We made it onto (CLICK HERE) with photos! Installing a wood stove in a handmade straw bale house in Youngsville, NM last week.

A customer from today posted this review on our face book page and on our google places page:

WOW Baileys just saved the lives of my dog Samantha and I.....I called them to clean the chimney so I could use the fireplace this winter in the place I rent...they have a GREAT REPUTATION...THOROUGH CONSCIENTIOUS. So I was really pleased at the work they did on the fireplace... But here's the thing that may have saved our lives... Bailey's offers a free dryer vent exam when they clean your fireplace and chimney ....I asked them to look at mine and Justin found that the dryer vent was disconnected...and with a gas dryer that means carbon monoxide can be released INTO YOUR HOUSE...so we have been breathing it for awhile, and all that lint was blowing BACK INTO the dryer which is a major fire hazard. GEEZ I thought I was doing enough by cleaning the lint trap when I used it....nope. They are cleaning the whole thing now! Thanks Justin for going above and beyond the call of duty....Samantha and I are grateful.

By Justin Bailey
baileyschimney.com

In February of 2011, due to an extreme weather event in Texas, which knocked out a power plant, pressure in the grid of natural gas lines dropped precipitously low, and somebody decided to cut off the natural gas supplies to Taos and Rio Arriba counties. Meanwhile in Northern New Mexico temperatures dropped to twenty below zero.

People who depended on natural gas for heat tried keeping warm with electricity. The electric grid quickly failed due to overload. With no internet, radio talk show hosts like Nancy Stapp and Paddy Mac stayed on the air around the clock providing crucial information. People listened to the radio in their cars with the heat turned up high. Plumbers drove around dealing with a deluge of frozen, broken pipes. Folks with kiva fireplaces kept them going 24/7. All over Taos, walls in homes adjoining these fireplaces caught on fire. Fire trucks drove screaming all over the place to put out the fires.

This went on for almost two weeks.

Those of us who own wood stoves, however, were warm in our homes. We heated water on our wood stoves to take a bath. We fried eggs on our wood stoves and made pots of soup and stew to distribute to our less fortunate neighbors. Our pipes didn't freeze. Our homes didn't catch fire.

Heating our homes with wood--a local, renewable source of energy--gives us a level of independence and self-reliance unknown to those who depend exclusively on the utility companies for energy.

I'm a chimney sweep; I install woodstoves, consult on wood heat, and clean, inspect and service chimneys of all types. My phone, of course was ringing off the hook during the gas outage.

My business, Bailey's Chimney Cleaning & Repair, facilitates safe heating with wood. We are here to help you be prepared for events like the gas outage of 2011. Installing wood stoves is my favorite thing about work, because I get to help people free themselves from the bondage of dependence on the energy grid.

Heating with a modern, EPA approved wood stove, we can reduce our carbon footprint, keep our money in our communities, and protect ourselves from the failures and greed of politicians and energy executives. To those of us who live in rural areas in or near forests, it is obvious that the health of the forest depends on responsible thinning. This thinning provides us fuel for heat.

When we burn a piece of wood in our wood stove, it emits the same amount of carbon as if that piece of wood rotted on the ground or burned in a forest fire. Efficient wood stoves emit very little particulate matter because they are equipped with a re-burn chamber that burns the combustible gasses and particles in the smoke before it leaves the stove.

Everywhere we go, it seems, we hear about the need for green energy and green jobs. Heating with wood in an efficient wood stove is green energy, and the jobs of chimney sweeps and woodcutters are green jobs. We spend our money right here at home. Bailey's Chimney C&R is a member of the Green Chamber of Commerce because we provide good green jobs and green services.

Why send your money to a utility company out of state when you can buy a cord of wood from a local father and husband who will turn around and spend that money here in the community, helping to provide more local jobs?

Carrying ladders up ladders is one of those fun physical challenges that reminds me of when I used to be a rock-climbing fanatic. In most cases, I'll carry the ladder with the hook up the first ladder, and hang it on the peak of a steep roof.

Today I jumped at the opportunity to get on top of this A-Frame to clean the cap and chimney that serves a wood stove I delivered and installed years ago.

Well, this has been the busiest July in the history of Bailey's Chimney C&R. The superior service we provide, at the competitive prices we offer, seems to appeal to folks all over Northern NM. We've had lots of great days full of work in so many beautiful places--Los Alamos, Abiquiu, Penasco, Taos, and Santa Fe.

My favorite job of the month so far was the wood stove installation we did for Helen Lopez in Llano San Juan, at the foot of the Picuris peaks. It was a great day's work for a few reasons. Firstly, when we removed the old chimney we discovered that mice had been nesting around the existing chimney for many years and had caused an extreme fire hazard.

Helen's new stove

Around the new chimney we installed a two-layer steel sheild to keep mice from getting near the chimney. Preventing somebody's house from burning down makes for a high level of job satisfaction. Also, the view from the roof was unbelievably gorgeous. And last but not least, our customers were delightful and we had lemonade and snacks after work with them at their picnic table next to the stream.

Tomorrow we have an exciting wood stove installation in Carson, NM. A lucky customer took advantage of a used package we sometimes can offer: a high quality used wood stove and top-of the line used chimney pipe all together, installed, for an amazing price. If you are interested in a package like this, let us know. They are not always available, but sometimes we come across great quality pre-owned used wood stoves and chimney that we can offer to someone who is interested in heating their home with wood.

Cleaning chimneys and dryer vents in July can be a bit hot, and we sweat a lot. But it keeps us fit, and on top of our game.

We are so grateful to all of our customers; its clear that they are the smartest consumers of chimney services in New Mexico!

I've looked at the competitions' web presence, and its clear that overall baileyschimney.com is the best chimney sweep's website in New Mexico, and our social media presence is off the charts compared to our competition.

This is a testament to the commitment we at Baileys have to keep up with the times and utilize current technology to make our business more effective and efficient. We use digital photo technology, online schedules that send automatic email reminders to our customers, and spreadsheets to track inventory, projects, and customers who live in outlying areas, so that we can better serve you.

Bailey's Chimney had a record-breaking May and then a record-breaking June, sales-wise. Our Spring into Summer Sale has never been so popular and successful as it was this year.

Fire Season is upon us: as we head into July, there are five active wild-fires in New Mexico. This is a reminder of what we do for a living--Fire Safety. If you or anyone you know needs a spark arrestor for their chimney that will prevent the start of new wild-fires, let us know. We make, sell, and install spark arrestors.

In the chimney business we use July to relax a little and catch up with administrative duties, catch up with taxes, and get ready for the upcoming busy season, which starts in August. If the phone rings, I'll answer it though, so if you need some chimney service, don't hesitate to call!

I hope you have a great summer!

Every time I go to do chimney work in Santa Fe, it rains there. My new helper, Ted, pitches his tent in the yard. The rain soon follows. If you live in Santa Fe, and you would like it to rain, call us and schedule your chimney service. Results are guaranteed. Bailey's Chimney: drought relief services.

Really excited to be working with Jeff Heveron on the new website. Jeff has been patient and professional and a pleasure to work with. What a great designer. His website is Jeffswebservice.com.

Click here to see a Wall Street Journal Article  about the Queen of England's chimney sweep.  It includes a version of the story about how chimney sweeps came to be seen as good luck omens.  

REASONS WHY SPRINGTIME IS THE BEST TIME TO GET YOUR CHIMNEY AND DRYER VENT CLEANED:

At Bailey's Chimney Cleaning and Repair, our mission is helping you be prepared.

That's why, if you ACT SOON, you save $20 on chimney and dryer vent service.  PLUS save ANOTHER $20.00 if you refer us to a neighbor who needs chimney or dryer vent service right before or after your appointment.

I'm sure you agree that's a great reason to get the chimney cleaned during the
summer.  Here are five more good reasons:

1)  Prevent corrosion that happens if creosote is left in the chimney pipes till fall; add years of life to the venting system of your wood heat appliance.

2)  Certified technicians from Bailey's Chimney can do more chimney and dryer
vent repairs on site without having to schedule another service call because our schedule is more flexible in spring.  We also have the time to help you test your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.

3)  In spring it is easier to group customers by neighborhood, saving gas and reducing our carbon footprint, helping all of us keep costs down and help the planet.

4)  Winter is when mice like to nest in your dryer and dryer vent.  Now is the time to check for, eliminate and prevent this fire and health hazard.  We can get that mouse nest out of your dryer vent and repair any damage it caused.

5)  Get the chimney cleaned in the spring and you can relax in the fall, when a good chimney sweep is hard to find.

Don't miss this opportunity!  If you live in the Santa Fe area call 505-988-2771  

If you live closer to Taos call 575-770-7769  to schedule.

Or send an email to baileyschimney@gmail.com .

Kind Regards,

Justin Bailey