The Difference Between a Certified and Non-Certified Sweep

When it comes to professionals, there always seems to be a spectrum to choose from. There are those companies that are licensed, certified, and guaranteed. Then there are those that are merely amateurs, charging for professional work. Don’t fall victim to such scheming!

Certified and Non-Certified Sweep Image - Boston MA - Billy Sweet Chimney SweepCSIA Certification

The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) has been around since the 1980’s and is the standard for the chimney industry. Your realtor, insurance company, and local authorities will look for this signature on documents, inspections, and referrals. Simple put, it means your chimney sweep has:

  • Purchased study material (at a cost of over $300.)
  • Attended an in-person review, training school, or online review.
  • Taken the exam (at a cost of over $200.)
  • Signed a Code of Ethics designed to protect consumers from scams.

Once a chimney professional has completed the exams and becomes a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep® (CCS), he must maintain this membership by re-examination or continued education credits every three years. Additionally, if a chimney sweep is found to be in violation of the Code of Ethics, his membership can be revoked.

Certified Vs. Non-Certified

When you choose a certified professional to come into your home, you have the assurance that they’re backed by a larger group. You don’t just get a handyman interested in chimneys. You get a trained professional who puts the safety and comfort of customers first at every turn. That is our main goal at Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep. Top-notch service costs more, but benefits the homeowner exponentially over time!

  • Preventative Care
    Routine maintenance like chimney inspections and sweeps are part of our specialty. A certified professional has the tools, the experience, and the know-how to get the job done quickly. They can also detect an issue with your chimney at its earliest.
  • Masonry Repair and Renovation
    When it comes to exterior masonry repair, you don’t have to worry about liability or damages when someone is on your roof. A certified sweep is not just covered. They are experts at these repairs. At Billy Sweet, our certified technicians are skilled masons!

Certified chimney sweeps have access to the best technologies. Also, access to top professional advisors, a network of professionals, continued education courses, and more! When it comes to the cost of hiring a professional, you may find that hiring a certified chimney sweep is slightly higher. The difference is the service, the expertise, and the benefits.

Some of the Benefits of Hiring Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep

  • When we repair your exterior masonry, we apply a waterproofing sealant for FREE! This in order to preserve your masonry and offer your the best service possible.
  • We only sell and install quality products that are backed by manufacturer warranties. Plus, we guarantee our work for a year.
  • When we clean and inspect the chimney, we document the process before and after, using a video scanning system.
  • There are many benefits to hiring a certified chimney sweep, and even more benefits when you hire Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep, your #1 chimney experts in the Boston area.

Contact Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep today, and discover what a certified professional can do for you!

How to Prepare Your Chimney & Fireplace For The Upcoming Winter

Some parts of the country may be experiencing record highs, but if you live in the Boston area, North Shore, or the Portland area, winter is inevitable. Have you done everything needed to prepare your chimney and fireplace for the upcoming rough weather? Let Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep help! Our Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) certified chimney sweeps provide comprehensive chimney and fireplace care and know just what it takes to keep your chimney system looking and working great all winter long.

It All Starts With A Thorough Inspection Performed By A CSIA-Certified Sweep

winter chimney sweep - Boston MA - Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep

When we’re called upon to get your chimney and fireplace ready for the next burn season, the experienced technicians here at Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep come equipped with state-of-the-art equipment so we can analyze the system and make sure it’s still in peak condition. We start with a thorough inspection, using video scanning technology to check both the interior and exterior components of your chimney system for damage, blockages, or other problems that could interfere with the safety and efficiency of your chimney and fireplace. Most chimney and fireplace damage is the result of an undetected or unrepaired leak, improper construction, animal tampering or intrusion, or time and use. Some of the most vulnerable or damage-prone areas are:

  • Chimney Crown
  • Chimney Cap
  • Chimney Masonry
  • Damper
  • Firebox
  • Smoke Chamber
  • Flue Liner

We’ll also check the connected appliance (be it a fireplace, a stove, or an insert) and make sure that everything is properly connected and functioning efficiently. We’ll make note of any flaws or defects, weak points, or areas of concern so you know just what needs to be done and where before lighting up a fire.

Request An Appointment With The Team You Can Trust

Whether you have a stove, a fireplace, or an insert, it’s important that you schedule an annual inspection with a CSIA-certified chimney sweep prior to your first fire of the year. Our team will carefully evaluate your system, clean it from top to bottom (if needed), and make any necessary repairs to restore your system so you can enjoy it all winter long. If you haven’t scheduled your appointment yet, give us a call! We’ll make sure your chimney and fireplace are in great shape and ready to keep you warm, no matter how brutal this winter turns out to be. Call or click to request your appointment today!

All about Creosote

Creosote can't be prevented, but there are ways to minimize its build up and the effects it may have on your chimney and home, in general.

Creosote can’t be prevented, but there are ways to minimize its build up and the effects it may have on your chimney and home, in general.

If you could get on your roof and look down into your chimney (we don’t recommend this), you’d see a lot of black. Wondering what that black element is inside your chimney that totally covers the inside? That’s what we call creosote and it can cause tremendous damage if taken for granted. It has all these harmful chemicals that gradually become highly corrosive and could cause fires to happen inside the chimney. Although the formation of creosote cannot be prevented, it is still best to try and minimize it.

What is Creosote?

Creosote is a highly combustible chemical product obtained by the distillation of tar. It is heavier compared to other chemical products and is famous for its antiseptic and preservative properties. When wood is burned, there is production of creosote. It sticks onto the walls of the chimney after combustion takes place in the fireplace. It is a result of incomplete combustion.

Creosote has two main types:

  • Wood-tar
  • Coal-tar

Generally, wood tar is known for its meat preservation purposes and is known to be nontoxic. It is also used to treat hardwood and softwood to keep them dry until such time. It has been used in the medical field as a laxative or for other purposes like as an antiseptic. Coal tar, on the other hand, contains highly toxic properties. That’s why it is exclusively used for preserving wood only.

Those are the intentional and industrial uses of creosote. It can also be found in blast furnaces, but in a chimney it is found in the flue because wood was not properly burned.

The Three Levels of Creosote Build up

When you have your chimney inspected and cleaned, sometimes our experts will need to do a more thorough cleaning and literal scraping. This happens when there is too much creosote in the chimney walls and, if left there to thicken, might cause bigger problems that will soon become a homeowner’s worst nightmare. This is why creosote build up is described in levels based on the texture, thickness and color.

The first level is still called soot because it has not yet fully developed into creosote. It’s described to be flaky and can be removed easily with a chimney sweeps’ brush. It is still reachable and does not need any special technical equipment.

The second level is already known to be creosote. It’s hard and is already the color brown or black. In this stage, our licensed sweep will have to use specially designed video cameras to check and see the extent of damage done by the creosote. There is now a need for a more durable brush to use in removing the creosote.

For the third and final level, the creosote is already very thick and is now known as glaze. There is no chance for it to completely be removed unless you destroy the entire structure of your chimney – something we all wouldn’t want to do. In this stage, the creosote is highly flammable and has a shiny black texture and with just one false move, you can say bye-bye to your hard-earned home. In this level, constant scraping is done to minimize the thickness. There is a need for bigger equipment and a specially-designed brush to use for scraping off the creosote.

The Risks

Some think that by having a broomstick, you can already remove the creosote. What we have to realize is that there are risks in trying to take matters into our own hands. The biggest risk is fire. It can spark up anytime and only trained professionals know what to do in case this happens and how to put it out before anyone gets hurt. So it’s always best to leave the dirty work to us.

With annual inspections and sweeping, your chimney will not have to endure the aftereffects of what creosote can do. Taking this important step will definitely add more years to its lifespan and the guarantee of a fully-functional, well-maintained chimney. You can contact our company, Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep, because we have the best trained professionals with the right amount of experience to show and prove to you that indeed, we can get the job done right.

 

Curbing Indoor Air Pollution

Don’t Let Air Quality Issues Keep You From Enjoying Your Fireplace

The first sign of an air quality issue relating to your home heating appliance is usually smoke: the smell of it, or sight of it billowing into your room. If someone in your home is struggling with respiratory issues like asthma, errant smoke will quickly — and very negatively — affect their lives. For starters, smoke carries particulates from unburned fuel that can aggravate respiratory systems. But what you can see and smell isn’t all you should be concerned about. Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless and toxic, and if smoke is coming into your living area, there’s a good chance excess CO is in there, too.

When smoke is coming out of your fireplace, there are also hazardous gasses flowing in as well. You could have a draft problem.

When smoke is coming out of your fireplace, there are also hazardous gasses flowing in as well. You could have a draft problem.

When your chimney is working the way it should — when proper draft is pulling all of the byproducts of combustion up and expelling them from your home — air quality shouldn’t be an issue. So less-than-clear air is an indicator that there’s a problem in your system. Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep technicians can figure out your specific problem, and share solutions, during a chimney inspection. But here are some things to think about, which can help maintain or improve your air quality, in the meantime.

Solutions To Air Quality Issues

Keep Current With Regular Maintenance

Dirty flues will impede draft and prevent your chimney from venting properly, leading to smoke intrusion. Gaps and other kinds of damage can let gases leak into your living area. The best way to know that your chimney is clean and that cracks or gaps aren’t allowing particles and gases to leak is to stay current with your routine maintenance.

Your best practice: Schedule a chimney sweeping and inspection appointment once a year, ahead of the heating season, and have any areas of damage — from flue liner cracks to stuck dampers — repaired before you begin regularly using your appliance. With Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep, your sweeping and inspection go together — we sweep every chimney we inspect, so we can get a clean and clear look at the state of the appliance and flue. We also video scan the flue to get the closest look possible — and we’re able to visually and clearly share our findings with you, too.

Replace An Old, Inefficient Appliance With A New, EPA-Certified One

Older stoves and fireplaces, including masonry fireplaces, can be highly inefficient, and our industry has taken incredible strides in improving emission levels over the years. EPA-certified wood stoves, fireplaces and inserts made and sold today are built to create the optimum environment for fuel burning — and near complete combustion makes smoke almost nonexistent. EPA guidelines require these appliances to emit less than 7.5 grams of particulate per hour. Older units often give off as much as 42 grams per hour — a pretty remarkable difference.

A properly functioning, EPA-certified appliance — one that’s sized properly for the space, with a properly sized and installed flue — can make a really noticeable difference when it comes to the air quality in your home.

Be Particular About Your Fuel

Steer clear of burning green wood or anything else that isn’t seasoned or kiln-dried cordwood. Pressure-treated wood and lots of other materials (like plastic) can give off dangerous fumes when burned. And wood that hasn’t been dried properly (at least six months to a year) will give off far more smoke, negatively affecting your air quality.

Give us a call — Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep techs can share other methods for keeping your chimney system working its best, and if any problems do come up, we’re here to fix them.

North Shore

Seeking Chimney Services in North Shore Area of Massachusetts? Give Us a Call We love that we get the opportunity to serve folks living in the North Shore area of Massachusetts. There’s no denying this part of the state has a lot to offer. Whether you’re...