Chimney Inspection
A documented look at the flue, firebox, crown and flashing so you know the real condition.
About chimney inspectionServing Warwick and the surrounding Orange County towns
Chimney Sweep in Warwick, NY
Sweeping, inspection and repair for wood, gas and pellet-burning fireplaces and stoves — done carefully, explained plainly, and documented with photos you get to keep.
- Annual sweeping with HEPA containment, no soot in the living room
- Camera inspection of the flue, crown, cap and flashing
- Repairs quoted from what we actually find, not a menu price
Book a sweep or inspection
Tell us what the chimney is doing. We'll tell you what it needs.
(845) 685-97707 1st St, Warwick, NY 10990
Open 7 days a week, 6:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Licensed & insured · 47 years in business · $69 inspections
Local chimney company
A chimney is a system, and it fails one piece at a time
Most of the chimneys around here sit on houses built for wood heat — Victorians in the village, farmhouses out toward Pine Island, newer construction with prefabricated fireplaces up on the ridges. They age differently, but they fail the same way: a cap goes missing, water gets into the crown, the crown cracks, the liner takes on moisture, and a flue that drafted fine for twenty years starts pushing smoke back into the room.
We sweep chimneys, inspect them properly, and fix what the inspection turns up. One company for the annual maintenance and for the masonry and liner work that follows from it, so nobody has to referee between a sweep and a mason.
If you burn wood, an annual sweep is the cheapest safety work you'll do all year. If you've just bought a house with a fireplace nobody has touched in a decade, start with an inspection before you light anything.
Licensed and insured, 47 years in business, and owned and run by Joseph Ericson. Inspections are $69, and every repair quote comes in writing after we've actually seen the chimney.
What we do
Chimney services for Warwick homeowners
Eight services that cover the full life of a chimney, from the yearly sweep to a rebuild of the top three feet of brick.
Chimney Repair
Crown rebuilds, damper work, firebox repairs and the structural fixes in between.
About chimney repairChimney Liner
Stainless liner installation and relining when clay tiles crack or an appliance changes.
About chimney linerChimney Cap Installation
Caps and spark screens that keep rain, snow, birds and embers where they belong.
About chimney cap installationMasonry Repair
Repointing, brick replacement and rebuilds for chimneys worn down by freeze-thaw.
About masonry repairChimney Leak Repair
Finding the actual entry point — crown, flashing, brick face or cap — and sealing it.
About chimney leak repairFireplace Repair
Firebox, refractory panel, damper and draft problems that keep a fireplace unusable.
About fireplace repairProblems we get called for
The calls that come in most often
Smoke comes into the room
Usually a draft problem: a blocked flue, a closed or broken damper, a cold flue that needs priming, or a house so tight the fire can't pull air. We work through it in order instead of guessing.
Water stains near the chimney
Water rarely enters where the stain appears. The real source is the crown, the flashing, an uncapped flue or a porous brick face — four different repairs, so the diagnosis matters.
Brick and mortar falling apart
Freeze-thaw cycling pulls water into brick, freezes it, and pops the face off. Once the mortar joints are soft, the top of the stack is on borrowed time.
A home inspector flagged the chimney
Real-estate inspections often note a cracked liner or a missing cap without detail. We inspect with a camera and give you documentation the other side can read.
Chimney sweeping
What a chimney sweep does, and how we do it
Chimney cleaning removes creosote, soot and debris from the flue so the chimney can vent the way it was built to. It's the maintenance item that keeps everything else honest: a clean flue drafts better, burns cooler, and lets an inspector actually see the liner behind the buildup.
What creosote is and why it builds up
Wood smoke carries unburned gases, tar droplets and water vapor. When that mixture hits flue walls cooler than about 250°F, it condenses and sticks. The residue starts as a light, flaky soot, hardens into a crusty layer, and eventually becomes the shiny tar-like glaze that's difficult to remove and burns hot when it ignites.
Three things speed it up: unseasoned wood, restricted air (long damped-down burns), and a flue that's oversized or runs up a cold exterior wall. Chimneys on the outside of a house — common on older homes here — stay colder and load up faster than an interior stack.
How the cleaning is done
The flue is brushed from the appliance end, the roof, or both, depending on the chimney. Rotary systems with flexible rods handle offsets and heavy glaze; traditional poly or wire brushes handle standard clay tile and stainless liners. Which one we use depends on what your liner can tolerate — wire on stainless is a good way to destroy a liner, so the tooling is matched to the material.
A sweep visit includes:
- Drop cloths and a sealed fireplace opening before anything else
- HEPA vacuum running during the entire sweep
- Full-length flue brushing, plus smoke chamber and smoke shelf
- Firebox, damper and grate cleaned out
- Ash and debris removed from the property
- A visual check of the accessible system and photos of anything of concern
Signs the flue is overdue
- A quarter inch or more of buildup visible inside the flue or on the damper
- Fires that are hard to start and smell smoky even when they're burning
- A campfire odor in the room on humid days
- Black flakes on the hearth, the roof, or the driveway below the chimney
- Visibly reduced draft — smoke rolling out of the opening before the flue warms up
Wood, gas and pellet
Wood appliances produce the most creosote and get the most attention. Pellet stoves make finer, lighter ash that packs into the vent and the appliance itself, so their venting and exhaust path both need service. Gas appliances leave no creosote but their flues still collect debris and corrode — moisture in gas exhaust is hard on older clay tile and on metal liners that were sized for a different appliance.
Sweeping is not the same as inspecting. Brushing the flue removes what's in it; it doesn't tell you whether the liner is cracked or the crown is failing. That's why we pair cleaning with a look at the rest of the system, and recommend a full camera inspection when anything looks off.
Keeping it cleaner between visits
- Burn hardwood that's been split and stacked under cover for at least a year — under 20% moisture
- Build hot, bright fires rather than smoldering ones; a smoldering fire is a creosote factory
- Give the fire enough air instead of choking it down overnight
- Keep the damper fully open while burning
- Don't burn construction scrap, painted wood, cardboard or trash
Timing your appointment
Late spring through early fall is the easy window — schedules are open and any repair the sweep turns up can be finished before the weather turns. The rush starts with the first cold week of autumn, and if a liner or masonry repair comes out of that visit, you may be waiting while temperatures are already dropping. Booking the sweep for an off-season month is the single easiest way to avoid burning through a season with a chimney you can't use.
Chimney sweeping questions
How much creosote is too much?
Roughly an eighth of an inch of buildup is the point at which sweeping is recommended, and a quarter inch is enough to support a chimney fire. Glazed creosote should be removed at any thickness — it burns hot and is hard to get off once it's thick.
Do you sweep from the roof or from inside?
Whichever gives the better result for that chimney. Many jobs are done from inside with containment and a rotary system; steep or tall stacks, and chimneys with poor interior access, get worked from the top.
Can you clean a chimney with a wood stove insert?
Yes. Inserts often have to be pulled to reach the connector and the flue behind them. Say so when you book, since it adds time to the appointment.
How long after sweeping can I use the fireplace?
Right away, assuming nothing is found that makes the system unsafe. If something is, we'll tell you before we leave rather than in an email later.
Does a gas fireplace need sweeping?
It doesn't build creosote, but the flue still needs an annual look for debris, nesting material, corrosion and liner damage. Gas exhaust is wet and it's hard on older liners.
Chimney safety
Creosote, carbon monoxide and the two things that cause both
Chimney fires start with creosote — the tar that condenses out of wood smoke when it hits a cool flue. It builds up faster when wood is wet, when the fire is damped down for long overnight burns, and when the flue is oversized for the appliance. Sweeping removes it. Burning properly keeps it from coming back quickly.
Carbon monoxide is the quieter risk. A blocked flue, a cracked liner, or a chimney shared with a furnace can push combustion gases back into the house. A camera inspection finds those defects; a CO alarm on every floor is the backstop.
- Burn seasoned hardwood under 20% moisture — split, stacked and covered for a year
- Don't smother a fire down to a smolder for an overnight burn
- Keep a working CO alarm on each level, not only near the fireplace
- Have the flue swept and looked at once a season, even for gas appliances
Local work
Why Warwick chimneys wear the way they do
Winters here run through dozens of freeze-thaw cycles, and that is what takes chimneys apart. Water soaks into brick and crown during a January thaw, freezes overnight, and expands. Do that forty times a winter and mortar joints open, crown cracks widen, and brick faces spall off.
The housing stock matters too. Older village homes often have unlined or clay-tile flues built for coal or open fires, and those flues are frequently the wrong size for the wood stove insert someone added later. Homes out in the farmland deal with more wind-driven rain on exposed stacks, and a missing or undersized cap shows up fast.
We factor all of that into what we look for. A twelve-year-old chimney on a ridge in Bellvale and a hundred-year-old stack in the village need attention in different places.
Chimney sweep pages for nearby towns: Florida, Greenwood Lake, Chester, Pine Island, Sugar Loaf, Goshen, Bellvale.
How it goes
A straightforward appointment
Call or send a request
Tell us the appliance, the symptom and the town. We'll say what the visit involves and roughly how long it takes.
We protect the room
Drop cloths, a sealed fireplace opening and a HEPA vacuum go in before any brush goes up the flue.
Sweep and inspect
The flue gets swept, then looked at with a camera — plus the crown, cap, flashing and firebox.
You get the findings
Photos, plain-language explanation, and a written quote if something needs repair. No pressure to decide on the spot.
Why homeowners call us back
What you can expect
Findings in writing
Photos and notes from every inspection, so you can see what we saw rather than take our word for it.
Clean work
Containment and vacuum on every sweep. The fireplace should look better when we leave than when we arrived.
Local coverage
Based in Warwick, working the surrounding towns. Follow-up visits don't require a two-county drive.
Seven days a week
6:00 AM to 9:00 PM, weekends included, with emergency calls taken and the most urgent job worked first.
CSIA certified, licensed and insured, with 47 years of chimney work behind the company. Owner Joseph Ericson still runs the jobs. Current license and certificate of insurance are available on request before any work starts.
Straight dealing
How we handle the part homeowners worry about
Nobody can see up their own chimney, which makes it easy for a contractor to describe a problem that isn't there. Four things keep that from being a question you have to take on faith.
- You see what we see. Camera stills and photos of every defect, with the location noted, handed over before any repair is discussed.
- Quotes are written and itemized. Never a number said out loud on the roof, never a price that changes once work starts.
- Urgency gets stated plainly. Safety issue, seasonal repair, or watch-it-until-next-year — we tell you which, and we don't inflate the category.
- No obligation to use us. The inspection findings are yours. Take them to another company for a second opinion if you want one.
Start with a $69 inspection
It's the visit that answers the question. You get the camera stills, a written summary of what each component is doing, and a straight answer on whether the chimney is safe to use as it stands.
If repair work comes out of it, that quote is separate and itemized. No obligation to have us do it.
CSIA certified · licensed & insured · 47 years
Questions we get asked a lot
More detail on the full FAQ page.
How often should a chimney be swept?
For a fireplace or wood stove burning regularly through the season, once a year is the standard. Burn more than three cords of wood a winter, or burn wood that isn't fully seasoned, and a mid-season check is worth it. Gas appliances still need the flue looked at annually even though they leave no soot.
Do you sweep chimneys that haven't been used in years?
Yes, and those are the ones that most often turn up surprises: nesting material, a deteriorated smoke chamber, a missing cap, tiles that shifted. We sweep what's there, then inspect before you light the first fire.
Will sweeping make a mess in the house?
It shouldn't. The work area gets covered, the fireplace opening gets sealed, and a HEPA vacuum runs the whole time the brush is in the flue. The soot stays in the vacuum instead of on the hearth rug.
Can you tell me what's wrong before you come out?
Sometimes. Describe what you're seeing — smoke rolling into the room, a stain on the ceiling near the chimney chase, brick flaking onto the roof — and we can usually narrow it down over the phone. What we won't do is quote a repair sight unseen.
Do you work on gas fireplaces and wood stove inserts?
Yes. Inserts and gas appliances both vent through a flue, and both need that flue sized and lined correctly for the appliance. Tell us the make and model when you call if you have it.
Which towns around Warwick do you cover?
Warwick village and town first, then nearby Orange County communities including Florida, Pine Island, Greenwood Lake, Bellvale, Sugar Loaf and Chester. The service area page lists the full coverage.
Get the chimney looked at before the first cold night
Sweeping, inspection and repair across Warwick and the surrounding towns. Call (845) 685-9770 or send a request and we'll get back to you.