Your Safety and Cleanliness are our Number 1 Priorities
CAMERA INSPECTIONS
The Irish Sweep offers a number of professional chimney and fireplace services to keep your home and fireplace safe, secure and performing at its best. We utilize camera inspections to ensure we address all safety concerns.
LATEST EQUIPMENT
The Irish Sweep specializes in installing the latest wood burning fireplace inserts, lighters and glass door enclosures for fireplaces. These installations help to make your fireplace more energy efficient and safe.
PROFESSIONAL STAFF
The Irish Sweep provides routine and thorough chimney cleaning and maintenance for open fireplaces, wood burning stoves, wood burning inserts and chimney liners.
Services
We understand better than most the implications and danger of not having a chimney cleaning and maintenance, especially with the earth movement we experience here in the Bay Area. At The Irish Sweep Inc., we understand that it can be an inconvenience yet a necessary part of owning a home.
Is your dryer taking longer than usual to dry your clothes? Have you noticed a burning smell when your dryer
The structural integrity of your chimney is pivotal to ensuring your home’s soundness and your fireplace safety. Just as with
A professional chimney inspections from Irish Sweep can help to assess your chimneys condition and structural integrity, so you can
If you have decided to remove or upgrade your fireplace, you may also want to remove your chimney. Removing a
Offering the highest quality products, expert service and craftsmanship, Irish Sweep provide installation for a number of key fireplace insert
Looking after a chimney is important for essential home maintenance. A clean and functional chimney maintains proper fireplace performance, protects
Who we are
Sally McKnight, the owner of The Irish Sweep, Inc. has been a dedicated chimney professional since 1982. She is known for her expertise in and passionate enthusiasm for the fireplace and chimney industry. With years of field service under her belt, she can discuss your plans for a new project or repairs to an existing structure. In addition, she can address concerns regarding fireplace performance and water issues and assess your chimney for fire, seismic and structural safety.
Safety is our top priority at The Irish Sweep, that’s why we only accept projects for which we are highly qualified. If necessary, referrals will be made to other qualified companies and contractors.
California State Contractor’s License #564792 – C29 Masonry License
Certified to clean chimneys by the Chimney Safety Institute of America, certification #1200
C61/D34 Specialty license for metal-related work (e.g., installation of a wood burning insert)
Certified to clean dryer vents also by the Chimney Safety Institute of America, certification #649
Sarah C., San Lorenzo, CA
When I moved into my house it had two wood burning fireplaces – a traditional chimney and a metal stove like fireplace. I have no idea if they had ever been swept before. Irish sweep (I believe it was Sally, the owner and a partner/assistant) showed up to my home on time and with everything they needed. They cleaned out an immense amount of soot and other stuff from both chimneys, inspected both for safety and gave me great information about how to use my fireplaces safely and in a way that would prevent damage to the surrounding structures. They were very efficient (two in only a matter of hours), friendly, helpful, and happy to answer questions and offer advice. Most importantly – they left my house totally clean – sucking up errant dust and floating particles as they worked.
Sarah C., San Lorenzo, CA
Cam L., Oakland, CA
We met Sally on another inspection for another house we almost purchased. Sally and her assistant thoroughly explained everything we needed to do and other things that could wait. When her estimate came in, it was very competitively priced. With our new house, I couldn’t wait to get Sally back in here and regret letting our realtor pick the jerks from Home Guard. Sally and Mario arrived on time with all the needed equipment to inspect our chimney. Within 5 minutes, she told us our chimney stove was functioning properly. Within 20 minutes, she was on roof looking into the chimney and told me there were NO problems with our chimney stove, the flute or the lining. In fact, her exact words were “Let’s start a fire!” With Sally, you can feel secure knowing that you will not be over charged or be saddled with unnecessary repairs. She’s been working on, repairing, instally and cleaning chimneys since the 80s. I wish I could give the Irish Sweep 10 stars for service and saving me thousands of dollars. She is simply, the best.
Cam L., Oakland, CA
Karen Z., Alameda, CA
I’ve used Sally and Enzo for a smoke guard, chimney cleaning, spark arrester, and they also put in a damper. They are reasonably priced, there on time, do a fantastic job and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone. And, they are super nice people with lots of charm and great senses of humor. In fact, I just emailed tonight because I knocked my ash pit door into the ash pit… HELP!
Karen Z., Alameda, CA
Emmett Z., Richmond, CA
I found Sally through a BNI referal group and i needed to have my chimney cleaned, as I bought a new house. I made the appointment, got a confirmation call and she showed up on time. I was a littled worried about ash getting all over the place, but not even a speck od dust was found. even in the fireplace! She was fun to talk with, as she explained the techincal aspects of her work, I feel much confidence with her. I then decided to make a fire cause it was cold. I filled up my house with smoke, and it was a real mess. I called Sally to tell her my house filled weith smoke. She popped over and showed me how to make a fire based on the size and shape of my fireplace. I am so thankful! Kudos Sally- you rock!!!!!!
Emmett Z., Richmond, CA
Hallie S., Oakland, CA
Our house was built in 1938 and the fireplace has been nothing but trouble due to poor design. Unless we wanted to burn one tiny log at a time, there was no way to prevent smoke from coming into the room. Then finally, after years of water leaks, the inside back wall collapsed. It has really pretty wood work, so we didnt’ want to tear it out of the house and also wanted to keep an extra source of heat in the living room. We decided to put in a wood burning stove insert and purchased the one we wanted without thinking about how it would fit into our fireplace. We called Sally to install it since she has had an excellent reputation for many years. It turned out that our insert was not going to fit without some custom work and we could not return it because we had purchased it on sale from a store that was closing. Sally came up with a really good solution to raise the slightly too small insert off the floor so that it looked more centered in the opening. The surrounding sheet metal that came with the insert was not enough to cover the fireplace opening, so Sally had a custom piece made that looks so good, you can’t tell that it didn’t come with the stove. She and her assistant did a terrific job and left our living room spotless when they were done. Due to the age of our house, there were problems getting the chimney liner into the chimney, but even though that took a lot of extra time, there were no extra charges. We are thrilled with the results and even though the insert we bought was a bit small for the opening, Sally made it look like it was a perfect fit. One word of advice: call Sally to come measure your fireplace BEFORE you purchase an insert! But if you don’t, she’ll make it work anyway!!!
Hallie S., Oakland, CA
Bonnie A., Oakland, CA
Lovely folks. Sally and her assistant, whose name I did not catch, were punctual, neat, and professional. Everything back in place when finished and except for a chimney clean enough to eat out of, you one would never know they were here. Highly recommend them.
Bonnie A., Oakland, CA
JD T., Berkeley, CA
I have been working with these folks for years. They are always professional, thorough, and tidy. They do a great job, at competetive prices. I rely on them.
JD T., Berkeley, CA
Soo L., El Cerrito, CA
Sally and crew was fast, efficient, and left the place how they found it. Moved all the toys, etc away from the chimney. did a good job protecting the soot from entering the living room. A year later, when I called up to get a receipt (cuz I lost it). She send it the very next day.
Soo L., El Cerrito, CA
Karen K., Oakland, CA
I am writing because I am super impressed with Sally’s responsiveness and integrity. Another company came out to clean my chimney and ended up telling me it was “broken,” was a fire and earthquake hazard and I shouldn’t used it. untill replaced (and that would cost between $3,500 -$6,000). I called Irish Sweep to get a second opinion. She was soon to be leaving for a conference but didn’t want to leave me worrying about the chimney so she came by on a Saturday. She showed me that it wasn’t in fact broken and how it could be made to look broken, saving us a lot of money and hassle. She is clearly very experienced and knowledgeable. I will definitely be calling her for a cleaning.
Karen K., Oakland, CA
Lloyd D., San Francisco, CA
Great service! I emailed on a Saturday night about taking advantage of their “summer cleaning special”. I received a response back 5 minutes later with the convenient time that I requested. On appointment day, the two person team, led by the Sally, arrived on time and proceeded to do a thorough and clean job. Sally was very knowledgeable and provided me a number of insights about my house. Sally is pleasant, quirky, and easy to work with. I’ll by recommending.
Lloyd D., San Francisco, CA
Deborah S., Oakland, CA
Sally is A-one in our book. She was able to come out and fix our chimney without us having to be there. She did a great job and the price was right. We have used her twice and would not hesitate to call her again or recommend her to others!!
Deborah S., Oakland, CA
Tammy R., Oakland, CA
I worked with Sally and she was amazing! I can’t say enough about how friendly, helpful and informative she was. She and her staff did a great job on my chimney’s and even did some minor repairs. I highly recommend them!
Tammy R., Oakland, CA
Alex Margutn
Sally McKnight, the owner of The Irish Sweep, Inc. has been a dedicated chimney professional since 1982. She is known for her expertise in and passionate enthusiasm for the fireplace and chimney industry.
Alex Margutn
You can call us at 510.521.4088
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