Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Masonry repair
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 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.
Fast, Reliable Chimney Sweep Across Converse
A chimney sweep in Converse, TX typically runs $189 – $289 for a standard open-masonry fireplace, and most jobs are finished in under two hours. Prefab or zero-clearance units in Converse’s newer subdivisions usually fall between $229 and $329 because they require different brushes and a closer inspection of the metal flue. If you’re seeing smoke roll back into the living room or you can’t remember the last time anyone looked inside the flue, call (254) 276-4116 and we’ll get you a written price before anyone picks up a brush.
We work throughout Converse, from the older ranch homes near FM 78 to the newer builds off Loop 1604, and we know this city’s chimneys better than most because we’re here every week. The hot, humid summers and sudden January cold snaps create a specific set of problems here, and we’ll tell you exactly what we find, with photos, before we recommend anything.
Why Hadley Chimney San Antonio Is Converse’s Preferred Chimney Sweep Company
Hadley Chimney Sweep has carried a chimney brush across Bexar County since 2003, and Converse homeowners call us for a simple reason: we show up when we say we will, and we hand you a written price before the first tool leaves the truck. No four-hour windows. No “while we’re up there” surprise add-ons. Our crews are background-checked, uniformed, and dispatched from our San Antonio office, which puts Converse jobs about 20 to 30 minutes from our front door.
Every sweep we do in Converse comes with what we call The Relay Visibility Guarantee: live arrival tracking, before-and-after photos of the flue and firebox, and a digital invoice you can pay from your phone. Our techs work with brands like DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Olympia Chimney, so if the sweep turns up a cracked flue tile or a rusted damper, we’re quoting a repair with parts that will actually last, not whatever is cheapest on the truck. Cory Mitchell leads our field team, and he holds every tech to one standard: if we wouldn’t put our name on the report at our own house, we don’t leave it at yours.
We answer our phones with a live person around the clock. That matters when a wasp nest lets go in October and three rooms of your Converse home smell like smoke at 8 p.m. Call (254) 276-4116, and you’ll talk to a human, not a queue.
Styles & brands we work with
Fireplace Cleaning in Converse
Fireplace cleaning in Converse often means removing more than ash. Fireplace Cleaning here usually means pulling hardened creosote from the flue, clearing animal debris from the smoke chamber, and vacuuming out the firebox so the first fire of December doesn’t fill the house with smoke and your family with a headache. Most Converse homes have open-masonry fireplaces in the front living room, and a thorough cleaning costs between $189 and $289. If your home has a prefab metal fireplace, which is more common in subdivisions built after 2000 near areas like Escondido and Meadowbrook, expect $229 to $329.
Creosote and Soot Removal
The flammable tar buildup that makes chimneys a fire risk, creosote, forms differently in Converse than it does in wetter parts of Texas. Because the region swings between long droughts and burn bans, fireplaces sit idle for months, letting creosote harden into a glassy second-degree layer. A single cold snap then bakes that layer into a stubborn third-degree tar glaze. That’s not a quick dusting. It needs chemical treatment or mechanical removal.
Annual Sweep and Inspection
An annual sweep in Converse is the cheapest insurance you’ll buy for your fireplace. In one visit, we sweep the flue, check the cap and crown for storm damage, and give you a Level 1 inspection report, with photos, so you can see exactly what we saw. If severe weather or a real estate transaction requires a deeper look, we also perform Level 2 inspections with a camera.
Chimney Services in Converse
Chimney services in Converse go well beyond running a brush. Chimney Services here means diagnosing why water pools in your firebox after a hard rain, why a damper won’t seal, or why smoke backs up the moment the wind shifts. Most Converse repair jobs start at $350 and rise depending on what the camera finds, and you’ll always know the number before we start. If a flue liner has spalled or a crown has cracked across the top, we’ll show you the photo, explain what it means in plain English, and give you a fix-it-now price and a wait-until-spring price. You decide, not us.
Cap, Crown, and Flashing Checks
Storm exposure around Converse is brutal on chimney tops. Hail cracks crowns, wind shifts caps, and humidity rusts out builder-installed metal. There is a reason so many Converse homes have water stains on the ceiling near the fireplace, and it’s almost always flashing or crown failure. We’ll check all three during every visit.
What happens when you call
- 1
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.
Trusted Brands We Service in Converse
We stock and install parts from DuraFlex flexible liner systems, HeatShield ceramic repair compound, Gelco chimney caps and dampers, and Olympia Chimney firebox panels. When a Converse home needs a new cap or a partial liner, we’re not waiting a week on a supplier; the part is on the truck or at our San Antonio shop within a day. That means faster turnaround for Converse customers and a repair that’s built to handle Bexar County’s hailstorms, not just the pretty months. We use what we use because we’ve seen it hold up here, and we warranty every repair in writing for 365 days.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Sweep Problems We See in Converse Homes
- Rusted-out builder caps: Most original caps on Converse homes built in the 1990s and early 2000s were thin galvanized metal. Combined with humidity and a few hailstorms, they rust through in as little as ten years, letting rain pour straight into the flue and rust out the metal firebox below.
- Hardened third-degree creosote: After months of drought-driven burn bans, fireplaces sit unused and creosote hardens rather than flaking off. When homeowners rush to light a fire during a January cold snap, the rapid heat turns that hardened layer into a glaze that a standard brush cannot remove.
- Wasp and bird debris in uncapped flues: In neighborhoods like Escondido and Meadowbrook, the long warm season gives wasps months to build nests inside uncapped or broken-cap chimneys. We routinely pull out nests that fully block the smoke chamber, sending smoke and dangerous gases back into the living room on the first cold night.
- Water-streaked fireboxes and spalled liners: Converse gets sudden, heavy downpours, and a cracked crown sends water down the inside of the flue instead of off the roof. We see the result as spalling clay tile, rust streaks on firebox walls, and a white efflorescence on the brick face.
Pricing for Chimney Sweep in Converse, TX
A standard open-masonry chimney sweep in Converse runs $189 – $289. Prefab metal chimneys and zero-clearance fireplaces, which are more common in newer subdivisions near Loop 1604, start at $229 and can reach $329 depending on flue height and creosote condition. If your flue is glazed with third-degree creosote, expect an additional $75 – $125 for chemical treatment or mechanical removal, and we’ll tell you before we start, not after. The wild card is the cap and crown: many Converse homes need a new cap or crown seal, which typically runs $150 – $450, and that’s the part of the estimate that surprises people. But you’ll see it in the written quote before work begins, with a photo. Estimates are free. Call (254) 276-4116 and we’ll come out, look, and tell you straight.
We Also Serve Cities Near Converse
Our crews book the same week in Converse, and we route daily into Converse from adjacent service areas. If you have family in San Antonio or a rental in Floresville, the same live-person number, (254) 276-4116, covers it. You can learn more about our process on our Chimney Sweep hub page, where we walk through exactly what happens from the moment you book to the final photo report.
Serving Converse, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Converse 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 About Chimney Sweep in Converse
Long burn bans and drought mean Converse fireplaces sit unused for months, letting creosote harden and lose moisture instead of flaking away naturally during regular use. When the ban lifts or a January cold snap hits, a burst of first fires bakes that hardened creosote into a glassy tar glaze that standard brushes can’t remove and often requires chemical treatment or mechanical removal, adding $75 – $125 to the sweep. Call (254) 276-4116 and we’ll tell you honestly whether your flue can be swept normally or if it needs the heavier treatment.
A cap can look intact from your driveway and still have rusted seams, a bent top, or a cracked crown beneath it that’s letting water pour down the flue. Converse’s humidity and hail accelerate that rust invisibly, and the only way to see it is from the roofline with a camera. We’ll take a photo of what we find and show it to you before recommending any repair.
It’s both. The nest has to be removed as part of the sweep, but unless we also replace or repair the cap, the wasps will rebuild it in the same spot before spring. We see this constantly in Converse’s newer subdivisions, where builder-installed caps are often missing or rusted through. The fix is a stainless-steel cap with proper screening, and we quote that as a separate line item.
A brown ceiling stain near the fireplace in a Converse home almost always means water is getting past the flashing or through a cracked crown and running down the chimney chase. The water may be pooling in the firebox or soaking the wall around the flue, and if it’s been happening for a while, the metal flue liner may be rusting from the inside. We’ll check the flashing, crown, and chase top during the sweep and show you photos of any failure points.
Yes, and waiting until the first cold snap is the most expensive time to call. A fireplace that’s been idle for years in Converse is often full of bird debris, wasp nests, or hardened creosote, and a rusted cap may have been letting rain in the whole time. A $189 – $289 sweep now tells you whether that first fire will be safe or whether you need a liner repair before you ever strike a match. Call (254) 276-4116 for a free estimate and we’ll give you a written price before any work begins.
Written by Cory Mitchell, Owner at Hadley Chimney San Antonio, serving Converse since 2003.