Tap the stovepipe, says Michael Erhardt of Clean Sweep Chimney Services (735-4389). If it sounds solid, it's probably full of creosote.
Get your chimney checked after burning 50 fires in your wood stove, says Brian Dwyer of Slab Hollow Chimney Sweep. Reach that firm at (800) 682-1643.
PLATTSBURGH — With winter weather in full swing, many North Country residents have had a visit from their neighborhood chimney sweep — or may be getting one soon.
Don't conjure up an image of Bert, the cockney-accented character from Disney's "Mary Poppins."
"(But) that's really not that far off from what we do," said Michael Erhardt, owner of Crown Point-based Clean Sweep Chimney Services. "Well, all except for the dancing on rooftops."
Awhile back, Brian Dwyer and his employees actually arrived at jobs wearing top hats, a la Bert. But that got old after a time, said the owner of Slab Hollow Chimney Sweep in Crown Point.
Stereotypes aside, sweeps provide a valuable and necessary service year-round.
"There are more and more people changing over to wood heat to save money," Erhardt said. "If people would only educate themselves about chimney maintenance, they could save themselves even more money."
And keep their homes safer, too.
The largest culprit of chimney fires and other hazards is the buildup of wood creosote; the chimney sweep's job is to get rid of it.
According to a study by the Department of Homeland Security in 2006, failure to clean heating equipment accounted for nearly 73 percent of all fires and 27 percent of residential fires.
"Creosote is caused by improper combustion," Dwyer said.
"It's like condensation in a glass," Erhardt explained. "And you really don't want that in your chimney."
Creosote, they said, is highly combustible. As it builds up in the walls of the chimney, the danger of a fire grows.
"Creosote will burn out of control," Erhardt said. "If it's left there, it'll burn out or crack (the chimney)."
The black, oily residue can accumulate for many reasons, one as simple as packing the stove with wood for overnight heating.
"It smolders all night, and the smoldering fire is what produces more creosote," Erhardt said.
The sweeps use special tools to clean out a chimney, as well as protect the structure from further problems.
In "Mary Poppins," Bert and his fellow sweeps likely cleaned the chimneys of London using bamboo rods that were flexible enough to manipulate inside the flue, Erhardt guessed.
Today, the technology has vastly improved.
Slab Hallow has a three-stage system to inspecting a chimney.
Level 1 is the least intrusive; it uses video to inspect the structure.
"That's helps a lot. It takes out a lot of the guesswork," Dwyer said.
Level three is more intrusive and difficult to do, sometimes requiring the removal of house siding to get direct access.
After a cleaning, Slab Hollow installs chimney lining to fortify the structure.
"Chimney fires most often are inside the tiles, which is your first line of defense," Dwyer said.
Sweeps will use different methods to remove the creosote — fiberglass rods, spinning chains and even chemicals.
"We also have a rod that allows us to reach the top of a house from the ground — that way no one gets hurt falling off a roof," Dwyer said. "The homeowner has the right to expect that there won't be any falls or damage to their property."
Chimney cleaning is a potentially hazardous job.
Aside from working aloft, sweeps can be exposed to certain types of bird guano that can carry lung disease. Animals caught in the flue may also be diseased.
Not to mention that chimney sweeping isn't exactly a 9-to-5 undertaking.
"We all have a tendency to put off what we should do," Dwyer said. "We don't get those snow tires until it starts snowing. Summers are so short around here that people don't want to have to think about getting their chimney ready for winter."
So sweeps are often called upon in cold and even hazardous weather, traveling hundreds of miles in a week.
"You try and stay in one area, but life doesn't work like that," Erhardt said. "I can be in one area and get a call from someplace I just left, and I'll end up going there, too."
Customers throughout the region are very hospitable, though, both sweeps said.
And in turn, the chimney experts help homeowners understand proper and effective use of their chimney, proper maintenance and healthy use of their wood stoves.
Said Dwyer, "It's all part of the services we offer, (to) protect people's homes."
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