Autumn has arrived – with its falling leaves and cooling temperatures – only soon to give way to harsher winter weather and the cozy fires in your home hearth that come with it. As you begin to prepare it may be tempting to try and save yourself some money by making chimney and fireplace cleaning a DIY job. While it can sometimes be perfectly fine to take on that chore between professional inspections and cleanings, annual or seasonal chimney sweeping should always be left to the pros, who have the proper training and expertise to do the job thoroughly and correctly. Here’s why:
Pros Have the Right Tools for the Job
Cleaning a chimney is not like washing your windows or polishing your kitchen floor. It is a highly specialized job that requires highly specialized tools. Most homeowners don’t have such tools on hand, and buying commercial-grade equipment is a sizeable expense for anyone not in the business. This might be the most important reason to turn to professionals: They have invested in the best tools of the trade, which means they can do a far better job.
They Have Experience that You Do Not
Sweeping a chimney and cleaning a fireplace may not seem like an extraordinarily difficult task, but for someone who has not been properly trained, it can be. Chimney sweeps – especially those who have been certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) – have proven that they have the necessary knowledge to properly clean your fireplace and chimney. Through their extensive training and experience, they can get the job done more quickly, more thoroughly, and more safely.
A Pro Might Find Other Issues
Even if you feel confident enough to clean your own chimney and fireplace, unless you have worked extensively on many in the past, there are a few potentially catastrophic issues that you may not even recognize. Professionals have worked on dozens of chimneys – if not hundreds or thousands – and their job is to notice the details that you might well overlook. Even seemingly minor things like a crack in your masonry, loose flashing, or a damaged chimney liner can cause thousands of dollars down the road if left unchecked. When you pay a pro to clean your chimney, you pay for more than just the cleaning. You pay for their years of experience and knowledge, which could ultimately save you much more money in the end.
They Carry Insurance
Climbing around on your roof to properly clean your chimney does not come without risks. Even if you have health insurance to cover injury, and homeowner’s insurance to cover damage, the cost of an accident goes far beyond the dollars and cents of it. Professional chimney sweeps carry insurance that protects not only themselves but also your home. This means that you can rest at ease knowing that your fireplace and chimney will be clean and safe without any liability on your end.
No matter how simple it may seem to clean your own chimney and fireplace, no untrained homeowner should ever attempt to do it on their own. Without the right tools, knowledge, and experience there is a significant risk that an incomplete job, injury or damage could put you and your family in danger’s way – near and short term.
