Before & After Gallery - Top Hat Chimney

Chimney Cleaning Before & After in Annapolis, MD

Anyone can claim their work is clean. The photos below show what actually comes out of an Annapolis flue when Wendell and his crew finish a sweep. We document every job with camera footage, and these before-and-after sets reflect the kinds of chimneys we see every week in neighborhoods from Murray Hill to Cape St. Claire. The chimney doesn’t hide anything when you look inside it.

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Recent Transformations

Third-Degree Creosote Glaze Removal in Annapolis

This fireplace in the Annapolis Roads area hadn’t been swept in over a decade. The flue wasn’t just dirty, it was lined with third-degree creosote, a hard, shiny glaze that grabs a brush and holds smoke like a sponge. In Annapolis, where late fall and winter temperatures swing hard, the heating and cooling cycle bakes creosote into this glass-like layer faster than most homeowners expect.

First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze, and it doesn’t come off with a standard sweep. We ran rotary cleaning rods with a steel whip head to break the glaze free, then followed with a full brush pass and a camera inspection so the owner could see the bare flue tile when we were done. The change in draft was immediate: the fireplace stopped puffing smoke back into the living room on windy days, and the family could finally burn without the acrid smell lingering for hours after the fire went out.

Neglected Wood Stove Flue in Cape St. Claire

A wood stove in Cape St. Claire had been burning soft, unseasoned pine for two winters. Softwood burns cooler and dirtier, and the result was a thick, flaky second-degree creosote coating the entire length of the connector pipe and much of the flue itself. The homeowner called because the stove door was suddenly sticking and smoke was spilling into the room every time they opened it to add wood.

We pulled the connector pipe, brushed it clean on the ground, then swept the flue with a proper poly brush sized for the liner. The creosote came off in sheets, the way it does when it’s left too long. After reassembly and a camera pass, the stove pulled correctly and the door sealed the way it should. The homeowner told us he had been burning that stove for six years and hadn’t realized how much heat he was losing through the narrowed flue until the first fire after the sweep.

Blocked Chase Cover and Rain Cap in Murray Hill

A split-level in Murray Hill had a strange, musty smell every time the fireplace was used. The homeowner assumed it was damp wood. It wasn’t. The rain cap had become a catch-all for oak leaves, a squirrel’s half-built nest, and the carcass of a bird that never made it out. With the cap blocked, the flue couldn’t draw, and smoke had nowhere to go but back down into the house.

We removed the cap, cleaned out the debris, and swept the flue itself. The cap was intact but its mesh was torn, so we replaced it with a new stainless steel unit before buttoning everything back up. A camera scan showed a healthy flue underneath all that mess. The smell was gone the same day, and the fireplace drew so well the homeowner joked it was trying to pull the curtains off the wall. The mesh on a cap isn’t decorative, it’s a line of defense, and once it fails, the chimney becomes a collection point for everything the wind carries.

Fireplace Smoke Chamber Scrub in Hillsmere Shores

Most homeowners don’t know the smoke chamber exists. It’s the invisible funnel above the damper where smoke slows down and swirls before entering the flue. In Hillsmere Shores, we found one caked with years of creosote and a mat of fur from a raccoon that had been using the chimney as a den. The homeowner had never noticed because, from the outside, the chimney looked perfectly normal.

Because the smoke chamber is angled and irregular, you can’t spin a brush through it. We hand-scraped the walls with a wire brush and vacuumed out what came loose, then treated the surface to smooth the corbelled brickwork so smoke moved through without snagging. The before photo shows a black, greasy chamber. The after shows clean masonry with visible mortar joints. The fireplace burned hotter and quieter after that job, and the occasional smoky smell they had accepted as “just how fireplaces are” disappeared.

Off-Season Creosote Removal in Eastport

A homeowner in Eastport called us in July, which surprised even us. Most people think about their chimney in October. But this homeowner had read something about chimney fires happening in winter after creosote was left to sit through the humid Maryland summer, and he wanted it handled before the first cool night. He was right to call. Once a year, burn or no burn. Chimneys break in the off-season too.

What we found was a thick, first-degree creosote layer that had absorbed moisture all spring and glazed hard in places. It hadn’t yet become third-degree, but it wasn’t far off. We swept the flue, scraped the stubborn spots, and ran the camera through to confirm a clean bill. The homeowner avoided what would have been an extensive glaze removal in the fall and paid a standard sweep price for it. Catching creosote in July is always cheaper than chasing it in December.

Liner Residue Cleanup After a Chimney Fire in Annapolis

This one was a close call. A family in the Annapolis area heard what they described as a freight train rumble from their fireplace. By the time the fire department left, the chimney had survived, but the liner was coated in a brittle, heat-expanded residue. A chimney fire never announces itself politely. The flue gets hot, the creosote ignites, and you’re lucky if the only thing you need afterward is a sweep.

We came in, swept the liner thoroughly to remove all the post-fire residue, then ran a camera inspection to assess what kind of damage the fire had actually done. The liner was still structurally sound, which is not always the case. We cleaned it, documented it, and gave the homeowner a plain-English verdict: the chimney was safe to burn, but we recommended scheduling a follow-up sweep in six months to stay ahead of any new accumulation. They scheduled it on the spot.

Want Results Like These?

Every chimney we sweep gets the camera inspection and the plain-English verdict. You’ll see what we saw, and you’ll know what you’re paying for. Call (240) 851-3653 and talk to a live person, no call center, no voicemail tree. We’ll give you upfront pricing, schedule a real arrival window, and leave your chimney looking like the after photos above.

Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Annapolis since 1999.