This past year we've been raising the bar on what chimney services should be and how the process should go to protect lives and save property here in New England. If your chimney is over 10 feet tall no matter how well our flashlight works and how adept we are using a mirror that process doesn't coincide anymore with a thorough inspection of your chimney. You need more and we do more than any other chimney contractor in your area!
Each of our vans is equiped with a state of the art digital camera made specifically for chimney flue inspections. Billy changed our standard operating procedure for inspecting chimneys to improve accuracy, reporting, and to assist in the analysis of chimneys whose owners were concerned for their safety and the safety of their families.
Often times, the outside of the chimney is not visible and/or several parts of the chimney are not visible. This poses a diagnostic problem for the technician and poses a training problem for field managers. We solved these problems by using technology as a tool to inspect and then by using our experience we can properly diagnose and solve chimney problems while training new sweeps to do complete work.
To illustrate the effectiveness of this approach to chimney inspections, here are 3 examples: #1. Smoking problem not solvable #2. Boston fire places in condominium complex in need of lining and #3. Feedback from the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council and several area chapters of the PHCC (Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling Contractors) about our services and procedures.
#1: Fireplace in Brookline, MA is smoking and the customer needs it solved.
We swept the fireplace, inspected it with our flashlights and mirrors but did not find proof of what was causing the problem until Billy looked at a photo of where the facade and covings meet. The house had settled and the facade had broken away, just enough, to cause a hazardous gap in the masonry. Billy immediately responded and sent a technician over to video inspect the flue at no charge just to see if that would help solve this issue. Sure enough we found a long crack up the facade and behind the mantle was charred!!! Smoking problem solved.
#2: Boston Condominium Complex on Commonwealth Ave needs fire places lined.
These flues were 4-5 stories tall with multiple bends and returns in them. The flues were over 100 years old and have been moderately to negligibly maintained. One local sweep knew that we installed Thermocrete, a ceramic flue sealant that actually strengthens your chimney while providing a fire-proof liner without reducing the size of the chimney's flue like a round or ovalized liner would. So we responded to the call and upon seeing the site and the conditions of the fireplaces, we informed the property manager that only a video inspection would qualify these flues for the posibility of a Thermocrete installation. She obliged us and we went to work. After the 23rd flue we broke one of the camera lenses against the side of one offset as the weight of the camera caused the cable to flop. We had it replaced before the start of work the following day and completed video scanning 26 flues, taking snapshots here and there at various intervals to see where breeches in the chimney were, the size and angle of the offsets and returns and were able to confirm not only that Thermocrete would be possible but we also were crystal clear of the process we needed to follow to ensure a complete application of this product with so many angles in the flue. Without the video camera, we also never would have found severe obstructions in several fireplaces and we never would have created an opportunity to inspect their furnace flues. Result, we're repairing their furnace flues and lining them as well. Now, part of Commonwealth Ave in Boston is safe to use their fireplaces and to heat their homes.
#3. Feedback from the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council and several area chapters of the PHCC (Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling Contractors) about our services and procedures.
Lets face it, plumbers need chimney sweeps as much as chimney sweeps need plumbers. We found that out after joining the MOC and PHCC and attending their meetings. We were shocked, only 1 or 2 other sweeps were present at any of these meetings and the plumbers and heating experts were equally shocked to see a chimney sweep. Great opportunity for both of us! Over the past several months we've attended meetings and dinners speaking to these experts about our experiences and the feedback has been overwhelming! Because chimneys need to be lined, chimneys have had multiple fuels burned in them with no liner, and there are virtually no standardized lisencing of chimney sweeps the MOC and PHCC welcomed our services. "We consider you guys to be the venting experts." was one board members response and the real response is that since we began to speak with these organizations more and more plumbers and heating contractors are calling us because we take the guess work out of solving chimney problems.