Top 3 Questions to Ask a Chimney Technician
Fireplace safety is an important issue that affects both home and family and yet the chimney sweep industry is unregulated. What this means is that anyone can establish a business as a chimney sweep, even without training or certifications. Due to lack of regulations, it falls to homeowners to ensure that the chimney technicians they trust their homes to know what they are doing. Before scheduling a chimney technician to visit your home, it’s important to do some research and ask some questions.
What Training Do You Have, If Any?
Don’t assume that a chimney technician has training of any kind, unless they work at Northeastern Chimney LLC. All of our chimney technicians are professionals who have been certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA). Our company and all employees are active in the National Chimney Sweep Guild (NCSG) as well as CSIA. Our training and continuing education schedule is rigorous. Our clients can depend upon their chimney technician being thoroughly trained and adherent to a strict code of ethics and performance.
What Kind of Equipment Do You Use?
The tools of a chimney professional’s trade make a difference in the level of service that can be provided. For best results from a chimney inspection, chimney cleaning, chimney building, or chimney repair, the correct and latest equipment should be used. At Northeastern Chimney, for example, we have all of the best tools of the trade.
Our high-tech cameras provide a close-up look of everything going on inside your chimney flue. This can be a huge safety issue. If there is the smallest crack in your flue liner, your home is exposed to a hazardous home fire when you use your fireplace. The function of a liner is to protect combustible parts of the home from the intense heat caused by blazes in the fireplaces. When that protection fails, combustible materials can ignite. The fires that result from a failed chimney liner are incredibly intense. Tragically, these fires rage out of control so quickly that occupants of the home often don’t have the time needed to safely escape.
We also use the most effective rods and brushes to clean out highly flammable creosote from the chimney. This is also a safety issue. Too much creosote can easily result in a dangerous chimney fire.
We have vacuums and all the tools required to get chimney-related work performed well without causing any mess to your home.
Is Your Chimney Business Fully Insured?
As true chimney professionals, we are fully insured. We happily furnish a certificate of insurance, if requested. Another form of insurance we provide is a sense of security in that you can easily recognize our professionals. We have trucks you readily see belong to our chimney company, and our technicians wear uniforms that identify their association with Northeastern Chimney. Because you are entrusting your home to chimney technicians, these type of assurances are considered highly valuable.
Your safety, in a very real sense, is in the hands of chimney technicians. Don’t risk hiring someone who doesn’t know the industry or have skills related to chimney maintenance. Contact us at Northeastern Chimney for an annual chimney inspection, chimney cleaning, and all of your chimney needs.