Winston's Chimney Service

Great. They were prompt for both visits (the assessment and the repairs). They gave an understandable explanation of the state of our chimneys and the available options. When we scheduled the repair work, they were very accommodating of our tight schedule. Performed repairs, and even a bit of extra work connecting to the hot water heater. I would definitely use them again.

The work went fine and they did a thorough job of the service!

I noticed cracks and requested that they give me an estimate for the joints in the firebox. They did an exterior inspection and noticed the damaged bricks and loose caulking along the chemney vertical line. They gave me a written estimate for three areas, the firebox, the brick replacement and the loose caulking on the vertical lines of the chimney. We decided to have it all done and on the 7th they completed the work satisfactorily.

They did a find job cleaning the chimney. I was left with no confidence that they actually performed an inspection on the chimney. They were in and out so quickly. I got a "looks fine." I work from home so I did not have time to press them further and was required to sign off one everything.

They worked quickly and efficiently. At then end of the job, the lead person went over his opinion of what work needed to be done on the chimneys. He showed me pictures and each chimney needed a lot of repairs. It's difficult to know what really needs to be done and what could be done. I will get other opinions before having any costly repairs made.

The Chimney Sweeps from Winston's arrived on time. They were professional, courteous and helpful. They explained in some detail what I should to to prevent smoke escaping into the room from the fireplace. The explanation and suggestions were clear and it was obvious that they were knowledgeable about their trade. They performed the sweep quickly and left my house clean. I will definitely call them next fall to do the annual chimney cleaning.

I wouldn't use again -- they unexpectedly recommended about $7,800 of repairs during an annual chimney sweep. Had 3 other chimney repair companies come out for susequent second opinions: one didn't think the recommended work was necessary; the other two gave us estimates that were less than half what Winston's wanted to charge.

I purchased a cap replacement; however, when they came out, the crown needed to be repaired. They credited me for the cap replacement and did a fantastic job. They even came out later to inspect - found it didn't set right, so they redid the work at no additional cost.

It went well and they were very efficient.

They rescheduled my free inspection by a whole month, which threw off my two estimates from other companies. But the wait was worth it. They suggested a few cheaper alternatives and allowed us to make repairs a la carte, rather than have a minimum amount indexed to spend as did other companies. They arrived early and did good work. We'll use them again in the future as needed.

Rob B. and his colleague were terrific. Arrived on time; very professional, knowledgeable and efficient; answered all my questions; very pleasant to work with. Proposal estimate matched final cost.

Easy - Peezy Arrived on time, had the right equipment, and number of workers, cleaned up. No surprises.

Winston's Chimney service men were professional, courteous, and punctual. Chimney was cleaned and fireplace area was clean following their departure. Would use this service again. However, price should be reduced for prefabricated chimney systems.

Highly recommend Lenny W and Darryl of Winston's of Northern Virginia. Found the company through Angie's List and will definitely use again and refer others to them. They arrived within the 2 hour window I had been given, with a call about 10 minutes before they actually were at the house. Lenny is very knowledgeable about chimneys, liners, fireplaces in general. He quickly assessed and understood and answered my questions. Good inspection of chimneys, both interior and exterior. Cleaned the fireplace/chimney that is in constant use. Thoroughly went over report, pointing out exterior stucco issue.

After cleaning my chimney, they tried to get me to authorize more than $600 in repairs. The chimney is fairly new so I was surprised when they told me what was needed, so I had another professional go up on the roof and inspect the chimney. Turns out that none of these items were needed, and in fact, because my chimney has a copper base, will never be needed. Any company can clean a chimney but I need one that I can trust. I think this behavior is dishonest and I will not be using them again.

We had a chimney inspection from another company and were told the chimney was unsafe to use due to cracks. Got 3 quotes for repair/relining and Winston's came in as the middle price. We liked their plan for relining the best so went with them. They came on time, did not make a mess and it took about a day. They even were nice to my puppy!

We are extremely happy with the work provided by Winstons Chimney. We recently bought a house with a rotting (soft, crumbling brick) chimney. We received estimates from three different companies. Winstons was the only company to do a thorough inspection inside and out. Their estimate was reasonable and they seemed to know chimneys. It took several days for all the work to be completed. The brick matches our house perfectly and since they started at the roof line, you would have no idea that the chimney has been rebuilt. The workmanship is excellent. Winstons did recommend spending an additional $189 for a camera inspection of the flues. We have a flue for natural gas heat, one for the fireplace in the basement, and one fireplace on the main floor dining room. Initially we weren't going to do it, but then decided that since the house was still "new to us", it was better to spend the money to see the actual condition of the flues. It turned out to be money very well spent. The natural gas flue was fine, the basement flue was dirty, but in good shape, and the surprise was the dining room flue was missing mortar and cracked. Winstons recommended not using that one until repairs were made. Had we not paid extra for the camera inspection, we could have caused serious damage to our house if we used the dining room fireplace. Their inspection also revealed a large air gap which would allow carbon monoxide to flow back into the house. They used the appropriate heat resistant caulk/filler to seal the gap properly. Repairing a fireplace isn't a project you can show off, but having the infrastructure of our house repaired correctly gives us piece of mind. If we have any other problems with the chimney, Winstons is the only number we would call.

on time, polite professional. didn't proceed with some other work only because of timing, but will call them back. recommend. don't have informaiton on more complicated repair,b ut will add information after using their services.

Winston's scheduled me on a cancellation, which was appreciated. They inspected and cleaned the chimney which had not been maintained by previous owners. Not a speck of dust on light-colored carpet by the fireplace. Identified cracks in the crown (chimney top). There was some confusion over whether the estimate was for an overhanging cast crown (two-day job) or a crown wash with Portland cement (overwhelmingly prevalent in this area) -- the estimator wrote cast crown but gave the price for a much less expensive crown wash. Winston's withdrew the estimate. I went ahead with a crown wash with waterproofing for the brickwork. Nicely done. The fireplace works well and safely now. Despite the confusion over the estimate, I will look to Winston's for annual service.

They did not secure the chimney covers, causing them the become loose and allow rain to enter units through the chimney. They billed unit owners who were not home for chimney cleaning that were either not performed or not needed. They missed three appointments to correct the shoddy work they performed. The last time they called after the appointment time to say they were on their way -- and became offensive when told that the appoinment was already past and that they had to reschedule. They did not seem to understand that since they missed the appointment, their office was responsible for contacting the customer to apologize and reschedule. This company should not be used at all

The team was here on time and were very thorough. They completed their work reviewed their report with me and were on there way quickly.

Generally quite well, as far as I am able to tell. Chimneys "look" much better, but I won't know how well the water repellant works until we have a decent rain. This is an update to the actual chimney cleaning, and Lymance damper cleaning. Another company came to do some masonry work on the same chimney as the one with the lymance damper. While they were here I asked them about the thick coating of creosote lining the firebox. (I need to come back to this review)

Lenny arrived on time and was professional in both appearance and conversation. He introduced himself to me and proceeded to explain what they would be doing. After finishing the explanation, he and Darrell began setting up for the service. They covered our floors to ensure the ash wasn't tracked through the house and Darrell began vacuuming the wood stove insert. Lenny climbed the roof and began inspecting the exterior of the chimney, taking pictures of issues as necessary. Once he finished inspecting the exterior, he began cleaning the chimney lining while Darrell vacuumed the residue from the insert. After they finished, they cleaned up promptly, explained the issues they found during the inspection and provided a thorough explanation of what needs to be done and the estimated cost of repairs.

The two men who showed up appeared professional. However, things began to go awry when their vacuum had a filter problem, resulting in soot being blown all over my front stoop and into the house. When I saw all of the dust/soot in the air, I went upstairs as I'm pregnant and didn't want to breathe that! I heard the men discussing the fact that the filter apparently wasn't working or had malfunctioned. These things happen, I get it, but they didn't make any effort to clean up the mess - the iron rail along one side of my stoop (the direction that the wind was blowing) was left covered in soot! Good thing Sandy took care of that a few days later! The man in charge then proceeded to tell me that he did not think I should use my fireplace until I had extensive work done to do it as he did not deem it safe. After finding out about this I arranged for two other highly reviewed companies on Angie's List to come out and inspect the chimney. Both of the other companies said that they couldn't find anything wrong with the chimney and felt that it was perfectly safe to use. Glad I got further estimates, as I saved myself $3500! Oh, but one of the other companies I had come inspect said it did look a little dirty, not terrible, but certainly not recently thoroughly swept. I would not use Winston's again in the future.

My initial appointment for chimney cleaning was cancelled by Winston's on the morning that the work was scheduled to be performed due to a mechanical problem with the technician's work van. Winston was able to reschedule on a Saturday that was convenient to me. On the date of the work, the technicians arrived on time, were very friendly, and did a meticulous job cleaning the chimney. They laid down tarps on the hearth and carpeting around the fireplace to prevent any soot/ash from soiling the surrounding areas. Overall, I was extremely pleased with the service performed and, as a past customer of Winston's, will continue to use them again in the future.