Good Service - Chimney Sweep

Today I am off of work so I can be home while we have a couple of things done.

The first is getting the chimney in this our Lutz house checked and cleaned so when it gets cold again we can use the fireplace.

As part of getting our Seminole Heights house ready for sale, we had a chimney sweep come out and check out our non-working fireplace so we knew what it would cost to get it ready in cases the buyers asked.

We called Nick Vollaro who owns Chimney Doctor He originally was from up north somewhere and has a lot of experience with fireplaces where it really gets cold and they use them more.

He checked things out thoroughly, and explained them in terms I could understand. He gave me a couple of choices. One was to rehab the fireplace and not replace the flue or I could go full bore and get a new flue placed in. Of course the first choice was cheaper. The new owners now have that choice.

Today he came out and inspected our fireplace here. He took me with him as he went on the roof and explained to me that what condition the above roof parts of our chimney were in. Basically not bad. We had the best condition chase cover around, from looking onthe roofs of the other houses. No rust and a good pitch so no standing water to cause rust. Seal some joints here. Paint the stucco. Add some chicken wire to the underside of the cap so squirrels won't get in. We had also asked him to sweep the chimney, but after looking at it he said it was clean enough that a sweep would not get very much. He fixed a minor problem with the damper and its handle. He advised me that as my fireplace was small with only an 8 inch pipe, to not overdo it with a fire, or else I would get smoke inside the house. He said maybe in 2 years I might need a cleaning and in 5 years I might need to replace the center cap.

Total cost? Inspection fee of $39 plus the minor repair was $50.

I can't wait till it gets cold and use the fireplace next winter with all of the oak wood from the trees we had trimmed today. (Next post).

Nick can be reached at 957-7615.


Chimney Safety Institute of America

http://www.homesaver.com/content/chimney_safety_maintenance.htm