A century of coal, oil and gas has moved through this borough's flues, and most of them have outlived the people who built them. From our shop on 5th Avenue we sweep, reline and repoint the stacks of Park Slope brownstones, Bed-Stuy rowhouses and everything with a chimney in between — at whatever hour the problem announces itself.
Brooklyn chimneys are their own trade — shared stacks, landmark facades, boilers venting through Victorian flues. This is the work our vans do every day, and every night the borough asks for it.
Old flues shed mortar, soot and the occasional pigeon nest into narrow, crooked runs. We rod them full length with the fireplace sealed off and a filtered vacuum protecting the parlor floor.
The tech works the entire system and tells you the verdict on the spot, free, at any hour. Need the findings as a document with photos — for a board, a closing, a claim? That version is $149.
A hundred winters of freeze and thaw will bring any stack to its knees. We rebuild from the flashing up in brick that honors the streetscape — because on a Brooklyn block, the roofline is public property.
Joints on a pre-war facade fail quietly, then all at once. Our masons cut out the dead mortar and repoint with mixes soft enough for old brick and brownstone — the hard modern stuff destroys both.
An open flue in this city collects rain, soot fall and pigeons in roughly equal measure. Stainless caps, poured crowns and fitted cover plates close the top without strangling the draft.
When water shows up two floors below the roof, the chimney is the first suspect. We follow the trail to the actual breach — flashing, crown or brick face — and close it for good, not for one season.
Half the borough's boilers exhaust through flues built for coal grates. Insulated stainless liners bring those runs up to code and keep carbon monoxide moving in the only acceptable direction: out.
Sealed-up fireplaces reopened, tired fireboxes relaid, dead flues brought back to life — the fireplace a listing calls "decorative" can very often burn again, done properly and checked first.
In houses this old, the difference between a service call and a gut repair is usually just who noticed first.
Everything is agreed out loud before it happens — the visit, the price, the plan. That's the entire method.
Whoever picks up has worked a flue. Describe it — parlor fireplace, boiler stack, mystery smell — and get a straight read.
Top to bottom, the system gets examined and the verdict delivered face to face. Paper version with photos, if required: $149.
Work, if any, is quoted line by line — urgent first, cosmetic last — and the number you approve is the number you pay.
Containment down, filtered vacuum running, debris carted out, warranty in hand. The parlor looks untouched.
One call from the couch, a truck from 5th Avenue, and eyes on the whole system for exactly nothing — morning, evening or the middle of the night.
(929) 560-2437Sweeps, relines, rebuilds and reopened hearths, photographed between boroughs of soot.
Based at 667A 5th Ave in Park Slope; working wherever Brooklyn keeps a flue.
Edge of the borough or just over it? (929) 560-2437 — worst case, we say it's out of range, which hasn't happened yet.
There isn't one, but there is an asterisk, and here it is in plain terms: a tech examines the entire system and tells you exactly what was found, free, at any hour. If those findings need to become a document — photographs and written conclusions that a co-op board, closing attorney or insurance adjuster will accept — the documented report costs $149. The spoken version and the paper version describe the same chimney; only one of them is billable.
Truly. This borough heats through the night — boilers push exhaust up hundred-year-old flues while everyone sleeps, which is exactly when a blocked run turns dangerous. The number reaches a person around the clock, and real emergencies get a van, not a callback window.
Join the club — half our calls start that sentence. Pre-war flues are often bare brick or cracked terracotta doing modern work they were never designed for. Since looking costs nothing here, the sensible move is obvious: have it examined before the heating season leans on it, and decide from facts instead of hope.
Structurally, often both of yours — party-wall stacks carry flues from attached houses side by side. We scope the runs to establish which flue serves which building, then split the diagnosis honestly. Where repairs touch shared masonry, we'll walk both owners through it so the cost lands where it belongs.
Routinely. Liability and workers' comp are current, and certificates naming your building go out by email before the visit — most Brooklyn co-ops and condos won't unlock roof access without one, so we treat it as a standard step, not a special request.
It doesn't. The opening is sealed under containment before any rod moves, runners guard the floors, and a filtered vacuum stays on the whole visit. Original mantels and surrounds get wrapped. About an hour later, the only evidence is a clean flue.
Emphatically yes — general home inspectors look at a chimney; they don't look inside it. For a purchase you'll want the $149 documented report, since nobody at a closing table acts on a verbal opinion. It's a small line item against a six-figure decision, and it has re-priced more than one deal.
Smoke or exhaust entering living space, any suspected flue fire even if it seems out, brick falling from the stack, water actively coming through, or animals trapped in the run. Say "emergency" when you call (929) 560-2437 and dispatch treats it that way. Active flames or suspected carbon monoxide in the home? Everyone out first, 911 first — we're the second call.
Ten digits, answered by someone who's been up a Brooklyn chimney. That's the entire intake process.
Parlor fireplace, boiler stack, "decorative" flue you'd love to light — say what you've got and get an honest read before anyone rings your buzzer.
(929) 560-2437 Tap — The Line Is LiveOpen every hour of every day
Emergencies go to the front of the board