Chimney Liner & Relining in Burlington
The liner is not chosen from a catalogue. It is chosen by whatever is connected downstairs
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5.0 · 53 Burlington reviews
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CSIA & NFPA certified
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Installed to code
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1-year workmanship warranty
Pricing, before you commit
Nobody can price this from the driveway.
The inside of a flue cannot be judged from outside it. A $149 camera run records the whole interior, and the fee comes off the work if relining follows.
Estimate preview
Live
chimney-liner-relining
Quoted after flue evaluation
Inspection (credited)
−$49
Typical job
Sized to your appliance
Final price quoted in writing before any work.
The craft, done properly
CHIMNEY LINER & RELINING IN BURLINGTON, MA
Start with the appliance, because the appliance decides everything else. Solid fuel gets 316L stainless steel and nothing else. Gas appliances may use aluminum. And the diameter is set by what is being vented — a flue that is too large for its appliance never reaches temperature, never establishes a proper draft, and lets moisture condense inside itself instead of carrying it out.
That is not an abstract concern in a town where gas heating and oil heating are both common. A chimney built around one appliance and now serving a different one is a real situation, and it is the reason we look at what is connected in the basement before discussing what goes up the flue. Not every case needs a liner. The ones that do are identifiable rather than assumed.
The liner itself is the sleeve carrying combustion gases out while keeping heat off the surrounding masonry and framing. Installation includes the top plate, cap, appliance connector, and thimble, code-compliant under NFPA 211. Where the flue tile is damaged but the chimney is sound, a cerfractory coating applied top to bottom is the alternative worth knowing about. A permit is required for most liner installations and appears as its own $1,195 line. Standards in full on our liner and relining service page.
Stainless liner run top to bottom and connected at the appliance
The Work
Nothing about a failing liner reaches the room.
There is no smell, no smoke, and no sound. A cracked flue tile does not behave like a blockage. It simply stops separating hot gas from the masonry and the framing behind it, while everything at the hearth continues to look and feel entirely normal.
Which is why this is one of the few services that cannot be quoted honestly without seeing inside. A camera run is the only reliable evidence, and it is the standard requirement after a chimney fire, after a change of fuel, and during a property sale. It also comes up whenever a new insert or stove goes in, because the appliance needs a flue sized to it rather than whichever one the house happens to have.
Liner work runs from both Massachusetts offices — Wellesley takes the towns to the south, and the state page covers the rest. The local service list is on the Burlington page.
When to book
Signs a Burlington chimney needs relining.
Almost none of this is visible from inside the house, which is precisely the difficulty. Two of the six are events rather than symptoms.
Number four is the one that gets skipped. Replacing a heating appliance is treated as a boiler job, and the chimney it vents into rarely gets a second thought — even though what the flue now has to carry has changed completely.
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Ay, did a great job installing a liner from our water heater to the chimney and repairing chimney flashing. Very friendly and professional.
Robbie Hay
Burlington Client
The Brown Chimney Standard · Burlington
Oil, gas, and what the flue was built for.
Both fuels are common here
Plenty of Burlington homes heat with gas and plenty still heat with oil. That matters more than it sounds: the appliance decides what the flue has to be, and a liner that suits one is not automatically right for the other. We establish what is venting through your chimney before quoting anything.
Sixty-year-old liners are not unusual
Some homes from the town's post-war expansion still have their original clay flue liners. Age alone is not a fault, and we will not tell you it is — but it is worth knowing what is up there rather than assuming.
1-year workmanship warranty
Every piece of structural labor we perform is covered for a full year — in writing, not in promises.
Price fixed before we start
Measured on site, quoted in writing, approved by you — then the work begins. Never the other way around.
What to expect
What happens during a Burlington relining.
Nothing is priced until the flue has been seen on camera and the appliance confirmed. Once material and diameter are settled, most installations take one to two days. Where old clay has to come out first, or the smoke chamber needs attention, that is set out in writing before booking rather than discovered on the day. Permits go through the Building Department at 25 Center Street.
01
Assessing the existing flue
The flue is assessed before anything is quoted. Where the interior needs to be seen rather than assumed, a camera inspection is offered as its own line — you'll know the cost before we run it.
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02
Sizing & material selection
The liner is sized to your appliance and flue. Wood-burning systems get 316L stainless steel only; gas appliances can take aluminum. NFPA 211 sets that rule, not preference or price.
03
Old liner removal
Where a failed liner is already in place, it comes out first — top plate, cap, and full extraction — and the bare flue is re-inspected before anything new goes down.
04
New liner installation
The liner runs the full flue height with top plate, cap, appliance connector, and thimble, code-compliant per NFPA 211. On exterior chimneys and cold climates we'll offer an insulation wrap and price it separately.
05
Connection & documentation
The appliance connection is completed and the installation photographed for your report, with the 1-year workmanship warranty on all labor performed in writing.
For transparency
What relining does not cover.
The crown and the cap. The technician is at the top of the chimney for this work and photographs both, but any repair to them is quoted on its own line.
Masonry repair to the structure around the flue. Where the chimney itself has failed, that is separate work and occasionally has to happen first.
The appliance. Relining sizes a flue to whatever it serves; supplying and fitting the appliance is a different service with a different price.
FAQs
Common questions about chimney relining in Burlington
How do we know if ours needs it?
A camera inspection, and realistically nothing else. Liners fail without producing any symptom in the room, so the only reliable evidence is a recorded run of the full interior. That is $149 and it credits toward the work if relining follows.
We replaced our heating system a few years ago. Does that affect the chimney?
It can, and it is worth checking. A flue sized around one appliance is not automatically right for its replacement, and where the new appliance runs cooler the flue may never warm enough to carry moisture out. It is a straightforward thing to verify and an expensive thing to ignore.
What material will ours be?
Whatever the appliance requires. Solid fuel takes 316L stainless with no exceptions. Gas appliances may use aluminum. Diameter is set by the appliance too, which is why the sizing conversation starts in the basement rather than on the roof.
Is there an alternative to a metal liner?
Sometimes. Where the tile is damaged but the chimney is structurally sound, a cerfractory coating applied from top to bottom can restore the flue without a metal sleeve. It suits some chimneys and not others, and the camera inspection is what decides.
Do we need a permit?
For most liner installations, yes. It is filed with the Building Department at 25 Center Street under the 10th Edition of the state building code, and it appears on your estimate as its own $1,195 line rather than being folded into the price of the work.
Related Services
Often booked with a Burlington relining.
A safer hearth — for 2026
Sized to what it serves.
Every Brown Chimney liner is specified against the appliance it vents, installed to NFPA 211, and quoted only after the flue has been seen on camera. 1-year workmanship warranty on all labor. Call 781-547-7784.