Still vital, chimney sweeps’ dirty job hasn’t changed that much
For The Oklahoman, dyrinda@gmail.com
It was just an average day on the job for James Smitha — until he opened the chimney flue and out tumbled a very surprised cat. “That like to scared me to death,” said Smitha, owner of Happy Hatter Chimney Sweep and Dryer Vent Services of Oklahoma City. “(The homeowner) said, ‘Oh that’s our cat. He likes to sleep up there sometimes.’ But it still scared me.”
Chimney cleaners still are more likely to encounter squirrels and birds than the family pet.
“Ninety percent of the time, it’s squirrels,” said Toby Buris, owner of A-Better Chimney Services of Oklahoma City. “Sometimes they’re dead, but I’ve rescued birds, especially baby birds.”
Chimney sweeps work year-round, and most offer other services such as duct work cleaning or masonry work. But business really heats up during the cold months. This means often working 12 hours a day six days a week at the season’s peak.
“It’s a steady business,” said Michael Lowman, owner of Top Hat Chimney of
Edmond. He was talking by phone one morning between back-to-back appointments.
“It is seasonal, but it’s a decent living. Not a fantastic living, but it’s a different kind of living,” he said.
Traditionally known as chimney sweeps, the trade stretches back centuries and, in some ways, hasn’t changed all that much.
Modern sweeps deploy a combination of brushes, specialized vacuum cleaners and muscle power to literally scrub the inside of chimneys and fireplaces. They also can inspect fireplaces to ensure they are safe to use.
It’s a dirty job, sometimes a hazardous job, but it’s a also necessary job.
Fireplaces and chimneys caused an average of 22,300 fires a year between 2012 and 2014, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. A blocked chimney also can push carbon monoxide back into the home.
The Chimney Safety Institute of America, which trains and certifies chimney cleaners across the country, recommends chimneys and vents be inspected yearly and maintained as needed.
“The need to clean can be based on a variety of factors like the frequency of use, type of wood, design, air flow and several others,” institute spokesman Zach Zagar said in an email. “I cannot stress enough the importance of annual inspections.” For more on fireplace safety, go to www.csia. org.
Chimneys fall into two categories, according to the institute, masonry and factory-built.
Newer homes generally have factory-built chimneys, complete metal units with flues lined in layers of steel and a pipe that can funnel up smoke and heat.
“And there’s an outer wall, which is another galvanized pipe,” Buris said. “It will contain all the heat so even if it did catch fire, the home can still be safe.”
Older homes, though, often have masonry chimney flues lined with a single layer of terracotta tiles.
“Once the chimney flue tiles catch fire, they always crack and break and sometimes explode,” Buris said. “So then the fire is in the walls of the structure because most masonry chimneys are not brick all the way up. They’re not finished in the attic. It’s never going to be seen, so it’s not finished.”
Reputation is key
The top-hatted chimney sweep remains a fixture of English culture, despite a history entangled with child labor and darker elements of the Industrial Revolution. Even now, having a chimney sweep crash your wedding in England is considered is considered good luck, and many there offer those services for a small fee.
Why do the English consider chimney sweeps lucky? That’s not altogether clear. But according to Time magazine, Prince Philip was “was first almost early, then almost late” to his own wedding to the future Queen Elizabeth II in 1947, when he insisted on popping out beforehand to shake hands with a chimney sweep.
For most Americans, though, the term “chimney sweep” immediately brings to mind Dick Van Dyke, who sang his way through “Mary Poppins” as the relentlessly cheerful Bert.
The imagery that performance ushered into American culture may be why “hats,” “hatters” and even “Mary Poppins” often figure into the names of chimney cleaning businesses here.
Smitha, however, said he drew his business name from the character in “Alice in Wonderland.”
“You’ve got the Mad Hatter there, but I’m not mad,” he said with a laugh. “I’m actually a pretty happy guy. You can catch me whistling a lot. My dad was a big whistler, and I go around whistling all the time.”
Whatever the name and whatever the job, though, reputation is a critical part of the business.
“I have customers I clean yearly, year after year for many, many years,” Lowman said. “That’s reputation, and most of my business comes from word-ofmouth.”