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 Cap & Crown Across Bloomfield
Chimney cap and crown work in Bloomfield usually costs between $425 and $1,850 depending on whether you need a simple cap replacement or a full crown rebuild on a multi-flue stack. Most jobs are done in a single visit. If you’re calling from Bloomfield, we’re close by and we answer the phone ourselves. Call (551) 368-8859 and Wendell or one of the crew will talk you through what’s actually wrong before anyone books a truck.
Bloomfield’s older brick homes carry a particular set of chimney problems. The housing stock here runs heavily toward pre-WWII two- and three-family brick buildings, and those stacks were built for a different era of heating. Oil-fired boilers vented differently than today’s gas systems do. The result is that a lot of Bloomfield chimneys have flues that are oversized, under-capped, or quietly deteriorating from the inside. We’ve seen it enough times that we know what to look for before we even set the ladder. Our Chimney Cap & Crown work here is built around that hard-won local knowledge.
Why Top Hat Chimney Is Bloomfield’s Preferred Chimney Cap & Crown Company
Wendell Pike started Top Hat Chimney in 1999, and he still puts his own name on every job. That’s not a slogan. Walk down any street near Watsessing Park or the Halcyon Park neighborhood and ask who does the chimney work. You’ll hear his name come up. Bloomfield homeowners tend to stick with a sweep who shows up on time, charges what he said he’d charge, and answers the phone when something acts up months later. That’s the whole business model.
We serve Bloomfield directly, and we treat it like our own backyard because it is. When a homeowner off Broad Street calls about water staining near the chimney, we know the house is likely a 1920s brick two-family with a clay-tile flue. When someone in the Watsessing corridor mentions a drafty fireplace, we know to check whether an abandoned top-floor flue was ever capped. That kind of local pattern recognition doesn’t come from a national franchise playbook. It comes from 29 years of climbing the same ladders in the same neighborhoods.
Calls are answered by a live person, 24/7, and it may well be Wendell himself. Upfront pricing is fixed before a single tool comes off the truck. The number you hear on the phone is the number on the invoice. And every job, cap or crown or full rebuild, carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not right, one call brings him back. No charge. No argument.
Our Chimney Cap & Crown Services in Bloomfield
Cap Installation
A properly installed cap keeps rain, birds, squirrels, and leaves out of your flue. In Bloomfield, where pre-war brick stacks often have multiple flues, cap installation requires measuring each flue individually. A single off-the-shelf cap rarely fits both a furnace flue and a fireplace flue on the same stack. We measure, order, and fit caps that actually cover the openings, including custom stainless and copper work when the tile dimensions are no longer standard.
Cap Replacement
Cap replacement in Bloomfield is often driven by rust-through on steel caps from the 1980s and 1990s, or by wind damage on homes near the higher ridges of Brookdale. We see a lot of caps that were never properly anchored to begin with. A replacement cap from us comes sized to the flue, secured so it doesn’t rattle loose in a nor’easter, and backed by the same 90-day guarantee as everything else.
Crown Repair
Crown repair is the single most overlooked chimney job in Bloomfield. Freeze-thaw cycles from November through March push water into hairline cracks on century-old masonry crowns, and every cycle widens them. By spring, the crown is spalling and water is running down the flue. We repair crowns with proper overhang and taper so water sheds away from the opening, not into it. If the crown is too far gone, we’ll say so plainly. If it can be saved with CrownCoat and careful patching, we’ll do that instead and save you the cost of a rebuild.
Crown Coating
Crown coating is a preventive job that makes sense on Bloomfield’s older brick stacks. A flexible, breathable sealant applied to a structurally sound crown will buy years of service and stop the freeze-thaw cycle from turning small cracks into spalled brick. We use CrownCoat specifically because it handles the temperature swings Northern New Jersey throws at it. It’s not a substitute for rebuilding a failed crown, and we’ll tell you if that’s what you actually need.
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 work with brands like Olympia Chimney, Gelco, and Famco, and we keep the common parts in stock so we’re not waiting a week to get your job on the calendar. If your existing cap is an Olympia or a Famco, we can usually swap it in a single visit because we carry the matching sizes on the truck. If you need a custom multi-flue cap, Olympia’s fabrication lead times are predictable and we’ll tell you the honest timeline up front. Copperfield and Gelco components show up on the specialty jobs where a standard cap won’t cover the opening. The point is: we don’t sell you whatever happens to be in the warehouse that week. We size the part to the chimney.
Common Chimney Cap & Crown Problems We See in Bloomfield Homes
- Oversized flues after oil-to-gas conversion: Bloomfield’s pre-WWII brick homes were largely built with flues sized for oil-fired boilers. After conversion to gas, the oversized flue develops acidic condensate that eats mortar joints from the inside, which weakens the crown base and loosens cap anchors.
- Freeze-thaw crown cracking: Northern New Jersey’s winter temperature swings force water into hairline cracks on aging masonry crowns. Spalling brick and loose caps follow, and wind-driven rain pours straight down the flue.
- Abandoned top-floor flues: In multi-family stacks along Broad Street and Watsessing Avenue, it’s common to find a top-floor flue that was capped off and abandoned when the building switched to a single gas system. If that cap failed or was never installed, debris and animals nest in the smoke chamber, and rainwater soaks the masonry from inside.
- Multi-flue cap misfits: A single exterior stack in Bloomfield often carries two or three flues of different sizes. A generic cap that covers one flue won’t cover the others, and the resulting gaps let water run down the stack. We measure every flue, every time.
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.
Pricing for Chimney Cap & Crown in Bloomfield, NJ
Here’s what Bloomfield homeowners can expect to pay, based on the work we’ve done in town:
- Cap replacement (single flue): $425-$675 installed, depending on flue size and cap material.
- Custom stainless multi-flue cap: $750-$1,200 fabricated and installed, including measuring and anchoring.
- Crown repair (patching and CrownCoat): $500-$850 depending on crack extent and accessibility.
- Full crown rebuild: $1,200-$1,850 for a typical two- or three-flue Bloomfield stack, including old crown removal, proper form work, and tapered pour.
- Copper custom cap: $1,100-$1,900 depending on flue configuration. It lasts decades longer than steel, which matters on Bloomfield’s more exposed roof lines.
What changes the price? Ladder access, roof pitch, the number of flues, and whether the crown needs repair before a new cap can be seated. We offer $40 off any repair over $200, a free second opinion on any competing written estimate, and no trip charge inside our own service county. Seniors and veterans always get 10% off. Call (551) 368-8859 for a free estimate. You’ll get the number up front, and that’s the number on the invoice.
One thing we want to be plain about: nothing gets recommended unless you see it yourself. We run a camera up the flue and show you the footage. If the crown is cracked, you’ll see the crack. If the cap is rusted through, you’ll see daylight. If the flue is fine and the cap just needs to be re-anchored, we’ll tell you that, too. No mail-order upsell, no mysterious liner replacement you can’t verify. Wendell has run into too many Bloomfield homeowners after another company scared them into a five-thousand-dollar job they didn’t need. We’d rather tell you the truth and keep your business for the next 29 years.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Bloomfield since 1999.