IRISH SWEEPS CHIMNEY LTD

Very well. The guys were professional, courteous, and punctual. I expected the upsell to the $1000 liner change, but they were not pushy about it. They were also quick and incredibly clean.

Ok..............

Absolutely professional, fast and courteous

Our longtime heating oil dealer, who does all our boiler maintenance, has mentioned for a few years that the draft on the flue was starting to deteriorate. This year, they told us that we needed to get the flue cleaned immediately. We contacted Augie's, which is the sweep that has an excellent local reputation. When they inspected the flue, they said that they couldn't clean it because it would require cutting into the chimney from somewhere in the house, and that that was not work that they did. They recommended we call Irish Sweeps, who they praised. Irish Sweeps is a small, family company, which has been around for decades. I was happy to see that they are members of the appropriate professional organizations as referenced in the Angie's List article on chimney sweeps, and have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. These are important things to check in a profession in which many shady operations abound. I noticed that Irish Sweeps had only a couple of recent reviews on Angie's List, which is explained by the fact that they find business almost exclusively by referral, something that speaks highly of them. Irish Sweeps sent Brian to do the inspection. Brian is smart, very kind and patient, and knows his business. After inspecting everything, he explained that the best way to get into the boiler chimney was through the firebox of our main fireplace, because that could easily be restored to pristine condition, as opposed to cutting though our walls. Removing and replacing bricks is apparently not a big deal to people who know what they are doing. While he was here, I mentioned that we had had some water infiltration from around an unused chimney, and that others had said that it should be demolished and rebuilt. He had a look, and said that much of the chimney was pretty tight, but it did need to be repointed (replacing the mortar that had fallen away) and that there were obvious defects in the flashing. The chimneys had not been repointed in 50 years, so this made sense. He proposed to repoint all three chimneys, rebuild the masonry “crowns” on them, and fix the flashing on the one that was leaking. They proposed a price that was fair – if they did high-quality work that solved the issues and left the home looking good. After some deliberation, we retained Irish Sweeps to proceed with the work. On the appointed day, their crew arrived on time – four men in two trucks, led by Brian, and they immediately set to work. I appreciated that Brian made an effort to minimize traffic through the house, proposing that we open a long-unused outside door that was steps from the main fireplace. That was brilliant. He also made a point to prepare the area inside the house with dropcloths all around, and asked first before moving anything, which I then gave him carte blanche to do. I realized how an experienced company can handle things with minimal involvement by me. I didn't have to point out anything to them in the basement about our boiler and oil-fired hot water heater. They found the cutoff switches for all of that on their own, turning it off before opening the flue and all back on and running as soon as it was safe to do so. They also found the necessary water spigots and electrical sockets outside, and asked if it was okay to use them, which it of course was. Brian and another man cleaned out our main fireplace, and then set to work opening a hole in that fireplace into the adjacent chimney, while the other two men went to work on the roof. On a very hot day, they worked tirelessly to wire-brush the bricks on the chimneys so they looked much nicer, and then repointed everywhere that needed it. Clearly this was necessary: as I was looking at them work, I happened to notice one of the men just pull a brick from one chimney by hand, because there was nothing holding it in place. Despite this, Brian assured me that the chimneys were solid, except for the necessary repointing. (He could have easily told me, as a roofing company did, that one chimney needed to be demolished and rebuilt, and that little demonstration with the brick might have convinced me, so I appreciate his honesty.) The chimneys look very nice now, particularly with the new crowns on each. Irish Sweeps spent a long time reworking the flashing on the leaking chimney, which hopefully will solve that infiltration problem. Because of an impending storm, the men carefully wrapped their work in plastic for the night, which they came back the next day to remove; they did the wrapping in a way that allowed us to operate our boiler and hot water heater until they returned to remove it. On the furnace flue, Irish Sweeps removed two large wet/dry vacuum cleaner bags of crud – probably 30 years of debris. Plainly their efforts to access the flue through the fireplace were successful. When I went back later to look at how they had rebuilt the firebox, you couldn't tell that they had ever been there, except that it was cleaner. If I hadn't seen the big hole they had opened, I would have thought they hadn't started yet. In short, Irish Sweeps approached this job thoughtfully, and with respect towards our early-1900s home. Every person was exceptionally-polite, respectful, knowledgeable and kind, the kind of people you are happy to welcome into your home (although because of the dirtiness of their job, these fine young men made an effort to minimize their time in the house and their travel through it). You could see the enormous amount of effort they put into accomplishing their work, the care they took in doing it, and the quality and experience that made it go smoothly and with no harm to the premises. Four men spent basically a whole day at our home, working diligently, and we are very happy with the result. I have every confidence that our oil dealer will be happy with the flow through our flue, and that we will finally have solved the water infiltration problem around the unused chimney. It's always worth paying a little more for a quality job, and, assuming that there are no issues going forward, we feel that we got our money's worth. We highly recommend Irish Sweeps.

Efficiently

The scheduling was fine. They were pretty punctual. They didn't take that long to do it. They provided us with the information that we needed to have the liner inserted. I wouldn't recommend them because I'm not sure if I trust them entirely.

No one answers ringing phone after several calls. Bob Lucas new member gifted in by Kate Kane

Irish Sweeps was excellent. We had moved into a house we purchased over the summer and wanted to make sure our chimney was working properly. Matt inspected and swept our chimney, cleaned out the fireplace, and replaced our broken damper. He showed us that our chimney liner had fallen apart and explained why we should have a new one installed. The office offered us a fair price in my opinion (though I did not shop around). The installation occurred a few weeks later. I was not home but my wife was. She told me that the crew that came were excellent. They explained what they were going to do, did it, and then showed her what they had done. They also cleaned up after themselves. I would definitely use them again and recommend them.

Looks sloppy and the chimney still leaks! At first, came back to check on continuing leaking, but then stopped keeping appointments.

I've used Irish Sweeps in the past, was always happy with their service, but this time, they sent a worker that was very unpleasant to deal with, loud, extremely unsuitably dressed (very large man with very large "plumbers b***") He isisted he knew exactly what I needed, no need to tell him anything. He installed a 4" liner in my chimney when the manual for my new boiler clearly stated it required a 5" for proper draft. Calls had to go back and forth for several weeks, I had to have the boiler man here and was forced to disarm the "puff-back prevention" circuit because this unpleasant employee insisted there was nothing wrong with his work. It cost me a bundle to have to keep calling the boiler man in, and have this 3-way argument with Irish Sweeps. Finally I got the owner on the line and emailed him the exact specs from the boiler manual. The same unpleasant employee came back and yelled/complained/cursed the entire time about how messy it was going to be to remove all the insulation, old pipe and do it all over again. He left debris all over. I had to agree to pay the difference between the 2 sizes of liner even though I was already out money having to call the boiler man back so often. This employee's name was "Anthony". I may use their services again, but only with the stipulation that Anthony never step foot on my property again.

They did some work on our chimney a few years ago. We never had a problem, but another workman was on the roof and thought he saw something that had been done improperly. When we called with our concern they sent someone over immediately. He spent quite a bit of time here, documenting the prior work and putting our minds at ease. They even offered to speak directly with the man that criticized their work. All in all, they are supremely knowledgeable and professional. They did not charge us for the follow up visit.

I asked my neighbor, who is a contractor to recommend someone. They accommodated my busy schedule, cleaned my flue, said gases were getting trapped, recommended a new cap, for water was getting in the burner too. They installed it. They also replaced the ducts going from the burner to the flue.

They were on time, they did excellent work. They were reasonable and I was very very pleased.

When we called, they said they'd come Friday between 2 and 5. They arrived at 2:15, so we weren't stuck in the house. They gave us an estimate, and came back on Monday to do the job. I've never had a home repair go so easily!

WE DO NOT EVER HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE WORKERS FROM HERE. THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CLEAN AND NEAT. THEY CLEAN UP WELL, NO SOOT LEFT ANYWHERE. THE WORKERS ARE ALWAYS COURTEOUS.

THEY ARE A TOP KNOTCH COMPANY WHICH ARE PUNCTUAL AND NICE. THIS WAS ABOUT THE SECOND TIME WE USED THEM. THEY ARE PROFESSIONAL AND DID A NICE JOB.

THEY DO AN OUTSTANDING JOB. THE WORKERS ARE PROFESSIONAL. THE COMPANY HAS DONE WORK FOR US BEFORE. THEY HAVE ALWAYS DONE A GREAT JOB. THEY ARE A RELIABLE COMPANY.

I WAS NOT REAL PLEASED WITH THIS COMPANY. THEY INSISTED THAT I NEEDED A NEW CAP FOR MY CHIMNEY, UNTIL I GOT ONE. THEY WERE WAY OVER PRICED AND THE QUALITY OF WORK WAS NOT GOOD. THE MEN WERE DIRTY AND VERY RUDE, BUT THEY DID COME ON TIME.

THE COMPANY QUOTED US A ACCURATE PRICE. WE WERE NOT PUSHED INTO DOING THE REPAIRS ON THE CHIMNEY. I WAS HAPPY WITH THE WORK DONE. THEY ARE A VERY REPUTABLE COMPANY.

THE COMPANY IS RELIABLE AND DOES A HONEST JOB. THE CHIMNEY SWEEP COMES TO CLEAN THE CHIMNEY IN A TIMELY MANNER. THE AREA IS LEFT CLEAN AND FREE OF ANY DIRT. THEY DO A GREAT JOB.

I BELIEVE THIS COMPANY DID AN WONDERFUL JOB OF GETTING THE JOB DONE IN A TIMELY MANNER. THE PRICE THEY CHARGED TO DO THE REPAIRS WERE MORE THAN FAIR AND THE STAFF WAS PROFESSIONAL.