Crowley Chimney Works · Ashford Falls · Camera-first since 2009
Every flue we touch goes on camera first.
Crowley sweeps, scans and repairs chimneys across the Falls — Level 1, 2 and 3 inspections to NFPA 211, rigid 316Ti stainless relines, and tuckpointing on brick older than the town charter. If we cannot show you the flue wall, we will not quote the repair.
Services
The card, in order of how we work
01
Camera inspections — $249 Level 2
A rod-mounted camera down every foot of flue, recorded and graded — because a crack you cannot see is a quote you cannot trust. Level 1 visual is $129; Level 3, the opening-up of masonry to get at concealed damage, is scoped from the Level 2 footage and quoted in writing.
02
Sweeps — $199 standard flue
Brushed behind a sealed hearth on HEPA extraction, first- and second-degree creosote removed, smoke-tested after. NFPA 211 asks for an inspection every burning year — the sweep visit is the cheapest place to have one happen.
03
Relines — 316Ti rigid stainless
Cracked clay tiles out where the joints allow, insulated rigid liner in one section at a time, terminated and draw-tested before your first fire. Gas conversions get the liner sized to the appliance, which is the difference between a draft and a spillage problem.
04
Masonry — tuckpoint, crowns, rebuilds
Joints ground to sound mortar and re-pointed in a mix matched to the original, crowns poured with a drip edge that sheds water off the brick, and full rebuilds above the roofline when the freeze-thaw has won a decade too many.
How it goes
One visit, four stages
The same sequence on every job — the only variable is your project.
Stage 1
The camera inspection
Drop cloths from hearth to hatch, the flue scanned end to end on video while you watch the monitor. Every defect is measured — crack width, creosote degree, joint loss — because the number decides the next stage, not the salesman.
Stage 2
The sweep
Sealed hearth, HEPA vacuum running before the first rod goes in, brush passes until the flue walls show bare tile or liner. What came out is bagged and the degree is graded on the report — first, second or the glazed third that means treatment.
Stage 3
The report
Photos of your own flue walls, the creosote grade, the draft readings and a scope for anything the camera found — itemized, with the footage to back each line. You keep the video; it is your chimney, and the evidence should travel with it.
Stage 4
The repair, if it needs one
Nothing is scheduled unless the footage called for it. Relines and re-pointing land within the fortnight in season; crowns and rebuilds inside the month. If the flue came back clean, the report says so in one line and we leave.
Why footage first
The camera rule
The sweep trade earned its reputation on work nobody could verify — a brush up a dark hole and a handshake. We inverted it: the camera goes down before anything else does, and the recording is yours to keep. A reline is a two-thousand-dollar answer; it deserves a question you can watch back.
No footage, no quote
We do not sell a repair the camera has not shown you, and every report carries stills pulled from your own scan. If a second opinion disagrees with our footage, send them the video — we are happy to be checked against the evidence.
Two outfits told the Kessler Street house it needed a full reline — one quoted over the phone. Crowley put the camera down first and found one cracked tile at the thimble and a chimney swallow nest above the smoke shelf. Tile replaced, nest cleared, cap fitted, done for a fifth of the reline number. The footage is on the thumbdrive they keep in the sideboard.
The five we always get
Straight answers
If the question is not here, the shop line at the bottom of the page runs seven to five, Falls-wide, and Dana answers it herself.
How often does a chimney really need sweeping?
NFPA 211 says every burning year, minimum. In practice: a cord of seasoned hardwood leaves roughly an eighth of an inch of first-degree creosote, so at two cords a season an annual sweep is right. Burning green or softwood doubles the rate — bring the chimney down every half-cord and we will say so at the scan.
What are the creosote degrees?
First degree is flaky soot that brushes out. Second degree has hardened into shiny plates and needs rotary heads. Third degree is glazed tar — the chimney-fire fuel — and gets chemical treatment plus a camera follow-up, because brushing glaze only polishes it. Your report grades it foot by foot.
Level 1, 2 or 3 — which do I need?
Level 1 is the annual look at what you can reach, no tools. Level 2 is the camera scan — required at a property sale, a fuel or appliance change, or after any chimney fire. Level 3 opens up masonry to reach what even the camera cannot, and it is scoped strictly from what Level 2 found.
Why does the fireplace smell in summer?
Warm humid air falling down a cool flue — negative pressure carrying creosote odour into the room, often through a missing or wrong-size cap. A proper-fitted cap and a tight top-sealing damper fix most of it; if the smell is sharp rather than smoky, the scan should look for a nest or a leak first.
Stainless liner or clay tile?
Clay is the original and fine while it is intact and round-fired. It cracks with chimney fires and offsets, and once it has, patching tiles into a damaged run is false economy. A rigid 316Ti stainless liner wrapped in insulation drafts better, survives a flue fire, and carries a lifetime warranty — we install both and say which one your footage argues for.
Scans booked inside the week in season · (555) 015-3397 · scans@crowleychimney.example
Get the scan on the calendar
Tell us the house, the stove or fireplace, and what the last sweep said — if you have the paperwork, we will read it. The Level 2 scan is $249 with the footage to keep, and the report quotes only what the camera can prove. scans@crowleychimney.example