The Process

Keeping your house clean while we work is a top priority. At every job we set up tarps to protect your floor and hearth, and use a high-powered vacuum to control dust.  The chimney sweep will close the damper, and then clean the chimney from the top and bottom with the properly sized brush to remove creosote.  If your chimney is more than 25 feet tall, we may clean from the bottom only.  The sweep will brush the smoke chamber (the area above the damper and before the flue starts) with a special chamber brush and a scraper, and then remove all of the creosote from the smoke chamber.  This is a critical step, and unfortunately, one that is missed by some companies. Since the fire is closer to the smoke chamber than the flue, this creosote could ignite and cause a chimney fire if not removed. If you don’t have a cover – birds, bats, racoons squirrels and even bees may make their home inside your chimney. The sweep will also remove any dead animals found in the flue.

Glazed or tar creosote is more difficult to remove than 1st or 2nd stage creosote, and must be done by power cleaning.  This is a different process, and we may have to reschedule in order to do it.

We will then visually inspect your chimney inside and out, and if we can’t see inside the entire flue, we may use our Chim-Scan camera which allows us to view around turns in the flue and the entire flue.  Without a camera, a chimney sweep can’t see long flues or around offsets.  You may watch the TV monitor during this process. You will receive a written report of our findings at the time of the inspection.  If any problems are found, we can provide a written estimate for repairs by email or regular post.

What we look for during inspection: The chimney sweep will look for missing mortar joints between the tile liner sections, unparged or open corbels in the smoke chamber; cracked, blown out, or missing tile liners; puffed or burnt ash creosote that is a sign of a chimney fire; cracked or deteriorated cement crown; fatigued or rusted chimney cover; missing mortar in the fireplace; correct height of the chimney; and note any smoking or performance problems as well as several other items.  Please let us know if you have any draft problems so we can diagnose it at the time of the appointment. 

Note: Chimney fires often occur without the homeowner’s knowledge, and you may have hidden cracks or breaks inside the flue as a result.  The chimney must be relined if damages such as this are found.

WHEN should my chimney be cleaned?  Spring or Summer is the best time to clean – AFTER the wood burning season to remove smelly creosote.  Creosote also eats away at mortar during the summer months, so give us a call after the wood burning season is over.  After 1/4″ or more of creosote has accumulated on the flue walls is when the flue and smoke chamber need to be swept. This usually takes burning about one cord of wood.

Please feel free to contact us if there are any other questions or concerns that we have not properly addressed. We do appreciate the opportunity to serve you.  It is our company mission that we work to exceed our customer’s expectations,

“To Boldly Go Where NO Sweep Has Gone Before!”

We do hope that mission has been met in our service to you.