Chimney Sweep in Endicott, NY

Endicott's Chimneys, Era by Era

The Square Deal Worker Homes

George F. Johnson's company let workers buy homes on company land, with the loan paid off through the shoe company. Those houses went up quickly, and their chimneys were built for coal: big clay flues, soft lime mortar and no cap. Coal is long gone, but the chimney is still there, usually venting a gas boiler that wants a flue a third the size.

An oversized flue on a gas appliance runs cold. The water vapor in the exhaust condenses on the clay, soaks into the mortar joints and freezes in winter. From the street you see white salt stains on the brick and a chimney top that's losing its shape. Inside, the joints between the flue tiles are washing out. A stainless liner sized to the boiler is the fix, and it's one of the most common jobs we do in Endicott.

IBM-Era Ranches and Capes

The houses built for IBM families in the 1940s to 1960s usually have a fireplace chimney plus a separate flue for the furnace. These are 60 to 80 years old now. The fireplace flue is often in decent shape because people stopped burning wood in it, but the crown on top has cracked from decades of freezing and thawing. Water then runs down inside the brick and shows up as a stain on the living room wall.

What Endicott's Weather Does to Brick

The Binghamton area sees about 86 inches of snow a year and around 133 days below freezing, and Endicott sits in the same damp river valley. Brick is a sponge. It takes on water through the winter thaws, the water freezes, and each freeze pushes the mortar and brick faces apart a hair. We see more freeze damage on the north and west faces of a chimney, the sides that stay wet longest.

The river matters too. The September 2011 flood crested a foot or more above the 2006 record along this stretch of the Susquehanna, and plenty of Endicott basements filled up. If yours did, check the base of the chimney and the cleanout door. Silt and standing water in the bottom of a flue can block a furnace vent without anyone noticing.

Types of Chimney Service We Offer in Endicott

Chimney Liner Installation

We install stainless liners for gas and oil furnaces, water heaters, wood stoves and inserts, sized to the appliance and capped at the top. See chimney liner installation for how we choose the size.

Chimney Sweeping

Drop cloths down, the opening sealed, the flue brushed and vacuumed. Our standard sweep is $250 for the first flue and includes an inspection.

Chimney Repointing

We grind out failed mortar and pack in new mortar matched to old brick. Mortar that's harder than the brick makes the brick crack instead of the joint, so we keep it soft on older chimneys.

Crowns and Caps

Fine cracks in a crown get a flexible crown coat. A crown that's broken or loose gets rebuilt with a drip edge so water falls clear of the brick. A stainless cap goes on top to keep rain and animals out.

Chimney Inspection

A basic inspection comes with every sweep. A camera inspection is the one to get when you buy a house or change a furnace.

How a Visit Goes

We call the day before with a time window. When we get there, the first thing down is a canvas drop cloth from the door to the fireplace or stove, and the opening gets sealed with plastic so soot can't drift into the room. Then we brush the flue from the roof or from below, depending on the cap, the roof pitch and the weather.

Once it's clean, we check the flue first. Then the smoke chamber above the damper gets a look, and we walk outside to see the brick and the top. We tell you plainly what's fine, what to watch and what needs fixing. If we find a repair, you get a written price. Nothing gets done that day unless you say so.

Honestly, most Endicott sweeps end with good news. The bad news, when it comes, is usually a crown or a cap, and both are cheaper fixed in October than after a winter of water running down the inside of the brick. Last fall we had three calls in one week from Endicott homes where a missing cap had let a whole season of leaves fill the bottom of the flue.

Endicott Price Guide

Across the river to the south, where the IBM families and later the university crowd settled, we do a lot of fireplace and crown work. Read more on our page for chimney sweep service in Vestal.