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.
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AfterOlympia Chimney Chimney Liner & Rebuild in Boston: What to Know First
An Olympia Chimney liner replacement or rebuild in Boston typically runs $2,800 to $7,400 depending on flue height, liner material, and how much of the surrounding masonry needs work. Most Olympia Chimney jobs we handle are completed in one or two days, and every one of them starts with a camera scan and a written price before any work begins. If you own a home in Boston with an Olympia Chimney system and you’ve been told the liner is cracked, rusted, or missing, this page covers what that actually means and what it costs to fix properly.
We’re Level Two Chimney Boston, an independent Olympia Chimney service provider. We are not affiliated with or authorized by Olympia Chimney, and we don’t pretend to be. What we are is a chimney company that has inspected more than 38,000 chimneys since 2009, and we’ve pulled more failed Olympia liners out of Boston flues than we can count. Call (857) 567-8887 and we’ll schedule a camera-scan inspection with a written scope and a firm price.
How Olympia Chimney Products Fail - and How We Fix Them
Olympia Chimney builds solid liners and venting components, but Boston’s freeze-thaw cycle, salt air, and older masonry put stresses on them that show up in predictable ways. Here’s what we see in the field, and what we do about it.
- Olympia Forever Flex liner pitting at the first elbow. The flexible stainless liners Olympia sells under the Forever Flex line are 316L alloy, which handles gas and oil exhaust well. But in Boston triple-deckers where a liner makes a sharp 45-degree turn into an old smoke chamber, we frequently find pitting and pinholes at that bend. Cause: acidic condensate pooling at the direction change, accelerated by short-cycling appliances. Our fix: replace the run with the correct Olympia liner size, add proper pitch on the connector, and verify draft with a combustion analyzer before we leave.
- Olympia Smooth Wall liner seam separation. The rigid Smooth Wall series uses welded seams, which is good, but we’ve seen seam failures on liners installed in the mid-2010s in South Boston and Dorchester where the original installer didn’t allow for thermal expansion. The symptom is a slow leak of flue gas into the chase, often found only on camera. We replace the section, install an expansion joint if the run is over 25 feet, and document the before-and-after with photos.
- Olympia vent cap wind damage on exposed roofs. Olympia’s standard caps are aluminum and hold up fine, but on three-story homes in Jamaica Plain or Roslindale where the chimney takes direct northeast wind off the harbor, we see bent and torn caps every winter. A damaged cap is not cosmetic. It lets rain in, which eats the liner from the inside and soaks the flue tiles. We replace with Olympia stainless caps when they match the system, or a Copperfield cap when the homeowner wants a heavier gauge.
- Condensation rot at the base of Olympia air-insulated liners. Older Olympia air-insulated liners from the early 2000s, before the brand consolidated its flexible lineup, have a known weakness where the inner and outer walls meet at the tee. In unheated Boston basements, that joint sweats, rusts, and eventually opens. Camera footage shows the rust bloom clearly. We cut out the tee, replace with a current Olympia Forever Flex tee, and document the old part for your records.
- Flue tile collapse behind an intact Olympia liner. This is the one that surprises owners. The Olympia liner looks fine on camera, but the original clay tiles behind it are spalling, cracked, or collapsed. That’s a structural issue, not a liner issue. We’ll rebuild the flue from the smoke chamber up using Olympia-compatible components, then reset your liner. In Boston, we see this most in homes built before 1940 and in chimneys that ran coal before converting to gas.
Our Olympia Chimney Chimney Liner & Rebuild Process
Here’s how an Olympia Chimney liner or rebuild job works when you call us in Boston.
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Call and schedule. A live person answers, 24/7. You’ll get a text when your technician is on the way, with their name and license number.
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Camera-scan inspection. We run an NFPA 211 Level 2 inspection with a camera down the flue. You watch the feed. We show you the creosote class, the liner condition, the mortar joints, the cap, the crown. The camera doesn’t guess. Neither do we.
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Written scope and written price. Before any work starts, you get a written scope of work, a written price, and a written warranty. Clause 1 of the Haven Standard: have it in writing. Not a verbal quote, not a handshake.
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Parts decision. We discuss OEM Olympia Chimney components versus quality aftermarket where it makes sense for your job. If a DuraFlex, HeatShield, or Gelco component outperforms the Olympia part for your specific flue, we’ll tell you and price both. You decide with the facts in front of you.
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The work. Liner replacement, partial rebuild, or full chimney rebuild, done by background-checked, uniformed technicians. We protect your roof, your floors, and your furniture. We clean up the same day.
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Documentation and guarantee. You get a documented photo record of everything we did, Clause 4 of the Haven Standard, and every job is backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not done right, we make it right.
BeforeAfterWhat Olympia Chimney Chimney Liner & Rebuild Costs in Boston
Boston pricing is not Syracuse pricing. Labor rates, roof access difficulty, and the age of local masonry all move the number. Here are real ranges we’ve quoted on Olympia Chimney jobs in the past year.
- Olympia Forever Flex liner replacement, single flue, one story: $2,800-$3,600
- Olympia Smooth Wall rigid liner, two-story Boston triple-decker: $4,200-$5,800
- Liner repair with tee and cap replacement: $900-$2,100
- Partial rebuild (flue tiles plus liner, above the roof line): $5,500-$8,500
- Full chimney rebuild from the roof line up, Olympia liner included: $7,000-$11,500
What moves the price: roof pitch and access, whether scaffolding is required, flue height, and how much of the surrounding masonry has failed. We write the price before work starts, and it does not change unless you change the scope. Bring us a competitor’s written estimate and we’ll give you a free second opinion on it. Call (857) 567-8887 for your written quote.
Why Boston Homeowners Call Level Two Chimney Boston for Olympia Chimney Work
Corrine Halstead built this crew on a single habit: writing the price down before the work starts. She grew up in Queens, learned flue measurement and liner assessment at BOCES Rockland before she ever set foot on a Boston roofline, and spent years running inspections on the older triple-deckers along Dorchester Avenue. That’s where she learned that Boston chimneys built in 1910 don’t fail like chimneys built in 1995, and that Olympia liners installed wrong in a 1910 flue will fail inside of five years.
We’re not the longest-running company in Boston and we won’t pretend to be. What we are is the company that shows you the camera footage, writes the price, and stands behind the work for 365 days. We service Olympia Chimney systems every week, and we also work with DuraFlex, HeatShield, and Gelco components when they’re the better call for your flue. You get the right part, not the part we happen to stock.
FAQs
In most cases, no. Olympia Chimney warranties cover manufacturing defects in their components, not installation workmanship. If your liner failed because of a manufacturing defect, you may have a claim with Olympia directly. If it failed because of installation error, weather, or age, the warranty typically does not apply. We document everything with photos and provide written notes explaining what we found, which helps if you decide to pursue a warranty claim. Call (857) 567-8887 and we’ll walk you through what your specific situation looks like.
A properly installed Olympia 316L stainless liner in a well-maintained Boston flue lasts 15 to 25 years. In a flue with existing masonry damage, sharp bends, or a wet chimney, we’ve seen them fail in under a decade. The single biggest factor in Boston is water. A cracked crown or missing cap lets water sit against the liner, and once rust starts, the liner is on borrowed time. Camera scans show the rust early, before it becomes a safety issue.
It depends on where the damage is. Small pinholes at a single spot can sometimes be sealed with a HeatShield resurfacing system. But if the liner has separated at a seam, rusted through at the tee, or pitted across multiple feet, replacement is the honest call. We’ll show you the camera footage and let you see the damage yourself before we recommend replacement. If it can safely wait, we’ll tell you that too.
Most single-flue Olympia liner replacements are done in one day. Partial rebuilds usually take two to three days depending on scaffold setup and masonry drying time. We book Boston jobs based on the condition of your flue, not the season. If your camera scan shows a fire or carbon monoxide risk, we’ll flag it directly and schedule accordingly. Call (857) 567-8887 and a live person will give you a straight answer on scheduling.
You get a written scope of work, a written invoice with a line-item breakdown, the written warranty, and a photo record of the work done. Clause 4 of the Haven Standard requires the camera documentation on every job, and we’ve kept that archive running since 2009. That means if you sell your Boston home in five years, you can show the buyer exactly what was done inside the flue. Not a receipt with no context. Photos of the actual work.
You only need a full rebuild if the masonry itself has failed. A liner replacement fixes the exhaust path. A rebuild fixes the structure. In Boston, the most common trigger for a rebuild is spalling brick above the roof line, where decades of freeze-thaw have turned the mortar to powder and the bricks have started to crumble. If the bricks are solid and the flue tiles are intact, a liner replacement is usually sufficient. We won’t recommend a rebuild unless the camera and the masonry tell us it’s necessary, and we’ll show you why.
If you own an Olympia Chimney system in Boston and you want a straight answer about your liner, call (857) 567-8887. You’ll get a live person, a camera-scan inspection, and a written price before any work starts. The camera doesn’t guess. Neither do we.
Written by Corrine Halstead, Owner, Level Two Chimney Boston at Level Two Chimney Boston, serving Boston and nearby areas.