Chimney cleaning - am I being reasonable?

[lsirois]

I had my chimney cleaned in October. The two individuals that did the job swept the chimney from the bottom-up and, after I asked why, explained to me that it would be too dangerous to do it from the top-down because it was raining quite heavily outside. The also ran the brush up and down once. That was it..done.... This seems like a professional company. They are the ones who installed my stove and did it well. I am not an expert, but I expected them to do a top-down sweep and at least run the brush up and down a few times. The stainless flue could not have been that dirty (burned 2 cords), but I still felt short changed. I complained and the owner quickly replied and offered to re-sweep the chimney at no charge.

So, am I being reasonable here? What should I have expected?

 

[BrotherBart]

As far as I am concerned a professional chimney sweeping includes inspecting the chimney and cleaning the cap. Neither of which can be done from inside. If it is raining they should call to reschedule. And it should be fine with you.

 

[Hanko]

burnt 2 cords allready. michigan has been unseasonably warm this year. Ive gone through 2/3 cord

 

[soupy1957]

Makes sense to "me" that the Cap should be inspected and cleaned. I even expect that they would not only Inspect the chimney from outside, but I ALSO expect them to climb into the attic, and check the pipe from the ceiling in my living room, to the outside of the roof. I want them to look at the mounting brackets, ......well, every inch of the system.

I too would have expected them to either agree to come back (at no extra fee) to complete the Inspection and cleaning on the next clear day, or to re-schedule the initial appointment.

I read in one of the books I consumed about wood burning, that the Chimney Sweep should be considered a member of your team, working with you to ensure that you have a properly functioning and efficient system. If they don't take that attitude as I do, about being in my home, talking with me about our application and how it's going, and thinking of themselves as part of our team for successful and safe burning, ............I don't want them around. They are paid for their services, but it's important (imho) to find one that cares.

-Soupy1957

 

[firefighterjake]

I sweep from the bottom-up . . . but I also will do a visual check of the cap with binoculars every so often . . . that said . . . if I was paying someone to do this job I wouldn't mind if they did the bottom up cleaning . . . providing they also went to the roof and checked the cap . . . but as BB mentioned I would expect they would reschedule and do this another day.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We usually do bottom up but have done also top down. We run the brush all the way up, then down. Then we do it again but this time use a scrubbing motion on the way up (or down). Our cap is usually just visually inspected but does not need cleaning very often. Most caps do though so a professional sweep should check it always.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Interesting thread, and I am wondering if more and more sweeps in the Northeast are now cleaning from the bottom up.
Example, had my chimney cleaned last fall, and it was raining pretty bad out. Owner came out with a helper, and cleaned from the bottom up....I asked him about the cap and he said his brush would get in the cap and clean it out. Cost, $125 for about 30 minutes.
This year, when I called and made the appointment, I advised the gal on the phone that although I was fine with the bottom up clean, I wanted the sweep to check the cap. So, about 2 weeks ago the sweep came out...a real nice day, no rain, wind, temps were in the 50's.
Asked him to check the cap either before or after he was done, and he said he didn't have a ladder that reached that high.
I have a 2 story colonial, and a 1 story addition on the back of the house...so a short ladder would have been fine.
This years charge for a repeat customer, $155 with no inspection. Funny thing is that you go to the guys website, and it shows them doing full line installs, etc....but they don't carry a 30 foot ladder?
Buying my own rods and brushes this year.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

We did our own. Nothing to it once you are up there. Cap came off with 4 screws, was fine, screen had a little bit of gunk, 1 good rap with the screwdriver handle cleared it. Made 1 (one) pass down and back up with the brush. While not "brand new" clean, it was pretty close, so went with that. Got out 2 cups or so of powder after 1/2 season of burning. 24' of chimney.

 

[cmonSTART]

I sweep bottom up a lot of the time because it's a lot safer than lugging equipment up onto a roof and I have the tools to do the job from the bottom. That being said I always get up onto the roof to check out the cap and chimney exterior as part of my inspection process. You have to be very careful of clogged spark arrestors.

 

[fjord]

We did our own. Nothing to it once you are up there. Cap came off with 4 screws, was fine, screen had a little bit of gunk, 1 good rap with the screwdriver handle cleared it. Made 1 (one) pass down and back up with the brush. While not "brand new" clean, it was pretty close, so went with that. Got out 2 cups or so of powder after 1/2 season of burning. 24' of chimney.

Excellent. There it is: learn to do it yourself if you want it done right.

It can be tough, dirty work; doable by anyone from the top down who heats with wood.

Pull the pipe off the stove ( if techies need to be told do it when the stove is cold, do not attempt this :roll: ), tape a garbage bag to the pipe for debris. Then with safety lines IF you have a steep pitched roof, sweep with the correct sized brush and extensions from the top WITH the cap removed and cleaned. Simple. FYI: there is someone here in Maine with a stand-alone "cherry picker" that he has said he will bring to you for a price.

You will know better how clean you are burning, get a taste of some fear ( not bad for the internet sitters out there ) of height, and the grand satisfaction of a job well done. A lost art.

JMNSHO

 

[Lighting Up]

Paid once for a sweep to spend 15 min on a one year old chimney to tell me it looks good. been doing it from the top down ever since...cap and all. With the new stove I did run the brush up from the bottom just to make, sure you get a different feel of the brush cleaning it.


One question for anyone cleaning from the bottom up...how are you controlling the dust do you use a w&d vacuum?
thanks
md

 

[cmonSTART]

One question for anyone cleaning from the bottom up...how are you controlling the dust do you use a w&d vacuum?
thanks
md

I have a couple very large vacuums. With stoves or inserts I leave the hose inside the firebox when I sweep. With large open fireplaces it's a bit trickier but a well placed board works wonders. Drop cloths and such are essential too - just in case.

 

[lsirois]

The "two cords" were from last year. The stove was only installed in Feb 2010, so I didn't get a chance to burn much. I am going to have them re-sweep the liner from the top down. For the $155 they charge, I feel someone should be climbing up the 30-something feet to make sure that everything looks ok from up there. I can do the bottom-up myself and use to do in with my pellet insert with a full chimney liner at the previous house. Piece of cake! I did order a "sooteater" and plan on doing my own cleanings, but since I don't really want to climb up there, I may still have a sweep do it once a year and use the sooteater to keep the liner clear.