Nor'easters, heavy wet snow and deep cold all test a Boston chimney at once — cracked crowns, tired caps, flue tiles split by freeze-thaw. We check the whole system end to end, show you what failed, and fix it with the right part, not a guess.
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The six services Boston homeowners call us for most — from a wood fireplace smoking into a drafty old house, to a gas insert that quit on the coldest night of the year.
Repair
Fireplace Repair
Any fireplace, any failure — diagnosed first, then fixed with the right parts. Smoke stains, a blower gone loud, a pilot that will not stay lit — if it burns, vents or ignites, we repair it.
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Repair
Gas Fireplace Repair
Our specialty — inserts and log sets fitted into Boston's older fireboxes. Pilot that won't stay lit, dead remote, weak or lazy flame: gas systems diagnosed safely and repaired to code.
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Cleaning & Care
Fireplace Cleaning
Soot, dust and that stale closed-up smell removed from the firebox, glass and burner — the full clean — firebox, flue check, glass and burner — that a hard-worked Northeast fireplace needs.
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Cleaning & Care
Fireplace Inspection
Firebox, flue, venting and controls checked end to end, with a plain-language report. In an older Boston home, it is how cracked flue tiles and soft mortar get caught before they become a rebuild.
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Install & Replace
Fireplace Installation
A new gas fireplace or an outdoor fire feature, done right: sizing, venting, gas and electric runs, finishing — one crew, start to first fire. Gas inserts into existing masonry fireboxes are the Boston favorite — sealed, remote-lit, real heat.
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Cleaning & Care
Fireplace Service & Maintenance
The annual service that keeps a Boston gas fireplace lighting first try: full clean, burner and pilot service, safety sensors tested, and a test fire before we leave.
Get a free estimateNeed something else — a damper, a blower, a smoke problem, a bird in the flue? We cover all 27 fireplace specialties. Call (888) 257-9181 and describe it.
Winter in Boston is long and cold, the housing stock is old, and many chimneys were built before modern flue standards existed. This is what we actually find here, and what we check for on every visit.
Water gets into mortar joints and crown cracks, freezes, expands, and pries the masonry a little further apart every cold snap. By spring the damage shows as spalling brick, leaks and loose tiles inside the flue. Catching it early is a repair; catching it late is a rebuild.
Coastal storms drive rain and heavy wet snow straight at the chimney top, loading caps, soaking crowns and pushing water down open flues. A missing or rusted cap after a storm is not a small thing — it is how water, debris and animals get in. We check the top on every visit.
A tall exterior masonry chimney in a Boston winter holds a column of cold air that pushes down into the room, bringing a campfire smell with it and making the first fire smoky. Priming the flue, a proper top-sealing damper and a correctly sized cap solve most of it — after we confirm the flue itself is clear.
Buying an older Boston home often means inheriting a fireplace with no history at all: no record of cleaning, no idea whether the flue tiles are cracked or the gas conversion was done right. An inspection before your first fire tells you exactly what you have and what it needs.
Boston sits in Suffolk County, and the ZIP list at the bottom of this page covers 32 serviceable ZIP codes — 02108 through 02222. The closest served neighbors are Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, and every one of them is covered by the same crews, the same day, under the same number: (888) 257-9181.
Same-day service, free estimates, licensed & insured — and a fireplace that lights when you click the remote.
At least once a year if you burn regularly — and after roughly every cord of wood, whichever comes first. Fireplaces here are working heat, burned for months, and creosote builds steadily in a cold masonry flue. The cleaning matters because glazed creosote is what ignites in a chimney fire, not because the firebox looks dirty.
Not until a tech has looked at how bad the cracking is. Flue tiles are the barrier that keeps heat and flame off the masonry and the framing behind it, and freeze-thaw cracks them in most older Northeast chimneys eventually. Gaps can call for a liner, which is a real fix, not a patch.
On the inserts and log sets common in Boston, it is usually the pilot assembly, a tired thermocouple or thermopile, or a valve that has aged out — often showing up the first cold night after the unit sat all summer. A tech tests each part in order and replaces only what actually failed.
That is usually downdraft: a tall, cold masonry flue sinks air into the room between fires, carrying soot and creosote odor with it. A top-sealing damper, a clean flue and a sound cap fix most cases. If the smell comes with soot staining or a damper that will not close, have it inspected.
A well-kept insert commonly runs for many heating seasons, and most failures along the way are parts, not the whole unit: ignition components, sensors, valves, blowers and remotes are all repairable or replaceable. We diagnose the exact part first — replacement of the full insert is the last resort, not the first quote.
No — and be wary of anyone who does. Every fireplace fails differently, so a phone price is a guess that changes at your door. Our estimates are free: a tech looks at the actual problem, then gives you one clear price before any work starts.
Fireplace Team is a national company with local technicians serving Boston street addresses across the ZIP codes below — same-day service and free estimates, every day 8 AM – 8 PM. More of Massachusetts is covered from our Massachusetts page. The Boston list below covers 32 ZIP codes, 02108 through 02222.
Don't see your ZIP? Boston also uses P.O. Box and single-organization ZIP codes that have no street addresses — call (888) 257-9181 and we will confirm coverage for your street address on the call.
Also serving nearby: Cambridge, MA · Somerville, MA · Chelsea, MA · Watertown, MA · Everett, MA · Quincy, MA.
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