A Level company - serving Greenwich, CT

Before & After Gallery - Level Two Chimney Greenwich

Every visit starts with

Level 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed

Worth knowing

Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.

Styles & brands we work with

Before & after – our own jobs

Before - Recent Project — Recent Project

Before - Full Restoration — Full Restoration

After - Full Restoration — Full Restoration

Before - Complete Upgrade — Complete Upgrade

After - Complete Upgrade — Complete Upgrade

Chimney Cleaning Before & After in Greenwich, CT

A photo of a flue before and after a sweep tells you more in three seconds than a paragraph of promises could. We’ve been documenting chimney work in Greenwich since 2009, and the 38,000-plus inspections and cleanings in our archive all share one thing: a camera record you get to keep. Clause 4 of the Haven Standard makes that photo documentation standard on every visit, not an add-on you have to ask for. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Call (516) 399-5497

Recent Transformations

Class III Creosote Removal in a Cos Cob Fireplace

Before photo: heavy Class III creosote buildup on flue walls in a Cos Cob chimney — Before: glossy, tar-like creosote coating the flue walls. This is the stage where a chimney fire becomes a real possibility, not a hypothetical one.

After photo: clean flue walls after Class III creosote removal in Cos Cob — After: flue walls swept back to bare clay tile. The camera confirms full clearance to the smoke shelf.

We found Class III creosote, which is the glossy, hardened deposit that forms when flue temperatures stay low and combustion stays incomplete. That’s a fuel load, not a maintenance item. We swept with a rotary whip and rod system sized for that flue’s dimensions, then ran the camera a second time to confirm nothing remained above the damper or in the smoke chamber. The homeowner walked away with 14 photos, a written scope of what we did, and a written warranty on the sweep itself.

Neglected Flue Liner in a Riverside Colonial

Before photo: flaking clay tile and soot buildup inside a Riverside chimney liner — Before: clay tiles flaking at the second-course joint, with soot packed into the gaps. The liner was doing less than half its job.

After photo: repaired and cleaned flue liner in Riverside — After: liner swept, damaged section addressed, and the flue passing a camera inspection top to bottom.

The chimney hadn’t been swept in years, but the bigger issue was the liner itself. Flue gas was getting through a section of flaking clay tile and into the masonry, which over time stains ceilings and weakens mortar. We cleaned the flue thoroughly, documented the liner condition in photos, and gave the owner a straight written recommendation rather than a scare tactic. The fix was a HeatShield resurfacing on the damaged section, and the after photos show a smooth, continuous flue again.

Shallow Firebox and Excess Smoke in a Glenville Cape

Before photo: smoke staining above a shallow fireplace opening in Glenville — Before: smoke staining above the opening, a signal the draft wasn’t moving the way it should.

After photo: clean firebox and smoke chamber after service in Glenville — After: firebox and smoke chamber cleaned, the flue clear, and the draft working as designed.

Smoke stains above a fireplace opening usually mean one of two things: a clogged flue or poor draft geometry. In this Glenville cape, it was both. We removed a partial blockage in the smoke chamber, swept the flue, and documented the entire path with the camera before and after. Then we wrote the homeowner a one-page explanation of what we found, including the moisture reading on the brick facing, and what was worth watching versus what could be left alone for now.

Animal Nest Removed from an Old Field Stone Chimney

Before photo: nesting material packed into a field stone chimney in Old Greenwich — Before: nesting material and debris packed into a field stone flue. We found it before the first fire of the season, which is the only good time to find it.

After photo: cleared field stone chimney with cap installed in Old Greenwich — After: flue fully cleared. The cap now prevents a repeat by anything with wings or claws.

Field stone chimneys are beautiful and genuinely unforgiving. Their flues run irregular, which makes a complete sweep harder and a partial blockage more dangerous. We removed the nest, swept the full length, and recommended a Famco cap sized to that stone opening. The after photos show clear passage all the way to the fireplace, and the homeowner now has a sealed top that keeps the next occupant out.

Want Results Like These?

professional cleaning a residential chimney flue with a rotary brush — Want Results Like These?

Every Greenwich chimney we service ends with a camera record, a written scope, and a written price that was agreed to before anyone set foot in your home. That’s the standard, not the exception. Call (516) 399-5497 and we’ll schedule a cleaning and inspection. You’ll see the before and after photos yourself, because you’ll own them.

Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Level Two Chimney Greenwich, serving Greenwich since 2009.

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