How Much Does a Chimney Sweep Cost?

So, you’ve determined that your house needs a chimney inspection, good. Next up, choose the right chimney sweep and figure out how much a chimney sweep should cost.

Here are three tips to choosing the right chimney sweep.

1. Choose a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep®.

When you hire a professionally recognized chimney sweep from the Chimney Safety Institute of America, you hire a company that follows the national standards for fire safety education and training like Valley Chimney.

2. Check credentials and years in services.

You should keep an eye out for red flags like brand new businesses, no reviews and no credentials. If your chimney sweep is new to the business, find out who they apprenticed with. If they have no reviews, ask why. You can also search for CSIA to verify their certification or to check on the CSIA website.

3. Ask your neighbors and friends for referrals.

In addition to hearing all the community gossip about the bad vendors, you might also hear about some good ones. Use the review websites like Yelp, Angies List and Google+ and read through the reviews. Don’t be afraid to get multiple quotes and ask lots of questions. It’s your family’s pocketbook and safety.

You can read more about what to expect when a professional chimney sweep cleans your fireplace here.

How Much Does a Chimney Sweep Cost?

Pricing your chimney first starts by determining if a chimney is prefabricated or masonry. Remember that your distance from our Yorkville, IL location, a rush appointment request or other factors might alter the pricing a bit, but we will always be upfront with those costs.

Prefabricated Chimney Sweep by Valley Chimney Sweeps

We’ve done some research and about $150 is a fair price for the cleaning of a metal chimney. Note: Your factory built chimney unit is built from metal, even if it is housed in masonry or brick, this price covers a level 1 inspection and cleaning.

Prefabricated chimneys have been on the market since the 1960s and are easier to clean than their masonry counterparts. Annual chimney inspections are necessary because these chimneys are not as sturdy and with a mishap, like a small chimney fire or a misplaced chimney cap, the damages can be extensive and lead to bigger problems.

Masonry Chimney Cleaning by Valley Chimney Sweeps costs

Most pre-1980 homes with original chimneys have masonry chimneys with flue tile liners. Masonry chimneys are also still used today, especially in higher-end homes. The extreme weather changes in this area of Illinois affects maintenance on your masonry chimney.

There is more room for error with original construction of masonry chimney fireplaces. Most masons are trained to lay brick for home building but not specialized in the code for chimney code, so getting your masonry chimney inspected is very important.

Traditional masonry fireplaces have more places for your chimney sweep to clean and collect creosote. With an annual inspection and cleaning, your chimney sweep will inspect your chimney’s waterproofing, the chimney crown and chimney flashing.

Masonry chimneys, including the mortar between bricks can weaken over time and your chimney sweep will inspect for this too.

A fair price for a traditional masonry chimney cleaning is about $200.

Buyer Beware.

We recently wrote about the $59 cheap chimney sweep special. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You can read more about this here. You want a Certified Chimney Sweep® to come to your home, inspect and clean your chimney. If there are any problems, they should explain them to you thoroughly. Don’t feel pressured into big repairs until you are ready and make sure you understand why.

If you are in Yorkville, Aurora, Naperville, Oswego, Plainfield, the Tri-cities of Geneva, Batavia or St. Charles, Valley Chimney is your Certified Chimney Sweep® of choice. We are a family run business since 1978 and we love what we do!