Clean Sweep of Anne Arundel County

Description of Work: We had Clean Sweep out to clean and inspect our chimney and wood burning fireplace. The inspector did a very thorough job, took digital photos of the flue, and cleaned. He then wrote up an estimate for over $8000 in repairs. We requested another estimate for installation of a wood burning stove from the same company, and the estimate for that was almost $12,000. Seriously. I thought they were professional, but a bit too much of the "hard sell". Despite being assured that insurance would cover some of the expense, we declined to file a claim, since we didn't know when the flue damage may have happened. But the high price made us look elsewhere for the work.

Description of Work: Inspected and cleaned the chimney. It was done professionally.

Description of Work: Repaired and cleaned chimney. Lined firewall. Placed new flashing on roof. It looks great and we feel much safer about lighting a fire

Description of Work: I scheduled a chimney flue cleaning and inspection of the chimney and wood stove and connecting pipes. Two employees drove up in their truck at the time and date scheduled. I went out to meet them. They glanced at the top of the chimney flue coming out of the brick chase above the roof from the driveway, about a 30 foot distance. They then came into the house with their vacuums, took one look - at the front only - of our wood stove from a few feet away, and one of the two informed me they could not "touch" the system. When I asked what he meant, he said that my chimney flue was not the right type of flue for the wood stove and therefore was not licit nor safe. They said they were certified by some national fire protection organization, and so they could not work on it and put their company at risk or assume any liability. When I questioned them as to what was wrong with my flue they claimed it was of a type that was only rated for use with pre-fabricated fireplaces, and was not intended for use with a wood stove. | |Keep in mind that they never looked at or into my flue other than having glanced at the top 2 feet of it above the roof from about 30 feet away. They also never looked behind my wood stove to see what the connecting pipe looked like or how it was attached to the flue. So how could they possibly know what type of flue it was or whether it was installed or connected properly? They never even asked me any questions at all about what brand or model flue it was, and never asked to see any literature or paperwork I might have showing what type of flue it was. However I volunteered some of that information to them, telling them the exact brand and model name of the flue, describing in detail its construction and the fact that it was rated to 2100 degrees for short periods in case of a chimney fire. Here is the manufacturers description of my flue: "DuraPlus Chimney is a triple-wall, all-fuel chimney for use with wood stoves, fireplaces, furnaces, boilers, stoves, ranges, water heaters, or other appliances fueled by wood, oil, coal, or gas. Designed for normal, continuous operation at 1000°F flue gas temperatures, DuraPlus is subjected to rigorous and stringent HT requirements of the UL standard, including one hour at 1400°F, plus three ten minute chimney fire tests at 2100°F." | |Therefore contrary to what they said my system was 100% legal, licit and safe, for use with a freestanding wood stove or any other woodburning appliance. So these supposedly certified and trained "professionals" were completely wrong about my flue and the overall safety and legitimacy of my system. | |Moreover when I called the owner to discuss this, while he was polite and after checking into it with his employee got back to me and agreed he was wrong and needed "more training", he also told me I would have to wait until mid or late October to reschedule, as they were booked solid until then. Now, after what happened I did not want to reschedule anyway, having lost all confidence in the competence of the company's employees. But it seemed like adding insult to injury for the owner to not offer to fit me in sooner, given that his company was at fault. As I said, I would not have used them anyway, but the fact that he did not offer to reschedule much sooner in my opinion reflected poorly on the company's sense of service to a potential customer that was wronged by his employees. | |All in all a bad experience. Fortunately another company I called the next day came out the same day, cleaned and inspected the chimney flue and cap and told me everything looked perfectly fine and safe.

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