Chimney Cleaning

Chimney Sweeps offer a range of safety and maintenance services to help care for your home. We inspect, clean, service and repair a number of areas vital to the structure or safety of your home. All chimneys should be inspected annually and swept when needed to remove byproducts of combustion (such as soot and creosote) and to maintain draft so dangerous fumes can exit your home.

Chimney cleaning equipment is as varied as the people that work in the profession! Most chimney sweeping equipment will consist of specially designed brushes and/or power cleaning tools suitable for both the type of chimney being swept and the type of residue being removed. Industrial vacuums are used for airborne dust control. Drop cloths or other means are used to protect the homeowner's furnishings while performing the cleaning.

The type of chimney and the appliance venting into it will determine how long it takes to sweep a chimney, but a general average is 45 minutes to 2 hours. Inspection of the chimney and documentation may add to the length of the visit.

Should the chimney be swept from the bottom up, or from the top down? Again, this is a matter of personal preference to the technician. Either method is acceptable, and often a combination of each method will be used.

NFPA Chimney Inspection Procedure

Professional chimney sweeps generally offer an inspection service that will meet one of 3 LEVELS OF INSPECTION:

Level I

Inspection is generally considered limited to visible areas of the chimney that don't require tools or ladders. This may be the exterior of the chimney (partially visible from both the inside and outside of the house) as well as the inside of the chimney under some conditions.

Level II

Inspection is a more involved inspection that will include all portions of a Level I Inspection as well as accessible areas of the chimney structure, including areas within accessible attics, basements and crawl spaces. Common hand tools and ladders are generally used, and will include examination of the chimney interior by video scanning or other comparable means of inspection. The inspector should also determine that the flue is properly sized for the appliance venting into it.

Level III

Inspection includes all portions of a Level I and a Level II Inspection as well as examination of non-accessible areas of the chimney structure that are reasonably suspected of containing hazards. Non-accessible areas are those areas that cannot be reached without damage or destruction to the chimney, building or building finish, or areas that would require special tools to reach. Examination of non-accessible areas should be limited to suspect problem areas. In as much as inspection of these non-accessible areas will likely result in damage to the building the inspector and homeowner should discuss these details beforehand.

The NFPA Inspection procedure details for the homeowner and the inspector what parts of the chimney should be inspected under a given set of circumstances. When seeking a chimney inspection, the homeowner should detail the areas he wishes inspected and discuss the costs and invasiveness of each level and its methods