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.
Before
After
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AfterFast, Reliable Fireplace Services Across Belmont
Fireplace services in Belmont, MA typically run from $180 for a basic gas fireplace tune-up to $2,800 for a full fireplace insert installation with liner, and most standard service calls are completed in a single visit. If you live in Belmont and your fireplace is smoking, your pilot won’t stay lit, or you’re tired of drafts when the wind blows off the Hill, our Fireplace Services team can diagnose it properly and fix it for good. We’re Hearthstone Chimney Co., and we’ve been serving eastern Massachusetts homeowners for over 42 years. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our Boston office, and our crews work Belmont neighborhoods regularly - from the old Victorians on Belmont Hill to the post-war Colonials near the Waverley border. Call us at (781) 404-3793; a live person answers 24 hours a day, every day.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Why Hearthstone Chimney Co. Is Belmont’s Preferred Fireplace Services Company
Belmont homeowners call us because we’ve earned a reputation for saying exactly what we find and charging exactly what we quote. Our technicians are background-checked and uniformed, and most jobs are completed in a single visit with no-hassle upfront pricing - the number on the estimate is the number on the invoice. We’ve built that trust across Belmont by documenting every inspection with photos our customers can see for themselves and delivering a plain-English verdict, not a sales pitch.
The 90-Day Done Right Promise backs every job in writing: if it’s not right, we come back and make it right, no paperwork and no arguing. That promise is governed by our K.E.Y.S. values - Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. When you’ve lived in your house for twenty or thirty years, you want a company that plans to be around in thirty more. We’ve been here since 1984, and we intend to stay.
Our phones are staffed by a live person 24/7, not a callback queue or an app. If your fireplace is smoking on a Sunday evening or your gas insert won’t ignite on Christmas morning, someone real answers and gets you scheduled for Belmont Chimney Cleaning & Sweep service.
Our Fireplace Services in Belmont
Gas Fireplace Service
Gas fireplaces in Belmont’s older homes often vent into chimney stacks that were built for coal or oil and never properly resized. The result is poor draft, sooting on the glass, and pilot lights that go out when the wind hits the tall stacks on Belmont Hill. Our gas fireplace service includes a full burner and pilot inspection, gas-pressure test, and venting check. If the flue is oversized for the appliance, we’ll show you the camera footage and explain your options - sometimes a Belmont Chimney Liner & Rebuild, sometimes a direct-vent insert. We don’t guess, and we don’t sell you what you don’t need.
Wood Burning Fireplace
Belmont’s Victorian and Colonial Revival homes have some of the most beautiful original fireboxes in Middlesex County, but many haven’t had proper maintenance in decades. Third-degree creosote, cracked firebrick, and deteriorated smoke chambers are common. We clean with rotary brushes and inspect with a Level-2 camera so you know exactly what you’re burning in. If the flue liner is spalling or mortar joints are missing, we’ll document it and give you a straight recommendation - Chimney Repair in Belmont options like joint repair, HeatShield resurfacing, or a stainless liner from Olympia Chimney - with photos you can see and a plain-English verdict.
Fireplace Insert
A fireplace insert is often the right fix for a Belmont homeowner with an open masonry fireplace that’s too inefficient to use or drafts cold air all winter. Inserts seal the firebox, draw combustion air from outside, and put usable heat into the room instead of up the chimney. In a 1920s Belmont home with an oversized flue, an insert with a properly sized stainless liner can solve draft problems that have nothing to do with the fireplace itself. We install inserts from trusted manufacturers and fit them with DuraFlex or HeatShield liners sized exactly to the appliance. Most installations are completed in one day.
Damper Repair
A stuck or rusted damper wastes heat and lets cold air pour into your living room. In Belmont’s older chimneys, throat dampers are often seized solid from decades of corrosion, or the cast iron has cracked. We repair and replace throat dampers and install top-sealing dampers that close tightly at the chimney crown, stopping downdraft before it starts. On Belmont Hill, where wind exposure is worse, a top-sealing damper can make a noticeable difference in comfort and heating bills.
Firebox Repair
The firebox takes the direct heat, and in Belmont’s century-old homes, refractory panels and firebrick are often cracked or shifted. We rebuild fireboxes with professional-grade materials, matching original dimensions and restoring safe clearances to combustibles. Every repair is documented with before-and-after photos.
Fireplace Conversion
Converting an open wood fireplace to gas is popular in Belmont, but it must be done with attention to the existing flue. A gas log set dropped into an unlined masonry fireplace is not the same as a proper conversion. We evaluate the flue size, check for proper venting, and install either a vented gas log with safety controls or a sealed direct-vent insert - whichever suits the chimney and your needs. No shortcuts. Done right, and we stand behind it.
Trusted Brands We Service in Belmont
We stock and install professional-grade materials from brands that other sweeps have to special-order: DuraFlex stainless liners, HeatShield cerfractory resurfacing, Gelco caps and dampers, Olympia Chimney components, Famco venting products, and Copperfield masonry supplies. That means faster turnaround for Belmont homeowners and no builder-grade substitutes. When your damper fails in January or your liner needs repair before burning season, we don’t leave you waiting two weeks for parts.
Common Fireplace Services Problems We See in Belmont Homes
- Multi-flue stacks with no labeling. On Belmont Hill especially, chimney techs regularly find a single large stack containing two or three flues - one abandoned coal-furnace flue, one active gas-appliance flue, and one fireplace flue - with no clear labeling and sometimes improper shared connections added during past conversions. A camera inspection before cleaning is essential because homeowners almost never know which flue does what.
- Wind-driven downdraft misdiagnosed as a fireplace problem. The elevated grade of Belmont Hill exposes taller chimney stacks to stronger prevailing winds, amplifying downdraft problems that homeowners often blame on the firebox or the gas appliance. The real fix is usually a properly sized liner, a chimney cap with wind deflectors, or both - not a new fireplace.
- Oversized flues causing condensation and spalling. Belmont’s housing stock is dominated by early-to-mid 20th-century Colonial Revival and Victorian-era single-family homes whose original masonry chimneys were sized and built for coal or oil furnaces. The vast majority have since converted to gas heat, leaving oversized, often unlined or deteriorated multi-flue chimneys ill-matched to modern gas appliances. This mismatch causes improper draft, backdrafting, and accelerated liner spalling - the defining chimney problem that nearly every Belmont cleaning job surfaces.
- Third-degree creosote in rarely used wood fireplaces. Belmont homeowners who burn only a few fires per season often assume infrequent use means less buildup. Actually, smoldering fires and cold flues produce the worst creosote. We remove glazed creosote with mechanical tools and chemical treatment, then inspect the liner for damage the buildup may have hidden.
Pricing for Fireplace Services in Belmont, MA
Here’s what fireplace services typically cost in the Belmont market:
- Gas fireplace tune-up and safety inspection: $180-$260
- Wood-burning fireplace sweep and Level-2 inspection: $280-$380
- Damper repair or replacement: $340-$620
- Firebox refractory panel replacement: $480-$890
- Fireplace insert installation with liner: $2,200-$2,800
- Fireplace conversion (wood to gas, sealed direct-vent): $1,800-$3,400
What moves the price? Chimney height and access, condition of the existing liner, whether the flue needs resizing for a new appliance, and whether we find unexpected damage during camera inspection. We give you the full price before we start - no surprises on the bill. Estimates are free, and we bring the camera to every evaluation so you see what we see. Call (781) 404-3793 to schedule.
We Also Serve Cities Near Belmont
Our crews work throughout the Route 2 corridor and Middlesex County, including Belmont neighbors in Medford, Winchester, Lexington, and Woburn. If you’re near the Arlington or Cambridge line, we’re already in your area regularly.
Serving Belmont, MA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Belmont 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 - Fireplace Services in Belmont
You almost certainly cannot tell from the basement or the roof, and guessing is dangerous. On a 1920s Colonial Revival on Somerset Street, our tech found a single brick stack holding an abandoned coal flue, an active gas boiler flue, and a fireplace flue with a crumbling clay tile liner. We ran a camera, showed the homeowner the spalling tile and missing mortar joints on the monitor, then installed a correctly sized HeatShield liner in the fireplace flue and a new stainless cap; the downdraft complaints on windy days stopped immediately. Only a Level-2 camera inspection can map which flue serves which appliance safely. Call (781) 404-3793 and we’ll schedule one - estimates are free.
Intermittent smoking on windy days usually means downdraft, not a blocked flue. On Belmont Hill, tall multi-flue stacks built for coal furnaces are exposed to stronger prevailing winds that create downdraft even when a gas appliance and fireplace are correctly connected; homeowners on streets like Somerset and Common often blame the fireplace when the real issue is a flue that needs a properly sized liner. A top-sealing damper or a correctly sized stainless liner usually fixes it. We’ll diagnose it with a camera inspection and give you a straight answer. Call (781) 404-3793 for an exact quote - estimates are free.
Yes. Gas fireplaces produce water vapor and acidic condensation that deteriorates clay tile liners and mortar joints, especially in Belmont’s oversized, unlined flues. The National Fire Protection Association recommends annual inspection of all chimney systems regardless of fuel type. We inspect gas fireplaces with the same Level-2 camera standard as wood-burning units, and we document what we find with photos you can see. Call (781) 404-3793 to schedule - estimates are free.
Third-degree creosote is a hard, glazed, tar-like deposit that forms when wood burns at low temperatures or when the flue is too cold to carry smoke upward efficiently. It is highly combustible and cannot be removed with standard brushing. In Belmont’s older chimneys with oversized flues, cold stack temperatures make third-degree creosote more likely. We remove it with mechanical tools and chemical treatment, then inspect for liner damage. Ignoring it risks a chimney fire. Call (781) 404-3793 for an inspection - estimates are free.
Yes, and it’s often the best solution for heating efficiency and draft problems. The key is sizing the liner correctly to the insert and the existing flue. In many 1920s Belmont homes, the original flue is far too large for a modern gas insert, which causes poor draft and condensation damage. We measure, camera-inspect, and install a properly sized DuraFlex or HeatShield liner with the insert. Most conversions are completed in a single day. Call (781) 404-3793 for an exact quote - estimates are free.
Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Belmont and eastern Massachusetts since 1984.