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.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterChimney Cleaning Services in Irvington, NJ
Most homes in Irvington have chimneys that have stood for close to a century, and many of them have never been properly inspected since the day the coal furnace was swapped for gas. That’s the call we get most often from Irvington homeowners: a flue that was built for coal, converted for oil, then switched again to gas, with the original clay liner still inside. Wendell Pike and his crew at Top Hat Chimney clean, inspect, and repair those old stacks every week. If you’d like a straight answer about what’s going on up there, call (848) 331-2638 and we’ll schedule a time that works for you.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Why Irvington Homeowners Choose Top Hat Chimney
We’re not a franchise that rotated into Essex County last spring. Top Hat Chimney was founded by Wendell Pike in 1999, and the same name, the same face, and the same license number have been on every job since. When you call (848) 331-2638, a live person answers. It may well be Wendell himself, standing in his truck outside a jobsite on Springfield Avenue or Clinton Avenue, phone in hand.
Irvington’s dense rowhouse blocks have their own set of chimney problems, and we’ve seen them all: shared party walls where a flue fire in one unit threatens the families on both sides, crowns cracked by decades of freeze-thaw cycling, and liners so far gone that the camera screen looks like a gravel road. Homeowners in the Civic Square area and along the Lyons Avenue corridor have called us for exactly these issues. Our pricing is set before a single tool comes off the truck, and every job comes with the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing: if it’s not right, one call brings Wendell back at no charge.
Chimney Cleaning Services We Offer in Irvington
Chimney Cleaning & Sweep
A chimney sweep in Irvington removes creosote, soot, and debris from the flue, but the real point is seeing what’s underneath. On every cleaning, we run a camera up the flue so you can see the condition of your liner with your own eyes before anyone recommends a repair. First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze, and that’s a different conversation entirely.
Learn more about our chimney cleaning and sweep services in Irvington.
Chimney Repair
Old brick and mortar don’t fail quietly; they spall, crack, and let water in. We repoint joints, rebuild crowns, and patch spalled brick before the damage works its way into the rowhouse walls. When an Irvington chimney shares a party wall with the neighbor, even small repairs protect more than one household.
Learn more about our chimney repair services in Irvington.
Fireplace Services
We service wood-burning, gas, and decorative fireplaces, from stubborn dampers to smoke backing into the living room on a cold January night. Your flue doesn’t care how the fire looks. It cares how it breathes. A fireplace that smokes is usually trying to tell you something about its liner or draft, and we take the time to listen.
Learn more about our fireplace services in Irvington.
Chimney Cap & Crown
The crown is the chimney’s roof, and in Irvington’s freezing winters, a cracked crown means water getting into the masonry and freezing, and the freeze-thaw expansion pops bricks loose year after year. We install and repair crowns and caps using durable materials that hold up to New Jersey weather patterns, including stainless steel caps from trusted brands like Copperfield and Famco.
Chimney Liner & Rebuild
This is one of the most important jobs we do in Irvington because of the fuel conversions. When a furnace was changed from oil to gas and nobody relined the flue, the old clay tile liner gets eaten by acidic condensate. We install liners from DuraFlex and HeatShield and rebuild stacks that have reached the end of their service life, always with the camera footage to show you exactly why the work is needed.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Irvington
Wendell and his crew work throughout the township, from the Civic Square district and Chancellor Avenue over to the neighborhoods bordering Hillside and Maplewood. If you live near Irvington Park, Union Avenue, or up by the Garden State Parkway interchange on 14th Avenue, we’re familiar with your block and the way those chimneys age. Typical scheduling runs a few days out during the fall rush, but call (848) 331-2638 and a live person will give you a real window.
- Civic Square
- Chancellor Avenue corridor
- Lyons Avenue area
- Neighborhoods near Irvington Park
- 14th Avenue / Garden State Parkway corridor
Why Irvington’s Climate & Housing Affect Chimney Cleaning
Irvington sits in the middle of the Newark metro and gets the full New Jersey seasonal beating: cold, wet winters, repeated freeze-thaw cycles, and long heating seasons that push furnace vents and fireplaces hard. That weather pries open century-old mortar joints and cracks brick crowns a little more each year. The housing stock makes it worse. Most of Irvington is built out with attached rowhouses and 2-3 family homes constructed between 1900 and 1940, and those homes still carry their original multi-flue masonry chimneys, often three or four flues abreast, one per unit or appliance. After 80 to 120 years and a coal-to-gas fuel transition, the clay tile liners in those stacks are frequently cracked, offset, or missing sections entirely.
We find the same thing on a lot of multi-family jobs: a landlord converted the building from oil to gas years ago and never relined the chimney. So a modern gas furnace or water heater vents into a 12-inch coal-era flue, and acidic condensate works away at the liner and the mortar. It’s a persistent NJ Uniform Construction Code violation, and it’s one of the most common discoveries on older two- and three-family homes in Irvington. Once a year, burn or no burn. Chimneys break in the off-season too.
Pricing for Chimney Cleaning in Irvington
Service Area - Cities Near Irvington
Top Hat Chimney serves Irvington and the surrounding towns. If you’re in our home service area or have family in nearby Newark, Maplewood, Hillside, or East Orange, we take those calls too. Call (848) 331-2638 and we’ll let you know how soon we can get there.
Serving Irvington, NJ - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Irvington area and know this community well, with our Newark service area just nearby. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Chimney Cleaning in Irvington
How much does a chimney sweep cost in Irvington?
A chimney sweep in Irvington typically costs between $150 and $250 for a standard single-flue cleaning. Older multi-family homes with multiple flues will run higher. We give upfront pricing on the phone before we schedule, and the price doesn’t change when we arrive. Call (848) 331-2638 for a quote specific to your chimney.
How often should a chimney be swept in Irvington?
Once a year, regardless of whether you burn wood. Furnace and water heater flues also need annual inspection, and in Irvington’s older homes with gas appliances venting into oversized coal-era flues, the condensate problem gets worse if nobody looks. If you burn wood regularly, you may need a second sweep mid-season.
Do I really need a new liner in my Irvington rowhouse?
Not always, but in Irvington’s housing stock it’s common. Many of the township’s rowhouses were converted from coal to oil to gas over decades, and if the flue was never relined for the current appliance, a modern gas furnace is venting into a flue that’s too large and deteriorating from acidic condensate. The only way to know for sure is a camera inspection. We’ll show you the footage, and if the old liner is still sound, we’ll tell you that plainly.
What happens if I skip chimney cleaning?
Creosote builds up, and third-degree creosote is a glaze that can ignite, which is a chimney fire. In attached Irvington rowhouses that share party walls, a chimney fire threatens neighboring units at the same time. Or the flue gets blocked, and carbon monoxide backs up into the house. The camera footage and a plain-English verdict, every time, no exceptions.
Can you inspect a chimney in a multi-family building in Irvington?
Yes. We work on multi-family rowhouses throughout Irvington, including buildings where multiple flues run side by side in a single stack. Because shared party walls are common here, one compromised flue can affect multiple families, and we inspect each flue individually and report findings one unit at a time. Call (848) 331-2638 to schedule an inspection.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Irvington and serving Maplewood, NJ and the surrounding Essex County communities.
What happens when you call
- 1A real person answersNo phone trees - talk to a local chimney cleaning pro.
- 2You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched. No surprises.
- 3We come out and measureLicensed & insured, at a time that suits you - the visit and the quote are both free.
- 4You get the price in writingLine-itemed, yours to keep, and nothing starts until you say go.
What Irvington Customers Say
"Converted our old wood burner to gas and took the time to talk me out of the fancier insert I had picked out because it would have been wrong for the size of the room."
- Duane Kittering"The cap had blown off in a storm and birds had got in. He cleared the nest, fitted a proper stainless cap with a screen, and did it the same week I called."
- Rosalind Achebe"He repointed the crown and waterproofed the stack, and two winters on there is not a damp mark on the ceiling where there used to be one every February."
- Harold Vance