Our Services
Notes from our Sanford chimney sweeps
Useful to know before you book a sweep for your Sanford home.
Cleaning around the damper
The damper takes a steady coating of soot, and a thick layer can stop it closing fully or opening wide enough. Our sweeps clean the plate, the frame and the handle linkage so it moves freely again.
Once it is clean we check that it opens fully, closes to a reasonable seal and stays where it is set. A warped, rusted or broken damper is written up as a repair with its own price, since damper work is a separate service. A damper that seals well also keeps warm, damp outside air from drifting down into the house through a cold fireplace in the months you are not using it. If the handle is stiff, we look at the linkage first, since a careful cleaning often frees it.
Soot, flaky creosote and glaze
Chimney deposits come in different forms. Dry, powdery soot and flaky, crusty creosote come away with brushing. A hard, shiny glaze that looks like tar or dripped candle wax does not, however long the brush works on it.
When we find glaze, we tell you where it is and how much there is, and we explain the specialized treatment it needs. That work is a separate creosote removal service with its own steps; the label directions for the treatments we use call for applying the product and removing the residue on a later visit. A sweep that ends with glazed deposits still in the flue is reported to you as exactly that. Knowing where the glaze sits and how far it runs helps us plan the treatment and quote it accurately.
What a clean flue reveals
Deposits cover defects. Once the flue walls are clean, cracked or missing tiles, gaps in the mortar between them and damage around the damper frame become much easier to see from the fireplace and from the top.
The cleaning can expose problems, and you are told what it found and whether it affects safe use. A cleaning visit covers what the brushes reach; a formal chimney inspection goes further, and we say when one is worth booking. Anything we find is written up with its own price, and you decide what happens next without any pressure from us. We point to each finding from the fireplace or the roof, so you understand exactly where it is.
