Would You Pay

[crokett]

150 bucks to get your chimney cleaned? I just did. Part of my brain says all he did was knock the crud off the sides of the chimney then go downstairs and scoop it all out and I could do that. OTH, he also moved the stove so he could disconnect the pipe to get to the mess and he has a special vac so no dust. He also put a camera down and pronounced it sound.

I don't have the special vac so I'd get dust everywhere and I'd have to wrestle with the stove instead of sitting here posting on BT3Central.

[jackellis]

I don't know what we pay to have our vacation home's chimney cleaned about every other year but it's worth it. No dust, an inspection, reduced chimney fire hazard. Think of it as insurance.

We burn about a cord of softwood per season. In the new place, it will probably be a lot more since we will be living there all the time. Lot's of creosote from burning all that wood.

[dbhost]

I don't get but maybe 5 - 10 burn days a year for my fireplace. I use the CSL (Chimney Sweeping Log) from Walmart / Ace Hardware, and have the chimney inspected and professionally cleaned every 4th year. So far, no need for a professional sweep. But the inspection costs $125.00. Heck, I'd like them to do a thorough scrub for an additional $25.00!

[footprintsinconc]

when on the rare occasion i get something done, i think the same way.

just the other day, i got my desert museum palo verde tree trimmed by a couple of guys working across the street. i paid them 45 bucks for it.

they used a cutter on a pole and a chain saw. the put quite a few cut marks on the tree that i though were unnecessary, where ever the chainsaw touched the bark because the guy wasnt being careful. he cut one limb and it twisted my lamp on the side of the garage and left a mark on it. on top of that he left two 6" long by 1/4" wide oil stains on the driveway because of the chain saw.

now he took all the branches, he must have filled his 6ft wide x 6ft long trailer about 4ft tall with the cut off material. he did it in like 30 minutes.

i was thinking, i wouldnt have nicked any of the trunk/branches carelessly, would have avoided leaving marks on the lamp, and could have bought a trimming pole from HD for $90 and could have had the limbs picked up from my home at no extra cost to me by the city......however, it would have taken my a complete afternoon to cut and then chop up the branches into 5ft long pieces, then tie them into 3ft max bundles, clean up all the mess from the ground, my hand would have been sore and i would have been tired and could not have just sat back and ate my lunch in the backyard while enjoying the sun.

so it was worth it, even fixing the light and cleaning the marks the guys left behind.

[Habe]

And the piece of mind knowing that he did the camera and you know that there is no worry about cracks etc in the flue. Cheap insurance to help prevent a fire. A neighbor had a fire last week, Now thier whole house is smoked up and a large whole in the back wall where the fire dept had to pull down the chimney. Plus the mess to clean up and repair.

[Alex Franke]

Yeah, that sounds about right if he had the vacuum, camera, etc, and left the room like he found it (except with a clean chimney).

We do it about every 4-5 years.

[cgallery]

Worth every cent. Especially with the camera inspection.

[herb fellows]

Absolutely, if he knows what he's looking at/for (and presumably he does, seeing as he's invested in all that equipment), the camera inspection makes the deal work.

[crokett]

I think the camera thing is normally extra but he did it for some goodwill and repeat business. We've been here 4 years and this is the first time I've gotten the chimney done. We have 2 chimneys, other one will get cleaned next month. I split them up for budgeting and I wanted to see how he did on this one. I've already scheduled the other cleaning.

[jking]

It's definitely worth it especially with the camera inspection. A few years ago I did a structural review on a house that had gone through a chimney fire. The chimney inspection determined there was a leak in the flue that allowed the fire to get into the framing. The ductwork in the house was set up to pull the hot air from around the firebox area into the hvac system. The fire spread very rapidly. The other thing the chimney inspector determined was that the size of the fireplace & the flue were mismatched. The flue was oversized, so, it naturally pulled hotter gas & some flames up from the firebox. I was just there to help determine how much of the framing needed repair, but, after talking to the chimney sweep, it really opened my eyes.

[ironhat]

Waaaay cheap insurance! My guy has me spaced out to every three years because of the quality of my stove's burn and the wood that I buy. He said, "Don't change a thing", so when I called for a wood delivery this year and the price had jumped $50 a cord (!!) I was tempted to call elsewhere. Then, I recalled what the sweep had told me and ordered four cords - enough for two years.

[Ed62]

David, you didn't say if you were burning wood or not. I expect you are. If so, it's worth the money. Creosote burns fast and hot. We don't burn wood, so I wouldn't pay that unless I thought there was a problem.

Ed

[SARGE..g-47]

Is it worth it... if you have seen the bricks in a brick chimney actually burn from the heat that creosote can create... and the water from a 4" hose from the fire department turn to instant steam...

Yeah.. it's worth having a professional chimney sweep clean it. And if you live down south and burn any pine as many do.. I would do it more often because of the resin in pine that produces creosote very quickly.

[crokett]

I only burn hardwood, no pine. I also don't burn that much. Mostly this is for heat if power goes out. I grew up with a wood boiler in the basement and I remember more than once having a chimney fire. Not major, but still scary. The two pine trees I had to take down went to my dad. He has an outdoor forced air stove that only has a 6' stack and it will burn purt near anything. When the sweep comes back to do the other chimney he will bring a cap for this one. He found an old bird's nest today.