Replies

1. 
   FrankB89 | Jul 11, 2003 08:24am | #1

   Rangy build, beat up top hat, cadaverous appearance, but happy and very nimble.

   Seriously, should use brushes, not chains.  Should be prepared to lower a fiber optic device or other small video device to inspect condition of chimney, especially if masonry construction. Should be licensed, ensured and bonded and have all the equipment to do the job safely. 

   The one who used to do my parent's house also checked all the smoke detectors and gave them a little speil and a handout about good wood-burning practices and techniques.

   Should leave your chimney clean along with your house and the surface of what serves as a roof on a monolithic...(Do they call it a roof on a monolithic dome and, if so, where do the walls begin and end....?).

   I'd be interested to hear how it all works out!

    

1. 
   CloudHidden | Jul 11, 2003 02:55pm | #2

   Should he take his shoes off at the door? <G>

   Will he dance like Dick Van Dyke?

   The only time we encountered roof/wall confusion is in filling out an NC energy worksheet, which had different requirements for wall and ceiling insulation. State eventually said anything above 8' is roof. My own definition is...if you can walk on it, it's roof. Of course, finding that precise dividing line can hurt...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...splat.

   Thanks, Notch.

1. 
   andybuildz | Jul 11, 2003 06:41pm | #3

   I just had it done here in my new old house.

   Two chimm's....one has a fireplace and the heating system.

   Heating side needed relining.....$1200. chunks of the inside layer were in my basement. My town gas provider pointed that out to me.

     They reemed the chimms from the top then the bottom.

   Tell ya what though........its so simple to do yourself.

   I actually had the wire brush and rods from using it each year on my Vermont Casting wood stove. If it wasn't for the lining redo I'd have done it myself.

   When I lived in the foothills of Virginia (Nelson County..Lovingston) with an old lady that spent her whole life up top her mtn...she and I'd clean all three chimm's.......

   She showed me a small fir tree I'd cut down......then we'd tie a rope to the top and bottom of it.....I'd climb up on the roofs and drop the rope down....she'd take her end and pull the tree down ...then I'd pull my end up....did that a cpl a dozen times...

   Clean as a whistle!   a wire brush works too...lol

   Be Oliver

   a 

    

   In his first interview since the stroke, Ram Dass, 66, spoke with great difficulty about how his brush with death has changed his ideas about aging, and how the recent loss of two old friends, Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg, has convinced him that now, more than ever, is the time to ``Be Here Now.''

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

2. 
   CloudHidden | Jul 30, 2003 06:03am | #4

   >I'd be interested to hear how it all works out!

   Today was the day, and I was disappointed. The appt was for 1. I was there at 12:45, and he was there and gone already. Damn. DW showed him stuff, but didn't know all the questions I had intended to ask him. Opportunity lost. He cleaned nothing, be/c he said it didn't need cleaning. Says average is one cleaning per cord. I've burned about 20 fires a year for 3 years! How much wood is that? Must be burning good clean wood (lots of chestnut oak). I mean, I'm glad he showed up, and glad it all looked good, but bummed that I didn't get to chat with him. Got a condition report, and paid 55 for the inspection.

1. 
   FrankB89 | Jul 30, 2003 07:21am | #5

   Well, fire up the woodburner with some greener wood, burn a bunch of it, get things good and creosoted up, then call him and make him earn his fee!  :-)

   (Thanks for the update, anyway!)

   BTW, don't share your drawings with that shady archy!  Charging him a fee for a copy probably won't work either 'cause if I read the situation right, he's one of the "takers" we encounter sometimes...I've occasionally got tangled up with such people and, once I figure out what's going on, they're out of my life. 

1. 
   darrel | Jul 30, 2003 08:16am | #6

   I've only hired a sweep once (we really don't use our Fireplaces much) when we first bought our house.

   He was good. Did a thorough inspection and capped our chimneys for us. The only regret is that I was young an naive and thought $180 for a chimney cap was a good price.

   Oops.