Hiring a Chimney Sweep:

I have been living in my current house for almost 8 years and decided it was time to hire a chimney sweep. We don't use our fireplace all that much as our gas unit in the living room is a major source of heat in the winter time. We had recently heard birds and chirping noises in our wood burning fireplace (up the chimney somewhere) and thought it a good idea to have the chimney cleaned from top to bottom. Chimney maintenance is important and even more so if you have something trying to live in your chimney flue. I started the process by answering a few listings on Craigslist for contractors that do chimney sweeping. I had two guys come out and give me estimates on the job and also had them include a chimney cap in the price as that is something I had been meaning to get for the last year. Those DIY homeowner types should leave this type of job to an expert. Climbing up on your roof or trying to clean the inside of your chimney can be dangerous. People fall off of ladders all the time and get hurt plus you need specialized chimney sweep equipment to do the job properly.

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I went with with Chutesnladderspdx.com - located here in Portland, Oregon. Jeff Ingham is the owner and was very professional and has had years of experience in this field. He did a quick inspection of the chimney from the inside of our house and then took a look from up on the roof to determine what may be trying to nest in our chimney. To our surprise there was no official birds nest, just some droppings. This kept the job easy and essentially all we had to buy was the chimney cap and have it placed on the top of the chimney to prevent birds from entering in the future. Jeff said our chimney was pretty clean having not had much use in the past 10 years, but since it had never been swept by a professional I still decided to get it done for $89. His free estimate included an inspection of the ash dump, lintel, damper, smoke shelf, flue liner, and smoke chamber. All came back in satisfactory condition and nothing needed replacing. If you do decide to get your chimney cleaned, you'll need to be able to answer questions like - How many stories is the house? What type of wood do you burn in the fireplace? When was it last cleaned? Our chimney was rather difficult for Jeff to get to since our house is 2 stories tall but the chimney extends up another 10 feet or so from the 2nd story roofline. He had to get up onto the roof and then proceed to use another ladder to see down the chimney from above. On a wet roof this is really dangerous and so waiting for dry weather is a must. Jeff was able to get us a chimney cap to fit properly and it only took a few minutes to install it. The chimney sweep brush went from the inside of our house all the way up the chimney and our the top. Some chimneys I guess are dirtier than others, but it didn't take long for ours to be cleaned. Vacuuming up the soot and dust took about 10 to 15 minutes as he was able to place the vacuum nozzle up beyond the damper and clean pretty thoroughly. The whole process took about 60 minutes including the install of the cap.

Chimney Sweep Cost:

To have a chimney sweep service come out you are looking at around $75 to $110. Some will charge slightly more to do a taller chimney as it takes more time to deal with a chimney that goes up 2 stories versus one that is only 1 story high. The chimney sweep cost for us was $89 as there wasn't much cleaning necessary since we don't use our fireplace that much. The chimney cap was almost as much - we went with a stainless steel cap that has a lifetime warranty and it was $79 (that included the install). Most chimney caps cost between $35 and $80 says Jeff and installing them is quite easy as long as you know the flue size. Some are rectangular in shape while others are round or oval. Don't be sold on a $300 service and make sure you get at least 2 estimates from chimney sweepers before committing to anything. You can find many of these types of services listed in the Yellow pages, but we prefer Craigslist.org as a great source to get feedback via email and find out about pricing.

How Often do you need to get your Chimney Cleaned?:

Depending on the amount of wood that you burn in your fireplace, you will need to get your chimney cleaned every 5 years or so. If you don't burn much wood at all, then you can do it every 10 years. In our case, having used the fireplace maybe 10 times over 8 years, we didn't even have to get it done. I didn't know the wood burning of the previous owner so that is why I felt like it was time to have it professionally serviced anyway. One of the contractors mentioned that the type of wood you burn - soft, hard, wet, dry - can also influence how often you need to have your chimney swept. The good news is that a chimney sweep is not that expensive and it only has to be done periodically (not yearly). Keep your hearth area in good shape by cleaning out ashes and protecting your floors with spark screens or mesh doors that will keep soot and ash inside the fireplace so that you can clean it our after you have a fire. Basic maintenance can save you in the long run.

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