Before & After Gallery - Level Two Chimney Fairfax

Chimney Cleaning Before & After in Fairfax, VA

Photos do what a thousand promises can’t. Every job we complete in Fairfax gets a documented photo record, Clause 4 of the Haven Standard, so what you see on this page is what our technicians actually found, cleaned, and repaired. No stock images. No staged shots. Just the flue as it was, and the flue as we left it.

Call (571) 443-8256

Recent Transformations

Class III Creosote Removal in a 1980s Split-Level, Fairfax City

The flue liner was carrying a full glaze of Class III creosote, the shiny, tar-like form that burns hot and stubbornly refuses to come off with a standard brush. We documented every foot of it with our camera scan before touching anything. Crew ran rotary rods with a chain whip to break the glaze, then swept the smoke chamber and smoke shelf by hand where the buildup was thickest. The after photo shows raw terracotta again. That’s the standard, not an upsell.

Smoke Chamber Cleaning With Heavy Stage 2 Buildup, Mantua

Homeowner in Mantua called us because the fireplace was drafting fine but had an acrid smell on humid days. The camera found the source: the smoke chamber, the corbelled brick area above the damper, had Stage 2 creosote packed into every ledge. Standard sweeping doesn’t always reach those angles. Our tech hand-scraped each corbel, then vacuumed the debris from the firebox with a HEPA unit. Smell gone, and the before and after photos tell the whole story.

Chimney Cap Replacement After Animal Entry on a 1960s Rancher, Kings Park West

The old cap had rusted at the seams and a squirrel had found the gap. We found nesting material sitting right on top of the flue liner, which is one dry burn season away from a chimney fire. The fix was straightforward: remove the old cap, install a proper stainless replacement from Olympia Chimney with 5/8-inch mesh, and the fireplace was safe to use that evening. We photo-documented the entire removal so the homeowner could see exactly where animals had been getting in.

Flue Liner Glaze Removal on a Two-Story Colonial, Oakton

This Oakton colonial had a flue so choked with glaze the effective diameter was reduced by nearly a third. That’s a drafting problem and a fire risk. The crew spent an extra forty minutes on mechanical removal, alternating between the chain whip and a flat-wire brush sized to the liner. Once the glaze was down, we ran the camera again to check the liner’s integrity. No cracks. That’s the kind of finding we don’t guess at.

Stage 1 to Stage 2 Creosote Buildup on an Open Hearth, Fairfax Station

Fairfax Station homeowner used the fireplace regularly through two winters without a cleaning. The camera showed Stage 2 creosote on the damper assembly and smoke shelf. That’s the point where we recommend a sweep before another fire gets lit. Our tech cleaned the damper, the smoke shelf, the smoke chamber, and the full flue in one visit. The before photo shows a damper nearly black with buildup. The after shows metal.

Furnace Flue Cleaning With Soot Accumulation, Burke

A furnace flue in Burke came back on our camera with soot packing along the bottom third of the run. It happens, especially when the furnace has been cycling hard through a cold Fairfax winter. The crew cleaned the full run, verified it with the camera, and left a written record of the before and after condition. This is Clause 4 in action: if there’s a question about whether the flue is safe, the photos answer it.

Want Results Like These?

Every one of these jobs started with a phone call and a written price before anyone touched the chimney. We don’t do vague estimates and we don’t start work until you know exactly what it costs. If your chimney has been neglected or you’re not sure when it was last swept, call (571) 443-8256. We’ll bring the camera and show you what we find.

Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner at Level Two Chimney Fairfax, serving Fairfax since 2009.