When we hear the term "chimney sweeping",
it usually conjures up an image of a colorful Mary Poppins-type of character
often wearing a top hat dancing on top of the rooftops of a European home. This
rooftop dancing character is not the reality of chimney sweeps here in the
United States. Today, most chimney sweeps in the US will clean service and inspect
the fireplace starting from the bottom and working their way to the top of the
chimney. A chimney sweep's job is to remove the loose sweepable creosote
followed by a thorough inspection of the fireplace and chimney flue system. If the
rooftop is successful you'll be melting the roof top to document the condition
of the chimney flashing and the chimney crown. We start a sweeping process by
setting out our vacuum and video equipment on black drop cloths in front of
the fireplace. The ashes are removed from the fireplace.
The damper assembly is also removed. This is to allow access for our brushes into
the smoke chamber and a smoke shelf area. We use a spinning rotary brush mounted on a
heavy-duty drill. Then it's inserted into the smoke chamber and raised up on
extension rods through the entire chimney flue, providing for a thorough
sweeping of the system. We then vacuum off the smoke shelf, providing we get our
camera equipment through the fireplace damper opening. We will use our cameras
to document the integrity of the chimney flue and mortar joints. Here are several
other problems that we've discovered in the past. This is evidence of a very
serious water problem that needs to be repaired before the water damage got out
of control. This thing, flue tile, mortar joints like these, were possibly eroded
due to rain water dripping back down the flue tile or possibly never had been
installed in the first place. These black stains show where smoke is leaking out
of sides of the flue tile. I will assume that this chimney is not
drafting properly. Often I'll explain this to our customers as a chimney will
act somewhat like a soda straw with holes it and often has a very sluggish
draft. In cases like this we will document that it can no longer contain
the products of combustion and must be repaired. Vertical cracks like these are
very unique and will often be the evidence in identifying and documenting
a sudden occurrence chimney fire claim. About fifty percent of our insurance
chimney fire damage work was actually discovered during a routine chimney
cleaning. Often a chimney fire has been explained as a very frightening sound,
that like a roaring freight train going to the house shooting flames at the top
of the rooftop. A chimney fire is a dangerous situation
and we all want to avoid. Having your fireplace regularly swept and serviced
is a first step in preventing a chimney fire.