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.
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AfterFast, Reliable Chimney Cleaning & Sweep Across Bloomfield
A chimney sweep in Bloomfield runs $179 to $329 for a standard cleaning with a Level 1 inspection. Most jobs take 60 to 90 minutes, and we schedule Bloomfield calls within a few business days, not weeks. If you live in a pre-war two- or three-family off Broad Street or up near Brookdale Park, your chimney has a history worth understanding before anyone sticks a brush up it. Call (551) 368-8859 and Wendell or one of his crew will walk you through what you actually need.
We’ve been working Bloomfield’s older housing stock long enough to know what hides inside those brick stacks. The job here isn’t usually just sweeping. It’s figuring out what a century of oil-to-gas conversions, freeze-thaw winters, and shared flues left behind. We’ll show you camera footage of your flue before we recommend a single repair. No exceptions.
Why Top Hat Chimney Is Bloomfield’s Preferred Chimney Cleaning & Sweep Company
We’re the Chimney Cleaning & Sweep outfit that answers the phone. Wendell Pike founded Top Hat Chimney in 1999, and twenty-nine years later he still picks up when you call, day or night. Not a call center. Not a franchise that rotated into Essex County last spring. A real person who knows Bloomfield’s chimneys because he’s been inside them.
Bloomfield homeowners have told us the same story for years: a national chain quoted one price on the phone, sent a stranger, then found “problems” that doubled the bill. We don’t work that way. The number you hear before we come out is the number on the invoice. Every job gets the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it isn’t right, one call brings us back. No charge.
Ask anyone on your street. In Bloomfield’s multi-family neighborhoods, word travels fast when a sweep shows up on time, does honest work, and doesn’t invent a liner replacement you don’t need. That’s the only marketing we’ve ever needed.
Our Chimney Cleaning & Sweep Services in Bloomfield
Level 1 Inspection
A Level 1 inspection is the standard check that comes with every sweep. We look at the readily accessible parts of your chimney, flue, and fireplace or stove connection. On Bloomfield’s older homes, that means checking for creosote buildup, visible mortar deterioration, and any obstruction in the flue. It’s the annual checkup that tells us whether a deeper look is needed.
Level 2 Inspection
Here’s where Bloomfield’s oil-to-gas conversion legacy matters. A Level 2 inspection uses a camera that goes up inside the flue so you can see exactly what’s behind the brick. If your home was built before 1950, or your heating system was converted from oil to gas, or you bought the house and have no record of the last chimney inspection, NFPA 211 requires a Level 2. We’ll show you live footage of your clay-tile liner, your smoke chamber, and any hidden voids. You see what we see. Then we talk about what actually needs doing.
Creosote Removal
First-degree creosote is flaky and brushes out. Third-degree is a hardened glaze that a brush won’t touch. In Bloomfield’s older fireplaces, we find both, often in the same flue. If you burn wood regularly in a home off Watsessing Avenue or up near the Glen Ridge border, creosote builds faster than you’d think. We remove what we can with mechanical brushes and tell you straight when a glaze needs chemical treatment or liner replacement.
Soot Removal
Soot is different from creosote. It’s lighter, dustier, and accumulates faster in oil-fired systems and certain gas appliances. After a season of heavy use, that soot coats the flue walls and restricts draft. We remove it thoroughly and check the flue’s condition while we’re in there. A soot-filled flue in a Bloomfield colonial from the 1920s is also a sign the flue was never sized for the appliance venting into it.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Bloomfield
We install and service liners and components from Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, and Copperfield. When a Bloomfield flue needs relining, we’re not putting in whatever’s on the truck. We stock stainless steel systems sized correctly for the appliance, not the original oil-burner flue. That means faster turnaround for Bloomfield customers and no second trip because the wrong part arrived. For deteriorated clay-tile liners in pre-war chimneys, we most often recommend a DuraFlex stainless system, which we keep on hand for Bloomfield jobs.
Common Chimney Cleaning & Sweep Problems We See in Bloomfield Homes
- Oversized flues from oil-to-gas conversions. Bloomfield’s two- and three-family brick homes were built with chimneys sized for oil-fired boilers. When those converted to gas, the flue stayed big and the draft went weak. Acidic condensate now coats the inside and eats the masonry from within. A brush alone won’t fix that.
- Abandoned flues in shared stacks. Along Broad Street and the Watsessing corridor, it’s common to find one exterior chimney with two or three flues, and at least one capped and abandoned when the building switched to a single gas system. Those uncapped voids let water, debris, and animals into the masonry. They also hide damage that spreads to your active flue.
- Freeze-thaw deterioration. Northern New Jersey’s freeze-thaw cycle, with temperatures bouncing above and below freezing from November through March, works on Bloomfield’s century-old mortar joints like a crowbar. Water gets in, freezes, expands, and pries bricks apart. We see spalled brick faces and crumbling mortar on chimneys all over town by early spring.
- Shared flue cleaning confusion. In a two- or three-family, who’s responsible for the chimney? The landlord? The tenant? The top-floor unit? We can clean just your flue, but we’ll also tell you if the abandoned flue next to it is causing a problem that will eventually become yours.
Pricing for Chimney Cleaning & Sweep in Bloomfield, NJ
A standard sweep with Level 1 inspection in Bloomfield runs $179 to $329. A Level 2 camera inspection runs $249 to $499 depending on whether it’s a single flue or a multi-flue stack and how much access is needed. Creosote removal for light to moderate buildup is included in the base sweep price; third-degree glaze removal adds $100 to $250 if chemical treatment is required. Flue liner installation on a Bloomfield pre-war home typically ranges from $2,800 to $6,500 depending on flue height, access, and the liner material, with DuraFlex stainless systems at the higher end. Get a free estimate by calling (551) 368-8859. The price we quote before we start is the price you pay.
We Also Serve Cities Near Bloomfield
If you’re just over the border, we handle chimney work in Glen Ridge, Belleville, Nutley, and North Arlington too. Many of the same older homes, same oil-to-gas conversion issues, and same freeze-thaw damage. We know the building stock in this corner of Essex County. If you’re in one of those towns, Bloomfield customers call us for the same honest camera-backed inspection and no-upsell pricing.
Serving Bloomfield, NJ - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Bloomfield area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Chimney Cleaning & Sweep in Bloomfield
Because the chimney wasn’t designed for what’s venting into it now. Most Bloomfield homes built between 1910 and 1940 originally burned oil. The flue was sized for that. When the building converted to gas, the flue stayed oversized, which means weak draft and acidic condensate eating the clay tile from the inside. A standard brush sweep cleans the surface but doesn’t tell you whether the flue is deteriorating. That’s why we recommend a Level 2 camera inspection on any pre-war Bloomfield chimney that hasn’t had one. Call (551) 368-8859 and we’ll show you the footage.
It means there’s a hidden void in the masonry stack you share. When oil-to-gas conversions happened in Bloomfield’s two- and three-families, the top-floor flue was often capped and left empty. That void collects water, debris, and animal nests. The moisture migrates through the masonry and damages the flue you actually use. We can inspect the whole stack, identify abandoned flues, and tell you whether they’re causing your unit problems. The camera doesn’t lie.
Yes. In a two- or three-family home, your flue is separate from your neighbor’s, even if they share the same brick exterior. We clean only the flue connected to your fireplace or appliance. But we’ll also look at the overall stack condition while we’re there, because abandoned flues and deteriorating mortar affect every unit, not just one. The cleaning is yours. The information is yours too.
Water gets into the mortar joints and brick faces. When the temperature drops below freezing, that water expands by about nine percent. Multiply that by dozens of freeze-thaw cycles from November through March and you get exactly what we see across Bloomfield every spring: spalled brick faces, crumbling mortar, and water stains inside the flue. The damage is slow until it isn’t. An annual inspection catches it before a loose brick ends up on your lawn or a cracked flue leaks carbon monoxide into the house.
NFPA 211 requires a Level 2 inspection whenever a property changes hands, whenever the chimney has been subjected to a chimney fire, or whenever the appliance or flue configuration has changed. In Bloomfield, that covers most home sales and every oil-to-gas conversion ever done. It also requires a Level 2 after any event that might have damaged the chimney, like the freeze-thaw masonry failures we see all over older homes here. If you’re not sure what your chimney needs, call (551) 368-8859 and Wendell will tell you straight.
Ready to get your Bloomfield chimney cleaned and inspected? Call (551) 368-8859 for a free estimate. Wendell answers the phone, and he’ll give you an honest answer before any tool comes off the truck.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Bloomfield and surrounding Essex County communities since 1999.