Before & After Gallery - Top Hat Chimney

Chimney Cleaning Before & After in Norwood, MA

You can read about chimney sweeping all day, but seeing the actual difference is what makes people pick up the phone. The before photos below show what Wendell and his crew find when they arrive. The after photos show what a proper cleaning, done by someone who knows Norwood chimneys, actually looks like. No stock photos. No exaggeration. Just the work Top Hat Chimney has been doing around here since 1999.

Call (508) 687-5884

Recent Transformations

First-Degree Creosote Removal in a Norwood Center Colonial

The homeowner on Washington Street thought the fireplace was fine because it hadn’t been used much. But first-degree creosote was coating the flue, and first-degree creosote is a brush job when caught early. Wendell ran the sweep, showed the homeowner the camera footage, and sent them on their way with a clear bill of health. This one took under two hours, and the difference in the tile surface is exactly what a chimney in Norwood should look like before burning season.

Glazed Creosote in a Walpole-Framed Fireplace

Third-degree creosote in a fireplace that gets regular winter use is not unusual around Norwood, especially in older homes where the flue runs cooler than it should. This one had a hard, shiny glaze that a regular sweep would have just polished. Wendell used the mechanical removal process, took the walls back to solid, and then ran the camera to prove the glaze was gone. The homeowner had been told by another company they needed a new liner. They didn’t. The footage doesn’t lie.

Bird Nest and Debris Clearing in a Norwood Center Chimney

This chimney serves a wood stove in a Gambrel off Nahatan Street. The homeowner called because the stove wasn’t drawing, and the moment Wendell looked down from the roof, the answer was obvious: a nest had been built right below the cap. He cleared the debris, swept the flue, and suggested a proper cap with a screen to keep it from happening again. Once a year, burn or no burn; chimneys break in the off-season too.

Heavy Soot and Creosote in a Bargain-Oil Fireplace

A homeowner in South Norwood had been burning those three-hour bargain logs, which produce more soot than most people realize. The smoke chamber was black with it. Wendell swept the full system from firebox to cap, and the change in the chamber before and after is night and day. The conversation afterward was simple: burn seasoned wood, and schedule a sweep every year, not every five.

Damper Repair and Cleaning on a Converted 1920s Fireplace

This Norwood home was built in the 1920s, and the damper likely dated to the original fireplace. It had seized half-open, which is a problem for both draft and heat loss up the flue. Wendell and his crew pulled the old damper, installed a new top-sealing one, and swept the full system while they were there. The owner said the living room felt warmer the first night. A damper that doesn’t seat is a hole in your house, and now this one closes tight.

Chimney Cap Install After a Leak in a Split-Level

The split-level off Dean Street had a water stain on the ceiling, and the culprit was an uncapped flue. Rain had been running straight down, rusting the damper and soaking the firebox. Wendell swept the flue, cleaned out the rust, and installed a proper stainless cap sized for the tile. A chimney cap is one of the cheapest repairs you’ll ever make on a Norwood house, and it stops a hundred expensive problems before they start.

Want Results Like These?

If your chimney has looked better than it does right now, Wendell and his crew can get it there. Every sweep comes with camera footage so you see exactly what they saw, and the number you hear on the phone is the number on the invoice. Call Top Hat Chimney at (508) 687-5884. The one down the road, and the one who answers the phone.

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