Should I complain????

[lobsta1]

Two months ago I asked for recommendations on a chimney sweep north of Boston. A name was posted & I called the individual & had him come & clean my chimney. Upon completion he gave me a certificate saying the chimney had been cleaned, inspected & met the NFPA regs. This is an exterior 4'W x 15'H brick chimney feeding a raised hearth stone fireplace. It contains a 7" x 11" clay liner.

OK. That sets the stage. I am starting the install of the oval rigid Duraliner pipe. When I took the original metal chimney cap off & looked down into the chimney I found that half the second section of clay liner was smashed out into the hollow section of the brick. Since I am lining the chimney anyway, should I let the sweep know that he left a potentially dangerous situation behind?
Al

 

[Hogwildz]

You could call him and ask if he noticed this and what his observations are. Since relining, I would not raise hell about it. Does he know your relining?

 

[karl]

Did he know you were lining the chimney and puting a stove in? He might have missed the hole or he might have been doing you a favor by giving you the certificate saying everything was fine, knowing that with a liner you would be fine. And thus helping you with the permit approval after you put the stove in.

I would call him, but I don't think I would complain. I would just say we were putting this liner in and noticed the big hole. Did you see it? Maybe look a little closer next time.

 

[kniffin50]

Let him know? Crap, I would be on the phone now Bitchin him out! Lineing our not,he should have told you what was going on in your chimney.
Rusty

 

[Dave_1]

... should I let the sweep know that he left a potentially dangerous situation behind?
Al

kniffin50 is right about the sweeps responsibility to tell you.

But fwiw here is what I'd do.

Call & remind him who you are, give him a chance to think.

Next ask if he noticed anything unusual when he swept the chimney.

If he says no, calmly explain what you found & leave it at that, he may then grow up into his job.

If he apologizes give him some credit, but get references on another sweep & prices. ;-)

 

[webbie]

Two months ago I asked for recommendations on a chimney sweep north of Boston. A name was posted & I called the individual & had him come & clean my chimney. Upon completion he gave me a certificate saying the chimney had been cleaned, inspected & met the NFPA regs. This is an exterior 4'W x 15'H brick chimney feeding a raised hearth stone fireplace. It contains a 7" x 11" clay liner.

OK. That sets the stage. I am starting the install of the oval rigid Duraliner pipe. When I took the original metal chimney cap off & looked down into the chimney I found that half the second section of clay liner was smashed out into the hollow section of the brick. Since I am lining the chimney anyway, should I let the sweep know that he left a potentially dangerous situation behind?
Al

Ideally, you'd take a picture of it and email it to him along with a nice explanation of how you were disappointed when you found it. Backing someone up against the wall is not the best way to teach them something....IMHO, but leaving them an out while showing them irrefutable evidence may just have then looking harder next time.

 

[kniffin50]

Webmaster is right,you should always leave the an out. But I'm not that way, if you pay somebody do do a job that they are qualified for, they should be able do do it.Sorry, in this world there are to many hacks.And trust me,I'm old school, learned from my mistakes,been told I've F..... up. Learned from it and moved on.
Rusty

 

[lobsta1]

I took some pics this afternoon.
First one is one I posted here last Nov. 3 showing a clean flue.

Second is showing the big chunk broken back into the brick chimney hollow. You can see there is no soot anywhere except on the tile inside.

Third is the breakout against the outside brick. You can see the mortar is clean, so that proves the flue was broken after the heating season.

Fourth is a shot of the flue wall towards the house with the breakout on the right.

Al

 

[Hogwildz]

Strange, maybe he broke it while cleaning and didn't say anything.
Might be the pic, but #4 looks like that creosote is cooked, as in a chimney fire. I certainly may be wrong though.
Possibly it had a fire, and cracked, and when sweep cleaned it, it fell in?

Looking at pics 2 & 3, looks like the broken endges in both photos show creosote on the edge? So maybe it was already cracked? Therefore the buildup?