CSIA. What does it mean?Since there are no licensing requirements for chimney sweeps in Massachusetts, it is up to each company to educate and train their technicians to the best of their abilities. The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA), is located Plainfield Indiana and affiliated with the National Chimney Sweep Guild (NCSG). This is the only governing body of chimney sweeps in the country. They operate a school there and also travel the country giving seminars and training chimney sweeps.
The examination to become CSIA qualified requires extensive study of the CSIA Successful Chimney Sweep manual and includes codes and clearances from the International Residential Code book and National Fire Protection code book NFPA 211. In order to become certified, a chimney sweep must pass 2 one hour exams with a score of 80% or better. With this training a chimney sweep is properly prepared to safely conquer the challenges of sweeping chimney and keeping homeowners safe
