Before & After Gallery - Top Hat Chimney

Chimney Cleaning Before & After in Framingham, MA

We can tell you we do careful work, but that’s just talk. The photos below show what actually comes out of a Framingham chimney and what it looks like when Wendell’s crew is finished. No stock images, no staged shots. These are the jobs we see every week from Saxonville to Nobscot, and they’re why a camera goes up every flue before we call the work done.

Call (781) 390-9211

Recent Transformations

Glazed Creosote Removal on a Wood Stove Flue

The homeowner had been burning unseasoned cordwood and hadn’t swept in four years. What started as first-degree creosote had baked into a hard, shiny glaze, the kind that doesn’t come off with a brush. Wendell’s crew ran rotary rods with a chain head through the full length of the flue, broke the glaze down to bare liner, then swept the debris out from the cleanout. The after photo shows a flue that actually drafts again, which the stove was not doing before we arrived.

Animal Nest Extraction from a Fireplace Chimney

Every spring, starlings and sparrows find their way into uncapped chimneys around Framingham, and this one was packed from the smoke shelf to the cap. The draft was dead, so the fireplace filled the house with smoke on the first cold evening. We removed five gallons of nesting material, swept the flue, installed a screened cap, and the very next fire drew clean up the full run. The after photo doesn’t look dramatic until you realize the black void at the top of the chimney is open air.

Restoring a Fireplace Damaged by Overnight Fires

Your flue doesn’t care how the fire looks. It cares how it breathes. This Framingham fireplace was backing smoke into the living room because the damper was warped and the flue hadn’t been swept in years. We replaced the damper, swept the flue with wire brushes, and cleaned the firebox with masonry-specific cleaners that don’t leave chemical residue. The result is a fireplace that burns where it should and sends the smoke where it belongs.

Heavy Soot Buildup in an Oil Furnace Flue

Oil-fired furnaces produce a fine, sticky soot that clings to the flue walls and quietly chokes the draft all winter. This one had gone five heating seasons without a cleaning, and the boiler was short-cycling because it couldn’t exhaust properly. We swept the full length of the flue, removed three inches of soot from the base, and checked the cleanout for the homeowner. Once a year, burn or no burn, because chimneys break in the off-season too.

Chimney Cap Replacement After Storm Damage

A Framingham homeowner noticed water staining near the fireplace after a nasty early-spring storm. The cap was bent out of shape, and rust had started eating through the mesh. Water was running straight down the flue. Wendell removed the old cap, inspected the flue tile below for freeze damage, and installed a new stainless unit from Famco with proper screening. The crown got a fresh coating of sealant before the cap went on. This is the kind of repair that costs a few hundred dollars and prevents a few thousand.

Chimney Liner Repair for a Crumbling Clay Tile Flue

Clay tiles crack in New England because freeze-thaw cycles get into the mortar joints and push them apart. This Framingham flue had multiple fractured tiles and was no longer safe to burn. We resurfaced the interior with HeatShield, filling and sealing every gap so the flue was sound again. The camera footage showed the difference, and we gave the homeowner the before and after recordings on the spot. No guesswork, no upselling.

Want Results Like These?

Every one of these jobs starts the same way: a call to (781) 390-9211, a real person on the line, and a sweep who shows up on time with a camera and a brush. You’ll get the camera footage and a plain-English verdict, every time. If we find nothing wrong, we say so. Call us before burning season gets here, because the good slots fill up fast.

Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Framingham and surrounding communities since 1999.