Sweeping Your Chimney

Preparing for your Chimney Sweeping Appointment and what to expect during the appointment

Many folks have never had their chimney swept before, and are naturally curious about the process or apprehensive about making a mess in their home!

To set your mind at ease and to help make your experience as enjoyable as possible, we’ve prepared this brief outline describing our standard operating procedures when sweeping your chimney.

Step 1: Good Customer Preparation.

To make your experience as enjoyable and hassle free as possible, there are a few things we ask of you prior to our arrival:

A. PLEASE NO FIRES FOR AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT! For the safety of our technicians and our equipment, your fireplace or wood stove must be STONE COLD before it can be swept! Embers can stay hot for days, so if you’ve been burning fires lately, it’s probably a good idea to scoop your ashes into a metal can 24 hours prior to our arrival.
B. Please clear out a 6’ X 6’ area: You will need to clear a space about a six feet by six feet in front of your fireplace or wood stove in order to make enough room for our protective floor tarps. If possible, please move any furniture or other items (including decorative knick knacks on and around the hearth) so we can fully protect your home during the cleaning. If some items are too big or cumbersome for you to move, our technician will be happy to try and assist you, but we cannot assume liability for damaged items! Other than Christmas stockings, most things up on the mantel are out of the way and do not need to be removed.
C. Secure your pets if necessary: If your pets are aggressive or like to escape, we ask that they be secured in another room. Our technicians come in and out of the home several times during a cleaning, and while it’s fun to watch, they prefer to get their exercise on the treadmill… not running up and down the street chasing pets!

We lay tarps to protect your carpet and floors

Step 2: Set up.

After arriving, the first thing we do is lay out fresh clean tarps in front of your fireplace or stove to protect your carpets and floors. Long hall runner tarps are also laid out everywhere that our technicians will be walking as they come in and out of your home. We take this extra precaution to ensure no soot is tracked onto your carpets.

Step 3: Bring in “Big Bertha”.

Big Bertha

Who’s Big Bertha? Well, to the un-trained eye, Bertha looks like a massive shop vac on steroids, but in reality, she’s the only thing that stands between us and a free carpet cleaning for you! Designed as an air filter specifically for chimney sweeping, Big Bertha’s hose is carefully positioned inside of the firebox and turned on. Massive quantities of air is sucked into Bertha and filtered returning to the room clean and soot free.

Sweeping the chimney

Step 4: Sweep the Chimney.

With Bertha filtering the air, the chimney is swept. Depending on what type of chimney system you have, AtoZ’s technician may sweep it from the top down, or from the bottom up. You may be surprised to see the wide array of different types of chimney brushes and rods in our vans! Like a professional golfer with an array of clubs suited for different situations, AtoZ will use the rods and brushes designed for your chimney.

Step 5: Clean out the Smoke chamber or the stove baffle.

Cleaning up the ashes

After the chimney has been cleaned of creosote, your fireplace’s smoke chamber or your wood stove’s baffle will be cleaned thoroughly.

Step 5: Clean up the ashes.

The next step is to carefully remove all the ash and creosote from your fireplace or wood stove while using Bertha to control and contain airborne dust.

Step 6: Inspect the system.

Inspect the system

With the chimney system cleaned out, AtoZ’s CSIA Certified Sweep Technician will now perform the other half of the job: The inspection. Depending on the level of chimney inspection you specified, several areas of your chimney will be inspected for any number of wear and tear deficiencies or potential hazards.

Chim Scan Camera System

If you’re having an open faced fireplace swept and inspected, your technician will use a Chim Scan Camera System to inspect the inner parts of your chimney’s flue to determine if any dangerous holes, cracks, or gaps are present. You’ll also be pleased to know that if any problems or concerns are detected during the inspection, they’ll be documented with a digital camera and shown to you so you don’t have to get up on a ladder to see for yourself! In addition, our technicians will take the time to explain to you (in plain English) what needs to happen to fix the situation. You will be provided a written condition report and prices for needed repairs as a convenience to you.

Step 7: Pack up our load and get on the road.

Leave your home in as good or better condition than how we found it

The last step is of course, packing up and leaving your home in as good or better condition than how we found it! We take great pride in making sure you can’t tell we were there! The only thing you’ll be left with is the peace of mind knowing your chimney has been swept and inspected by the best Chimney Sweeps in the Greater Sacramento Area!

Service, Price, And No Mess Guarantee!
Get all three with AtoZ!