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For Homeowners

Hiring a chimney sweep can be frustrating. You never know if your chimney sweep has properly inspected your chimney, recommended proper repairs or if the cost associated are reasonable. This is what we do.

For Chimney Sweeps

Imagine a state of the art super chimney sweep portal that is something you always wanted. Train technicians, marketing materials, real time quality control, free group coaching and leads. All we ask is that you to do proper chimney inspections.

But What Does It Cost?

Ray Gessner, P.E. is a licensed professional engineer with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master’s degree in Engineering from Old Dominion University. Ray has successively owned and operated a multi-truck, multi-state chimney sweep company for over 20 years. The most difficult problems Ray has faced is finding and training good chimney sweeps that can provide world class inspections for homeowners. Ray has trained over 400 chimney sweeps, over 50 of these sweeps have opened and established their own chimney sweep business and he is still friends with many of these individuals.

Certified Training

Chimney Sweeps International is a professional training and testing site designed to educate the chimney professional to become better chimney technicians for tomorrow. The training includes a combination of videos and sample tests. The videos are designed to educate chimney technicians and our video library will continue to grow. The testing is designed to educate and test. Typically, the first part of testing allows our students to review the questions with the answers provided. This allows the students to read the questions and study the test. When the student feels confident that they understand the subject matter, they are tested again with the answers in random order. This fast paced learning process educates our students quickly and they become more intimately familiar with the subject matter. Similar to martial arts, our testing is color coded. The series of testing involved is the following:

Student Start At Apprentice

White Belt

General knowledge of chimney tools, components of chimney and terminology.

Yellow Belt

More detailed knowledge of the International Residential Codes regarding chimney codes.

Orange Belt

Detailed requirements for NFPA Level 1, 2, & 3 chimney inspections

Green Belt

Engineering characteristics of chimneys regarding draft, creosote build up, common problems and solutions for repairs.

Our Services

Homeowner Referrals

Chimney Sweeps International connects our members with homeowners. We require our members to take 25 specific photos per inspection (less for prefabs) and they are required to email these photos to the homeowner.

Chimney Training Videos

In 2006, Ray had a dream to produce industry training videos to quickly train chimney sweeps and inform customers why certain repairs were important.

Quality Control

This is what the chimney industry has needed forever. The age of technology is arriving! Everyone has a smart phone. Everyone has ability to download an app.

Student Is Advanced To Journeyman

Blue Belt

Student masters and memorizes building code requirements. Our testing strengthens memorization skills and thus our students know the building codes instead of looking up the building codes.

Purple Belt

Quick diagnosis – You are provided a photo and the student will quickly identify the building code defect. Sometimes there are multiple defects. This trains our technicians to see and understand problems in the field.

Red Belt

Proper repairs for common problems including chimney relining.

Green Belt

What are the most complex problems encountered in the field? The ones that make you shake your head and wonder…why? The answers are here. This exam also includes questions from all other levels.

Let’s Get Started!

Joining Chimney Sweeps International is fairly easy and there are 3 initial member levels. The first member level is as an individual, second is as an employer and thirds is as a supplier. Each level of membership receives different perks. Individuals join to receive training while employers may join to receive leads from potential homeowners. Suppliers can join to help sponsor and become friends with our chimney employers.

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Student Is Eligible To Take Master Exam

Black Belt

Pass this exam and you will be recognized by Chimney Sweeps International as a Master in the chimney profession.

But What Does It Cost?

The cost for training exams, videos and your first test for each level is free of charge. Upper level exams may require video monitoring to insure honesty. Retraining exams and retesting may have fees involved.