What To Expect When Expecting A Chimney Sweep

You’ve made the plunge to homeownership and you have prioritized your family’s safety. And, you enjoy a cozy fire all winter long. This means you’ve scheduled a chimney sweep …or you are thinking about it.

Congratulations! This is a key step in ensuring your home’s safety. Your chimney sweep appointment is more than just a sweep, it’s an inspection of your flue, furnace, heat venting, and chimney.

We want you to feel comfortable with the process, so we thought we would walk you through what to expect so nothing catches you by surprise.

Things To Do Before Your Chimney Sweep Arrives:

Please clear the area around the fireplace. This includes removing unburned wood from the firebox and delicate items from the hearth and mantel.
Put your pets in a contained area, if they are easily startled or don’t like service workers in your home.

Most likely, you will be getting a Level 1 Inspection. If your fireplace has maintained regular use with consistent conditions and your appliances haven’t been modified, then the minimum Level 1 Inspection will be performed. The CSIA has set guidelines for Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 Inspection criteria here.

Consider this a doctor’s appointment for your chimney. Your chimney sweep will also talk about your usual routine and usage of your fireplace and heating appliances. If you have any questions, this is a great time to bring it up.

Your chimney sweep will examine the readily accessible portions of the chimney exterior, interior, and accessible portions of the heating appliances and chimney connections. Valley Chimney’s Certified Chimney Sweep® is certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) to look for soundness of chimney structure and flue as well as the venting system installation and appliance connections. They will look to ensure that the chimney is obstruction-free and combustible deposit free.

If your heating system was modified for a new fuel type, the chimney was relined or the heating vents were moved for a home improvement project, you might need a Level 2 inspection.

When Your Chimney Sweep Arrives:

Valley Chimney’s Certified Chimney Sweep arrives at your home, s/he will tarp the work area and assist you in moving items out of the area, if necessary.

The chimney will then be evaluated and inspected. During the cleaning, a special dust collection vacuum will run during the cleaning process.

Chimney Sweep Cleaning List:

• The damper will be removed and the flue cleaned from the roof or from the appliance opening (if possible)
• Fireplace smoke shelf and smoke chamber will be cleaned
• The firebox is cleaned by hand, all debris is removed and the damper is re-installed

If there is tar or glazed creosote present in the chimney, you will be notified that if it is too much for regular cleaning. There are several ways to remove glazed creosote and we will inform you of the options and quote you a price for creosote removal if needed.

And that’s it! Easy breezy beautiful safe fireplace!

When booking your chimney sweep, be sure to choose a Certified Chimney Sweep®. You can put your zip code in on the CSIA website and find one close to you. If you are in the Western Chicago suburbs, you don’t need to look any further. Terry Dearborn is the longest continually certified chimney sweep in America. He and his team at Valley Chimney pride themselves on great work, customer service, and fair pricing.