Chimney Cleaning in Cherry Hill, NJ

The visit starts with a look at the firebox, the damper and the smoke chamber above it, and at the cap and crown when the roof can be walked safely. Before any brush goes in, the fireplace opening is sealed with plastic and a vacuum runs to hold the soot, and the hearth and the floor in front of it are covered. The brushes are matched to the flue: square or rectangular heads for clay tile, round heads for a metal liner, each sized so it scrubs the walls without chipping them.

The flue is brushed top to bottom or bottom to top, depending on access, and the smoke shelf, the damper and the firebox are cleaned out afterward, since that is where most of what falls ends up. A damper that will not open or close fully, or a throat packed with debris from above, is cleared before the season starts. Debris is bagged and carried out. Anything worth knowing (a cracked tile, a rusted damper plate, a missing cap) is photographed where the crew can reach it and explained before anyone talks about repairs.

Wood smoke carries tar and moisture, and as it cools on the way up the flue it leaves them on the walls as creosote. It starts as a soft, sooty layer that a brush removes easily, hardens into crunchy flakes as fires continue, and can end as a shiny glaze that bonds to the tile. Wet or unseasoned wood, fires kept smoldering for hours, and a tall exterior chimney that stays cold all make more of it, because the smoke cools sooner.

It matters because creosote burns. A thick layer is fuel sitting right where the flue gets hottest, and it also narrows the flue so the fire draws poorly and smoke rolls back into the room. A regular sweep keeps it in the soft stage. Heavy or glazed deposits take more than a standard sweep, and the crew says so before starting rather than halfway through. Burning dry, split hardwood in hotter, shorter fires keeps the buildup down between visits.

In older houses, the flue serving the furnace or the water heater gets the same attention. Gas appliances do not make creosote, but their flues still block with nests, leaves and fallen pieces of tile, and exhaust that cannot rise has nowhere to go but back into the basement. When an old furnace gives way to a high-efficiency model with its own plastic vent, the water heater may end up as the only appliance on a big masonry flue it cannot warm, and the condensation that forms inside can wear the liner down. Pieces of tile in the cleanout at the base of the stack are a sign of that wear.

Factory-built fireplaces in townhomes are cleaned with brushes suited to metal flue sections, and the crew checks the joints, the spark screen and the metal cover on top of the chase, which rusts and holds water when it is flat. A cover that has rusted through lets rain run down the outside of the metal flue into the framing, and that is a repair, not a cleaning. Gas log fireplaces are looked at too, since a vent that is blocked or damaged is a problem whether anyone burns wood in it or not.

Late summer and early fall are the natural time, before the first cold night and before the heating system starts using its flue. Timing also has to respect chimney swifts, a migratory bird protected by federal law that nests in masonry chimneys. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the birds arrive in March or April and leave in August or September, and advises cleaning outside that season, so a chimney with an active nest is left until the birds have gone. A fireplace used every weekend through the winter builds creosote faster than one lit on holidays, so the crew suggests the next date based on what came out.

Every visit starts with a free estimate, and the sweep can be paired with a dryer vent cleaning while the ladder is up. Sweeps are booked by phone 8 AM to 8 PM, Monday to Saturday; AMG Duct Cleaning Cherry Hill, a veteran-owned company, is licensed and insured, with New Jersey home improvement registration 13VH13654300. Chimneys are swept in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Collingswood, Haddon Township and Moorestown, and anything that calls for chimney repair is shown to you in photos before any work is proposed.