wait. Call (781) 378-5846 to schedule your sweep in Natick. Upfront pricing before a tool leaves the truck, and the 90-Day Done Right Promise on every job.

Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Natick since 1999.