This time of year, many homeowners are solicited by door to door chimney sweeps offering rock bottom prices on chimney services. These deals can seem too good to be true, and unfortunately they often are. Simply put, not every guy with a truck and a brush is qualified to clean your chimney. Before hiring a chimney sweep, homeowners should verify they are CSIA certified. CSIA certified chimney sweeps are highly trained professionals with years of knowledge and experience in the field; by working with a CSIA certified chimney sweep you can rest assured the person cleaning your chimney is a true professional.
Why hire a certified chimney sweep?
Hiring a certified chimney sweep is the best way to make sure you are working with a true industry professional. Just like you wouldn’t ask a dentist to set a broken leg, only certified professionals should be trusted to clean your chimney system.
In the fireplace industry the highest certification a chimney sweep can earn is that from the Chimney Safety Institute of America. To earn this certification, chimney sweeps must undergo hours of training and testing in areas such as building codes, safety practices, venting and drafting, and new technologies. In addition, sweeps must retest every three years in order to maintain their certifications; this means that CSIA certified chimney sweeps are always up to date on the latest advancements in the industry.
There are more than 1.400 CSIA certified chimney sweeps in the country, making it easy to find one near you. In the Seattle area, you can trust your fireplace and chimney system to the CSIA certified sweeps at Pristine Sweeps. We are also members of the National Chimney Sweep Guild and National Fire Protection Association.
What can I expect from a certified chimney sweep?
When you hire a CSIA certified chimney sweep to clean, maintain, or repair your fireplace system you can rest assured that you are working with one of the most highly trained professionals in the industry. A certified sweep will be knowledgeable about your chimney systems and able to answer any questions you have about your fireplace, safety, or local building and burning codes and restrictions.
Certified sweeps should arrive on time, walk you through every step of the process, and take care to leave your home in the same condition as when they arrived by covering floors and furnishings. During the chimney sweeping, they will inspect the accessible interior and exterior portions of the chimney for signs of damage or deterioration. Finally, chimney brushes will be used alongside more modern technology such as vacuums and closed circuit cameras to sweep the chimney and flue.
When it comes to hiring a chimney sweep being certified matters. Sweeps with CSIA certification are knowledgeable professionals who met – and continue to meet – the highest level requirements in the industry. If you are in the Seattle area, contact Pristine Sweeps today to schedule your next appointment with a certified chimney sweep.