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.
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After
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AfterChimney Cleaning Services in Storrs, CT
A chimney cleaning in Storrs typically costs between $180 and $340 for a standard fireplace inspection and sweep, and most jobs are finished inside of two hours. If you’re seeing soot fall into the living room when the wind picks up, or you can smell last winter’s fires when the house is closed up in July, that’s creosote talking, and it’s telling you the flue needs a look. Call (860) 743-7732 and we’ll get you on the schedule without any phone-tree runaround.
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 Storrs Homeowners Choose Top Hat Chimney
Wendell Pike founded Top Hat Chimney in 1999 because he was tired of watching national franchises rotate through small Connecticut towns, quote one number over the phone, and then invent reasons to inflate it once the ladder came off the truck. That’s not how we work. The price you get before the job is the price on the invoice, period. Wendell puts his actual name and license number on every estimate, and he still answers a lot of the calls himself, usually at hours when most owners have long since turned the ringer off. Around the Eagleville Road and Campus Ridge areas, homeowners have learned that the sweep showing up at the door is the same person whose phone number they dialed. And the 90-Day Done Right Promise means if something isn’t right after we leave, one call brings us back. In writing, on every job, no fine print.
Chimney Cleaning Services We Offer in Storrs
Chimney Cleaning & Sweep
The baseline service is a full mechanical brushing of the flue liner, removal of creosote and soot from the smoke chamber and firebox, and a camera inspection before and after so you see exactly what we saw. In the ranch houses off Hunting Lodge Road, we regularly pull out nests, leaves, and the occasional squirrel stash that accumulated over a season nobody was watching. Learn more about our Chimney Cleaning & Sweep in Storrs.
Chimney Repair
Repair work starts with figuring out what actually failed, and that determination gets made with camera footage, not guesswork. Cracked flue tiles, failed mortar joints, and water-damaged brick all show up plainly on the screen we bring to the living room. Learn more about our Chimney Repair services in Storrs.
Chimney Cap & Crown
The crown is the concrete slab across the top of the chimney, and in Storrs it takes a beating from freeze-thaw cycles every winter. A cracked crown lets water into the masonry, and a missing or damaged cap lets rain, leaves, and animals into the flue itself. Learn more about our Chimney Cap & Crown in Storrs.
Chimney Liner & Rebuild
Original clay-tile liners from the 1950s and 60s are common in Storrs, and after decades of heat and acidic condensate, those tiles crack and leave gaps where heat and carbon monoxide can reach the surrounding wood. We install stainless liners from DuraFlex and HeatShield resurfacing systems when the existing masonry is still structurally sound. Learn more about our Chimney Liner & Rebuild in Storrs.
Fireplace Services
Beyond the chimney itself, we handle damper repairs, firebox tuckpointing, and wood stove flue connections. If the fireplace has become decorative while the heat comes from a stove in the den, both units need annual attention. Learn more about our Fireplace Services in Storrs.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Storrs
We work across Storrs and the immediate Mansfield area. The neighborhoods around the UConn campus, the residential streets off North Eagleville Road, and the older farmhouse sections toward Gurleyville and Wormwood Hill are all within our regular route.
- UConn campus perimeter & Campus Ridge
- North Eagleville Road corridor
- South Eagleville / Hunting Lodge Road area
- Gurleyville & Wormwood Hill
Response time across these areas is typically two to four business days for standard cleanings, with earlier slots available when a real-time inspection reveals something urgent.
Why Storrs’s Climate & Housing Affect Chimney Cleaning
Storrs sits at roughly 700 feet of elevation, which gives it colder winters, heavier snowfall, and a longer heating season than Hartford or the shoreline towns. That’s not a pleasantry, it’s a mechanical fact: your fireplace burns more hours per year here, and every hour of burning deposits creosote on the flue walls. Add the freeze-thaw cycling that comes with the elevation, and you get mortar joints and chimney crowns cracking faster than they do in lower-lying parts of the state. In the mid-century ranch and colonial homes built around campus in the 1950s through 1970s, the original clay-tile liners have taken decades of that cycle. Many of those houses are now student rentals where nobody has arranged a sweep in years, because the landlord doesn’t see the flue and the tenant doesn’t own the fireplace. When we finally get inside those chimneys, we’re routinely pulling out stage-two and stage-three creosote glazing that has no business being there. In Mansfield’s older farmhouses, the issue is different: large masonry fireplaces with original mortar and crowns that have weathered decades of Quiet Corner winters. The mortar spalls, the crown cracks, water seeps in, and the deterioration compounds silently from spring through fall.
Pricing for Chimney Cleaning in Storrs
- Standard open fireplace sweep: $180-$240
- Wood stove or insert flue sweep: $200-$300
- Heavy creosote removal (stage two or three): $280-$340
- Camera inspection add-on (if not already included): $75-$125
We do not charge a trip fee for homes inside our service county, and the senior/veteran discount applies to every quoted price. If you have a written estimate from another company, bring it and we’ll give you a free second opinion before you spend a dollar. Call (860) 743-7732 and we’ll quote the job over the phone.
Service Area - Cities Near Storrs
Top Hat Chimney also serves homeowners in nearby Coventry, Glastonbury, East Hartford, and Manchester. Scheduling is coordinated from our Hartford area office, with crews dispatched locally.
Serving Storrs, CT - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Storrs 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 Storrs
A standard chimney cleaning in Storrs runs $180 to $340 depending on the type of flue and how much creosote has accumulated. Heavy stage-two or stage-three glazing pushes the price toward the upper end because it requires specialized tools and more time. Call (860) 743-7732 for an exact quote, and the number we give you is the number you’ll pay.
Once a year, burn or no burn. Chimneys break in the off-season too, because water intrusion and freeze-thaw damage don’t pause when you stop using the fireplace. In Storrs’s rental-heavy housing stock, the annual inspection matters even more: if you’re a tenant, an uncleaned flue is a fire hazard; if you’re a landlord, it’s a liability that can get expensive fast.
You may not need a new liner. We will never tell you that you do unless the camera inside the flue shows cracked tiles, gaps, or deterioration that we can show you on the screen in real time. If the existing liner is sound, we say so, and we’ll put that in writing. Call (860) 743-7732 and let the camera do the explaining.
Creosote builds up in layers. First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze that can flash over into a chimney fire. When high-turnover rentals and busy family homes defer the sweep, the next cleaning is harder, longer, and more expensive – and sometimes reveals damage that a routine sweep would have caught before it spread. The cost of a clean is far less than the cost of a rebuild.
Yes, and we recommend it. A lot of homes in Storrs change hands with chandeliers, stone walls, and chimneys that haven’t been inspected in years or even decades. We’ll camera the flue, document the condition of the liner and crown, and give you a plain-English verdict. If we find nothing, you’ll get that news. If we find something, you’ll have the footage and a price to fix it.
Contact Top Hat Chimney for Storrs Service
If your chimney hasn’t been swept this season or you’re not sure when it was last inspected, call (860) 743-7732. You’ll get a live person around the clock, an honest conversation about what you actually need, and a written quote before any work begins. Wendell founded this company in 1999 because he believed a chimney sweep should be someone you run into at the hardware store on Saturday, not a call center with an 800 number. Give us a call and you’ll see what that looks like.
Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney.
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 Storrs Customers Say
"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"Honest work and a fair price. The masonry repair took longer than the two weeks he first said because of the weather, which I understand, but I would have liked being told rather than having to ask."
- Isaiah Brantley"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