Before & After Gallery - Top Hat Chimney

Chimney Cleaning Before & After in Chester, VA

Photos tell the truth faster than any promise. We point a camera up every flue we clean in Chester because you should see what we see. The before shots here are the kind of thing hiding behind a pretty fire. The after shots are what a chimney should look like when the brush is done and the creosote is gone. Wendell Pike has been doing this since 1999, and he still believes the camera footage and a plain-English verdict matter more than a slick sales pitch.

Call (804) 392-9342

Recent Transformations

Heavy Creosote Removal in a Chester Colonial

The problem was the kind that makes a chimney sweep slow down and look twice. First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze, and this flue had baked into a hard, shiny shell after years of burning unseasoned wood. We ran a rotary cleaning head with hardened nylon rods to break the glaze loose, then chased it with a hand brush to get the corners. The homeowner watched the camera footage afterward and asked how the fire would even draw through what we’d removed. Plainly: it wouldn’t, not safely, not for much longer.

Nesting Debris and a Full Obstruction

A customer in the southern end of Chester called because the living room was filling with smoke every time they lit a fire. The camera showed a squirrel’s winter stash packed about eight feet down from the top. No cap on the flue meant an open invitation. We pulled the debris, swept the flue down to the smoke shelf, and then installed a new chimney cap before we left. The chimney works now, and the squirrels work somewhere else.

Stage Two Creosote Before the Burning Season

This one was a standard annual sweep, and we’re glad they called when they did. The creosote had built up to the point where the flakes were thick enough to peel by hand. That’s the stuff that lights up as a chimney fire with one hot, fast burn. We brushed the full length of the flue, cleaned the smoke chamber, and emptied the firebox. The whole job took about an hour and a half. The family got back a fireplace that draws clean and a flue that won’t wake the neighborhood at two in the morning.

Fireplace Smoke Chamber Cleaning

Most people think a chimney sweep cleans the flue and the firebox. The smoke chamber is the space above the damper where smoke slows down, and it collects soot like a shelf collects dust. This chamber had a half-inch of powdery black buildup that had been sending a stale smell into the house every humid Chester summer. We cleaned it with a specialized whipping brush, then vac’d everything out. The smell left with the creosote. The homeowner told Wendell they hadn’t realized a fireplace could be odorless in August. It can.

Rusting Damper and Blocked Throat

The damper had rusted open enough that the homeowner could feel cold air pouring down the chimney in January. They could also hear birds. We cleaned the throat area, removed the built-up creosote that was keeping the damper from closing fully, and worked the hinge until it seated properly. Some damper jobs turn into replacements. This one turned into a working fireplace and a warmer den. The before and after photos here are plain as day: one side shows a throat you can’t see through, the other shows a clean, open smoke path.

Want Results Like These?

These are the chimneys on your street, in the same Chester houses built to burn wood and stand up to Virginia winters. Yours doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be clean and safe. Call (804) 392-9342 for an honest look at what’s really in your flue. The camera footage and a plain-English verdict, every time, no exceptions.

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