Chimney Sweep Business Is Family Affair
In today's society and economy, it isn't uncommon to have a two-job family. The wife may choose to work, but may sometimes not have to leave her family behind. She must choose something that involves everyone.
One type of successful family involvement is husband and wife team combinations. Look at George Burns and Gracie Allen, Arthur Murray and his wife, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme.
Well, there is a successful husband and wife working in the Clarion area. Ed and Cheryl Myers of Sligo are doing the age-old job of chimney sweeping. Their three children, Michelle 6, Pam 8, and Kimberly, 3, help their parents in the job.
When you think of chimney sweeps, you might think of a blackened Dick van Dyke dancing through the streets and roof tops of London singing "Chim chim'nee, chim chim cheree..." The Myers are modern day sweeps who wear black clothes, top hats and a thick layer of black soot. They started their chimney sweeping business in October.
"Ed thought I was crazy when I suggested it, but we wanted to do something together. We are service oriented. The job gives us something to do together and helps out other people," Mrs. Myers said.
The Myers team began reading books on the art of chimney sweeping and finally decided to take on the challenge. Their equipment was purchased from the August West company and includes a soot sweetper, wire brushes, a broom and a dustpan.
The soot sweeper is used to gather the dust that comes from the fireplace. Hand sweepers are used to gather the soot.
Heavy wire brushes are used to scrape the creosote from the inside of the flue. Ed climbs to the roof and sticks his long wire brush down the chimney to loosen the creosote along the inside. After that is completed, he comes inside & does the same process. During that time, Cheryl holds the soot sweeper nearby to gather the dust. The sweeping of the average fireplace takes about two hours.
"The work is good. There is a large number of people who burn wood and coal", Cheryl said.
According to the National Fire Prevention suggestions, the fireplace and flue should be cleaned annually.
"We cleaned a flue the other week which hadn't been cleaned in over one hundred years. We found everything including birds' nests, pine needles and all kinds of things," Cheryl said.
"Years ago, people used lots of coal and wood and they knew what chimney fires were because they had experienced them. A wood burning fireplace makes me nervous," Cheryl said.
The Myers had a chimney fire at one time and Cheryl said "It started us thinking." The Myers took rides around looking at the number of fireplaces that could potentially be cleaned. "With fuel up to almost (?) a gallon, it makes sense to use the fireplace," Cheryl said.
Ed graduated from Union High School and works full-time for Grants Plumbing. Cheryl is originally from Ohio.
The sweeps work evenings and weekends. "It's convenient for most people," Ed said.
The couple plans to join the National Chimney Sweeps guild in the future.
Source: The Clarion News, 1980, by Betsy Mallison, Staff Writer. Transcribed by Pamela Myers-Grewell.
