The following chimney sweep recommendations come from Consumer Checkbook (www.checkbook.org) who rated 194 chimney sweeps & installers within 50 miles of Washington, D.C. Listed below are those firms which had at least 25 people and where at least 85% of customers recommended them. There are scores of companies who have high ratings but only a few customers have rated them. We include 3 companies in the “Not recommended” section at the bottom who had at least 20 customers rating them and where less than 70% of customers would recommend them. Again, there are scores of companies where between 0 and 50% of customers recommended them, but they had fewer than 20 customers rating them, and often fewer than 5 or 10 customers rating them.

If your sweep recommends you retire or upgrade your wood stove or insert one into your fireplace, the federal government now offers a 26% tax credit to install a high efficiency stove, including purchase price, labor, sweeping, venting, sales tax, etc. If live in Maryland, the MD Energy Administration also offers a $700 rebate to upgrade to a pellet stove or $500 to upgrade to a new wood stove. Thus, if your pellet stove and install comes to $3,500, you get a $700 rebate check from the state, and the 26% tax credit of the remaining $2,800 is $728, so your final price is $2,072. If you live in a state without any incentive, 26% off of $3,500 is $2,590.