Creosote is what is left when wood smoke cools on the way up a flue. It arrives as a light flaky soot, hardens into a crusty second stage, and finally becomes glazed creosote — a shiny black tar that is close to pure fuel and is the direct cause of most chimney fires. The entire purpose of sweeping is to stop that progression before it reaches the third stage.

Our sweep covers the full smoke path, not just the visible flue. We brush from the cap down through the flue liner, then clean the smoke chamber and smoke shelf — the area immediately above the damper, where deposits collect fastest and are most often skipped — before finishing with the firebox and damper assembly. Rotary brushing with flexible whips is used where clay tile or stainless liners need a careful touch; traditional poly and wire brushes handle heavier build-up.

Throughout, the fireplace opening is sealed to a HEPA-filtered vacuum that keeps the firebox under negative pressure, so soot travels into the machine rather than into your living room. Drop cloths cover the hearth and the route to the door.

If we find glazed creosote, brushing alone will not remove it. In that case we explain the two realistic options — a chemical modifier applied over several burns to make the glaze brittle enough to brush out, or specialist rotary removal with chain or steel-cutter heads — and let you choose. We will not simply brush over it and call the chimney clean.

• Flue, smoke chamber, smoke shelf, damper and firebox all cleaned
• HEPA vacuum containment; no soot in the room
• Level 1 visual inspection included with every standard sweep
• Before and after photographs of the flue interior
• Blockage removal — nests, leaves, debris — as part of the service

An inspection answers one question: is it safe to light a fire in this thing? The three standard levels differ in how far we go to answer it.

Level 1 is the annual baseline. We examine the readily accessible portions of the chimney exterior and interior, the firebox, damper and connector, verify that the flue is clear of obstruction and combustible deposits, and confirm the basic soundness of the structure. It suits a chimney in continuous use with no changes and no symptoms.

Level 2 is the one most people need without knowing it. It includes everything in a Level 1 plus video scanning of the full flue interior, and inspection of accessible attic, crawlspace and basement areas where the chimney passes through. It is the appropriate inspection before a property transfer, after any chimney fire, after an earthquake, hail or wind event, and whenever the appliance or fuel type changes — for example, putting a wood stove insert into an open masonry fireplace.

Level 3 is invasive. It involves removing components, and sometimes masonry, to examine concealed areas where a serious hazard is suspected but cannot be confirmed any other way. We recommend it rarely, and only after a Level 2 has produced evidence that something is wrong behind a wall or chase.

Every inspection ends with a written report: findings, photographs, a clear safety verdict, and recommendations ranked by urgency. Reports are delivered by email, usually the same day, and are formatted so a real estate agent, insurer or attorney can read them without a translator.

Masonry chimneys fail from the top down, and almost always because of water. The concrete crown at the top is the first line of defence — a sloped slab that sheds rain away from the flue and the brick below it. When that crown cracks, water enters the core of the stack, saturates the brick, and then spalls the faces off when temperatures swing. In North Texas the swing that does the damage is usually a sudden January cold front hitting masonry that has been wet for a week.

Tuckpointing is the repair for deteriorated mortar joints. We grind out the failed mortar to a proper depth, then repack with a mix matched to the strength and colour of the original. Matching strength matters as much as colour: modern high-cement mortar packed into a soft old brick chimney will transfer stress into the brick faces and cause more spalling than it prevents.

Brick replacement handles individual units that have spalled, cracked through or sheared. We source brick that matches size, texture and colour as closely as possible, and on older homes we will often pull replacement units from a less visible elevation so the repair does not read as a patch from the street.

Crown repair and replacement is the highest-value repair on this page. Small cracks can be sealed with a flexible crown coating. A crown that has broken up, has no overhang, or was built flush with the brick needs a proper cast-in-place replacement with an expansion joint around the flue tile, a drip edge that throws water clear of the brick, and a slope that actually sheds.

Rebuilds are sometimes the honest answer. When mortar has failed throughout the stack, when the structure is out of plumb, or when previous repairs have been layered over rot, we will quote a partial rebuild above the roofline or a full rebuild from the firebox up. We quote this reluctantly and only with photographic evidence showing why nothing smaller will hold.

Water enters a chimney by exactly five routes, and finding which one is responsible is most of the job. In order of frequency: a cracked or undersized crown; a missing or damaged cap letting rain fall straight down the flue; failed flashing where the stack meets the roof plane; porous, unsealed brick absorbing rain directly; and condensation inside the flue caused by an oversized or uninsulated liner.

We inspect all five before recommending anything, because treating the wrong one is both expensive and useless. Sealing brick on a chimney whose real problem is failed flashing will trap the water rather than stop it.

Once the route is identified, the fix is specific: crown sealing or recasting, a stainless cap sized to the flue, new step and counter flashing properly let into the mortar joint rather than surface-caulked, or a masonry water repellent.

That last point matters more than it sounds. The repellent we use is vapour permeable, meaning it stops liquid water entering while still allowing moisture already inside the masonry to escape. Standard hardware-store sealers form a film that traps moisture behind it, and the brick then spalls from the inside out. A chimney sealed with the wrong product is worse off than one left bare.

• Full five-point water entry diagnosis with photographs
• Crown sealing, recasting or full replacement
• Step and counter flashing repair, correctly embedded
• Stainless cap fitting to stop direct rainfall
• Breathable masonry repellent with a multi-year service life

The liner is the part of the chimney that does the real safety work. It contains the heat and combustion gases, keeps them away from the house framing, and protects the masonry from acidic condensate. A chimney with a compromised liner is a chimney where a fire in the flue can reach structural timber.

Older Dallas homes typically have clay tile liners. Clay is durable but brittle, and it fails in two ways: joints open as the mortar between tiles washes out, and tiles crack from thermal shock — often during a chimney fire the owner never knew happened. Neither failure is visible from the firebox, which is why camera scanning is part of every Level 2 inspection.

Relining with UL-listed stainless steel is the standard repair. We size the liner to the appliance, not to the existing flue — an oversized flue on a modern high-efficiency appliance cools gases too fast, causes condensation and draft problems, and is one of the most common causes of a smoking fireplace after an insert has been installed. Insulation wrap or pour-in insulation is added where clearances, draft performance or code require it.

Smoke chamber parging frequently accompanies relining. The smoke chamber — the sloped transition above the damper — is often built with stepped, unfinished brick that creates turbulence, slows the draft and collects creosote. Parging smooths that surface with refractory mortar, which improves draft and removes a lot of the surface area creosote likes to cling to.

The cheapest component on a chimney prevents the most expensive problems. A good stainless or copper cap keeps rain out of the flue, stops birds, squirrels and raccoons nesting inside, and carries a spark arrestor screen that keeps embers off your roof and your neighbour’s. Caps we install are stainless or copper because galvanised caps rust out fast and leave streaks down the brick.

Top-sealing dampers are worth explaining, because most homeowners have never been offered one. A traditional throat damper sits just above the firebox and seals with metal on metal, which means it leaks air continuously even when closed. A top-sealing damper mounts at the top of the flue with a silicone gasket and closes the chimney like a lid, operated by a cable that runs down to the firebox. In a Dallas summer, that difference is measurable on a cooling bill, because an open throat damper is effectively a hole in your ceiling venting conditioned air to the sky.

Chase covers apply to prefabricated chimneys — the ones in wood-framed chases with a metal top rather than a brick crown. The original covers are almost always galvanised and they rust, pool water, and eventually leak straight into the chase where the framing is. Stainless replacement covers with proper cross-breaks and drip edges are a permanent fix.

• Stainless and copper caps, single-flue and multi-flue
• Spark arrestor screening to code
• Top-sealing energy dampers with gasket seal
• Throat damper repair and replacement
• Custom-fabricated stainless chase covers

The firebox takes more thermal abuse than any other part of the system. Firebrick panels crack, refractory mortar joints wash out, and cast iron components warp. Cracks wider than the thickness of a coin expose the masonry or steel behind the panel to direct flame, which is a genuine hazard rather than a cosmetic complaint. We repair joints, replace individual firebrick, and reface entire fireboxes where the damage is widespread.

On gas systems we service the burner and pilot assembly, clean and correctly arrange the log set — misplaced logs are the usual cause of heavy sooting and a yellow, dirty flame — test the safety pilot and thermocouple, check for leaks at the connections, and verify the damper stop that prevents the flue from ever being fully closed on a gas appliance. Carbon monoxide readings are taken and recorded.

We also handle the parts that make a fireplace pleasant to live with: glass doors, mesh screens, grates, ash dumps and hearth extensions. If you are converting from wood to gas or gas to wood, that is a Level 2 inspection plus, in most cases, a liner resize, and we will walk you through the full scope before you commit to it.

It is not a chimney, but it is the same physics and the same risk: a duct that carries hot air out of a house, gradually restricted by flammable material. Lint accumulation in dryer ducts causes thousands of house fires a year, and the warning signs are so mundane that almost everyone ignores them.

Long duct runs are the problem in most newer Dallas homes, where laundry rooms are placed centrally and the duct travels twenty or thirty feet with several elbows before reaching an exterior wall. Every elbow catches lint. Flexible foil or vinyl ducting — still common and still sold — catches far more, and should be replaced with rigid metal.

We clean the entire run with rotating brushes and vacuum extraction, clear the exterior hood and confirm the damper flap opens freely, check the transition hose behind the appliance, and test airflow at the end so you have a number rather than an assurance.

An uncapped flue is an ideal nesting site: warm, sheltered, vertical and undisturbed. In Dallas we most often find birds — chimney swifts in particular — along with squirrels, raccoons and the occasional opossum. A nest is also a solid plug of dry twigs sitting directly above a fire, which is both a blockage and a fuel load.

We remove nests and debris, clear the flue completely, and cap the chimney afterwards so it does not happen again. Where protected species or active nesting are involved we coordinate with licensed wildlife specialists rather than handling it ourselves, because timing and legality both matter.

This is one of the most common calls we take outside business hours, and one of the reasons the phone line is staffed at night.