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 North Kensington, MD
Chimney cleaning in North Kensington usually costs between $169 and $289 for a standard one-flue sweep, and in this part of Montgomery County the visit almost always uncovers something worth seeing: a cracked clay tile, a loose brick, or a crown that has been letting water in since the Reagan administration. Wendell Pike and his crew at Top Hat Chimney work the neighborhoods along Georgia Avenue and Connecticut Avenue every week, and we can usually get to your door within a few days. Call (240) 716-5865 for a straight price before we ever put a ladder against the house.
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 North Kensington Homeowners Choose Top Hat Chimney
North Kensington is the kind of place where people still introduce themselves to the neighbors and keep one eye on whoever is pulling into the driveway. You do not want a rotating cast of franchise techs with a different face each season. You want the same person who swept the chimney last year and who will answer the phone when you call about a damp smell in the living room in February. Wendell founded Top Hat Chimney in 1999 and he still runs jobs personally. His name and license number are on every invoice, and the address is published. That matters up here, where word travels fast through the Wheaton Woods and Homewood neighborhoods.
We hold a strong review profile from homeowners in North Kensington and the surrounding corridor, and the same crew that shows up in uniform, background-checked, with a real arrival window, is the crew that comes back if anything is not right. That is not a slogan. It is the 90-Day Done Right Promise, in writing, on every job. If the cap we installed whistles in a stiff wind, one call brings Wendell back. He lives with the work the same way you live with the chimney.
Chimney Cleaning Services We Offer in North Kensington
Chimney Cleaning & Sweep
We remove creosote, soot, and the squirrel nesting that seems to love North Kensington’s uncapped 1950s flues. Every sweep ends with camera footage you can watch with us, so there is no mystery about what we found. Learn more about our Chimney Cleaning & Sweep in North Kensington.
Chimney Repair
Spalled brick, washed-out mortar joints, a crown that crumbles when you touch it. These fixes are routine here, and we quote them flat-rate before work begins. Learn more about our Chimney Repair in North Kensington.
Fireplace Services
Dampers that have been painted shut, fireboxes with cracked refractory panels, gas logs that have not burned right since the day they were installed. If it sits in or around the firebox, we service it. Learn more about our Fireplace Services in North Kensington.
Chimney Cap & Crown
A missing cap on a North Kensington chimney is an open invitation to rain, raccoons, and every leaf on the block. We install and repair Chimney Cap & Crown - North Kensington systems to shed water the way they were supposed to from the start.
Chimney Liner & Rebuild
The big one, and the repair we find most often on pre-1970 homes in this area. We measure, size, and install Chimney Liner & Rebuild - North Kensington systems from HeatShield and other trusted brands, and we do full rebuilds when the masonry has gone too far to patch.
Neighborhoods We Serve in North Kensington
We sweep chimneys all over North Kensington, from the streets off Kensington Parkway to the subdivisions along Connecticut Avenue, through Wheaton Woods, Homewood, and the blocks bordering Forest Grove. Typical response time across the area is two to four business days during burning season, a little sooner in the warmer months. We are not a call center; the phone rings in our pockets.
- Wheaton Woods
- Homewood
- Forest Grove
- Kensington Heights
- Rock Creek Hills
Why North Kensington’s Climate & Housing Affect Chimney Cleaning
North Kensington’s tight streets are lined with brick colonials and Cape Cods thrown up in the post-WWII rush, most of them between 1938 and 1962. Those homes were built with full masonry chimneys and original clay tile liners that are now 60 to 80 years old, with mortar joints that have been through sixty Maryland winters. The DC metro freeze-thaw cycle is brutal on old lime mortar. Temperatures cross the freezing line dozens of times each season, and every crossing works a hairline crack a little wider. By the time we sweep, we regularly find crown fractures and joint washout that the homeowner has never seen because nobody looks at the top of the chimney until water stains show up on the ceiling below.
The bigger issue, and the one we encounter on the majority of pre-1970 North Kensington chimneys, is the liner. These houses started with coal or oil heat. When gas came through in the 1970s and 1980s, the appliance swap usually happened without relining, because back then nobody flagged it. That left an 8×8 or 8×12 clay flue venting a small gas furnace, which cannot produce enough heat to draft properly through a chimney that size. The result is acidic condensate running down the inside of the flue, eating the mortar from within, and a carbon monoxide concern that Montgomery County inspectors specifically look for. When we clean a chimney in North Kensington, we are looking at this from the first glance, because it is that common here.
Pricing for Chimney Cleaning in North Kensington
Know the number before we arrive. That is how we work. A standard one-flue sweep in North Kensington runs $169 to $289, depending on creosote level, roof access, and whether the flue needs a camera pass. If the chimney has not been swept in years, or there is visible glaze, the price moves up and we tell you before any tool comes off the truck. Cap installation typically runs $150 to $350 for the cap and labor. Crown repair is usually $400 to $900. A full liner replacement, when the old clay tile has failed, can run from $2,800 to $6,500 depending on flue height and liner type. We offer $40 off any repair over $200 and a free second opinion on any written estimate from another company.
Service Area - Cities Near North Kensington
We also sweep and repair chimneys across the nearby Montgomery County communities of Rockville, North Potomac, Redland, and Travilah. If you are a few minutes outside North Kensington, call and ask; we likely have a crew nearby.
Serving North Kensington, MD - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the North Kensington area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Chimney Cleaning in North Kensington
A standard sweep in North Kensington runs between $169 and $289 for a single flue. Add a second flue, a heavy creosote condition, or a roof that requires extra rigging, and the price adjusts accordingly. Call (240) 716-5865 for an exact quote before booking; the estimate is free and the number we give you is the number on the invoice.
Once a year, burn or no burn. North Kensington chimneys collect creosote during burning season and critters during the off-season, and the freeze-thaw cycle keeps working on the masonry year-round. A yearly sweep catches the small stuff before it becomes a rebuild.
Legitimate question, and here is the answer: we will not recommend a liner unless we can show you the camera footage and explain in plain English what it means. If the flue is merely dirty, we say so. If it is an oversized clay tile venting a gas furnace, which we see constantly in North Kensington’s 1950s housing stock, you will see the condensate damage with your own eyes. Nothing is recommended without camera evidence you can watch with us, and nothing is recommended that can safely wait.
First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze, and glaze is how chimney fires start. If you burn wood and the flue is not swept, creosote builds up until a hot fire ignites it. The chimney fire roars like a freight train and cracks tiles, and then you are looking at a rebuild instead of a sweep. In a gas-only North Kensington home, skipping the sweep lets the condensate damage progress unseen. Either way, the cheap fix gets expensive. Call (240) 716-5865 and we will get it done before burning season.
We do it all the time, and it is one of the smartest calls a buyer can make in this neighborhood. Most North Kensington homes on the market have original clay liners and have never had a camera inspection. A Level 2 inspection with video takes about an hour and gives you a fact-based answer about the liner, crown, and flue condition before you sign. It is a lot cheaper than finding out after closing that the chimney needs $6,000 of work.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving North Kensington and Montgomery County since 1999.
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 North Kensington Customers Say
"Wendell has swept our chimney every autumn for six years now. He knows the flue better than I know it and he tells me when it does not need doing, which is not something most trades will admit to."
- Eleanor Prescott"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