Hearth-to-Cap Sweeping
The whole run brushed clean, bottom of the firebox to the lip of the cap, with the soot collected under filter the entire time.
- Brush heads matched to the flue
- Smoke shelf & damper done by hand
- Shroud over the opening indoors
Arlington Center • East Arlington • The Heights • Old Menotomy
This Town Has Kept Fires Since 1635. We Keep the Chimneys Above Them.
From center-chimney colonials older than the country to the two-families the streetcars built, Arlington heats around masonry that has earned some attention. We sweep it, point it and rebuild it — and looking in on it costs you nothing.
- Insured, vetted techs
- The look-in is free, always
- Verdict in person, plain words
- Figures fixed before work begins
FREEEvery look-in, no exceptions
27+Years at work around Menotomy
3800+Flues looked in on & set right
$149The written report, if ordered
The Workbook
Eight Trades for a Town of Old Chimneys
Colonial cores, streetcar two-families, postwar capes — each era of Arlington housing asks something different of the trade, and the same crew of ours answers all of it.
Free Look-Ins & Flue Scoping
The no-cost look at the whole chimney, plus a scope run down the flue when a sale or an odd symptom calls for pictures instead of opinions.
- The look-in — free of charge, always
- Scope runs for sales & strange drafts
- $149 written report, order-only
Center-Chimney Rebuilds
The colonial center chimney is the keel of the house. When one starts failing we take it down only as far as truth requires and lay it back the way its first masons did.
- Lime mortars for pre-modern brick
- Beehive ovens & multiple hearths kept
- Partial mends before whole rebuilds
Repointing Streetcar-Era Brick
The two-families and capes of the trolley years are pushing a century, and their joints show it. Failed mortar comes out to sound depth and goes back matched, not merely close.
- Raked joints, faces left unscarred
- Mortar toned to the standing wall
- Chimney, porch piers & steps alike
Chase Tops, Caps & Crowns
The top of the stack meets every storm first. Crowns re-formed to shed water, stainless caps fastened for wind, chase tops replaced before rust finishes them.
- Crowns pitched with a proper drip edge
- Caps sized to the flue, screened tight
- Rusted chase tops swapped for stainless
Flashing, Ice Dams & Leaks
February stains near the chimney usually mean the flashing lost an argument with an ice dam. We track the water to its actual door, then re-work the metal and the joints around it.
- The entry proven before the estimate
- Step flashing re-let into the brick
- Breathable repellents where they help
Relined Flues in Stainless
Cracked tiles and never-lined flues belong to another century. A continuous stainless liner, sized to what it vents, brings the flue up to this one.
- One correct liner per appliance
- Heating flues brought up to code
- Insulated where the listing says so
Two-Family Stacks & Hearths
Shared stacks, twin hearths, one chimney doing double duty — checked flue by flue, mended unit by unit, with findings split cleanly between owners.
- Every flue in the stack, one visit
- Fireboxes relaid in heat-rated brick
- Findings itemized per unit
The Punch List
Seven Items Old Chimneys Add to Their Own Punch List
A chimney writes its complaints where anyone can read them. Catch the item while it's small and it stays a line, not a project.
- Smoke that thinks it over before risingDraft trouble — a blockage, a tired damper, or two flues at odds in one stack.
- Sand collecting at the chimney's baseThat sand was mortar last year. The joints are emptying out.
- White frost-lace on summer brickMinerals hauled out by water living in the wall — in July, that's a confession.
- The February ceiling stain, back againIce dam meltwater riding in along the flashing. It keeps the same calendar every year.
- A gloss like poured tar up the flueCreosote in its final, most flammable form. The fireplace rests until it's out.
- Brick faces in the driveway after a thawSpalling. Each freeze peels the wall a little deeper.
- Nobody remembers the sweep before youFor a chimney this age, memory is maintenance. One call restores both.
Start to Finish
Four Stops Between Your Call and a Sound Chimney
A short route, ridden in order — no detours through pressure or padding.
1
Pick Up the Phone
Describe the house and the symptom to somebody fluent in both. Choose a window while you're at it.
2
The Look-In
The whole chimney, inside and up top, looked in on free — and the verdict handed over in person.
3
Numbers You Can Hold
Each finding priced on its own line, urgent work ranked first. The figures keep while you decide.
4
Swept Up & Squared Away
The work done properly, the site left spotless, and the craftsmanship guaranteed on paper.
Ahead of the Cold
The First Frost Never Calls Ahead. You Can.
Every October the calendar fills with the whole town at once. One call now puts the free look-in behind you, the numbers in your hand, and the first fire of the season worry-free.
(781) 272-0732
The Day Book
What the Trucks Brought Back This Season
Pages from the day book — sweeps, crowns, caps and courses from the Center out to the town lines.
The Towns
Home Base on Dudley St, Range to the Town Lines and Past Them
The shop sits just off the middle of town; the routes ride out along Mass Ave and the side streets to the neighbors on every border.
- Arlington Center
- East Arlington
- Arlington Heights
- Jason Heights
- Morningside
- Turkey Hill
- Lexington
- Winchester
- Belmont
- Medford
- Cambridge
- Watertown
- Waltham
- Woburn
- Stoneham
- Melrose
On a street we didn't name? Call (781) 272-0732 — the town lines are suggestions, not fences.
Over the Fence
The Questions Arlington Asks, Answered Without Hedging
What's free here and what isn't?
The look-in is free — hearth, damper, flue run, crown, cap and the outside brick, looked in on by a tech who then gives you the verdict in person, no charge, no strings. The report is not free: findings written out with photographs, for closings, insurers or your own files, run $149 and are assembled only when ordered. Free look, priced paper — the whole arrangement in one sentence.
Our two-family shares one stack. Whose problem is it?
Both units', practically speaking — the classic Arlington two-family sends a separate flue from each floor up a single chimney, and trouble in one flue tends to visit the other. We check every flue in the stack on one visit and split the findings by unit, which shortens the conversation between owners considerably.
We've got a center-chimney colonial. Different animal?
Entirely. The center chimney is the structural heart of the house — several fireplaces feeding one massive core, sometimes with a beehive oven hiding in it. It wants lime-based mortar and patience, not modern shortcuts. We work them the way they were first laid, so the house keeps something solid to lean on.
What do ice dams have to do with my chimney?
Plenty. Ice on the roof loves the warm strip beside a chimney, and when the melt finds tired flashing it walks straight inside along the stack. If a ceiling stain reappears near the chimney every February, put the flashing and crown on the suspect list before blaming the shingles.
How often should the flue get swept around here?
Once per heating season for a fireplace in steady use, plus a check any autumn the flue sat idle since spring. Furnace and boiler flues deserve their own annual look — their failures arrive as fumes rather than smoke, and quietly.
We're selling. What can you have ready, and how quickly?
Sales go to the front of the book. The free look-in lands within a couple of days, a camera run happens whenever the sale calls for footage, and the $149 written report lands within one business day of the order — set out so attorney, lender and buyer each pull their piece without a follow-up call.
Insured? Who actually does the work?
Fully insured, certificate sent ahead of the appointment whenever you ask. The techs on your roof are our own vetted people — the job never gets handed to a crew you didn't hire.
Will the sweep leave a mess?
No. Cloths line the path, the opening is sealed behind a shroud, and a filtered vacuum runs start to finish — call it an hour for a routine sweep. The soot leaves in the machine; the room stays yours.
The Shop on Dudley St
Call, Describe, Book — the Whole Errand Takes Minutes
No forms and no hold music. The person answering knows the difference between a draft problem and a masonry one before you finish describing it.
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The phone(781) 272-0732
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The shop40 Dudley St, Unit C
Arlington, MA 02476 -
The rangeArlington & the towns on every border
Shop hours
- Mon – Fri
- 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
- Sat – Sun
- Closed — messages keep your spot
A chimney hand on the line
Say What the House Is Doing. Hear What It Needs.
The smell after a fire, the stain that returns each winter, the closing three weeks out — describe it once, and before you hang up you'll know whether it needs a visit and about what the remedy weighs.
(781) 272-0732 Tap to Call the ShopWeekdays, 7 AM – 7 PM
Weekend messages head Monday's list
How the call goes
- Tell us the house — colonial, two-family, cape — and the symptom.
- Hear honestly whether it needs a truck at all.
- Pick a window that suits the household.
- The look-in is free; the only priced paper is the $149 report.