I’ve been involved in the chimney industry since the late ‘70s when my wife and I started our chimney sweeping business. Anyone who was a sweep during this time enjoyed a business that boomed during the fall and winter, then fell off in the spring and summer. How times have changed. In these early days, there were no criteria for chimney inspections. Chimney sweeps swept the chimney, maybe noted some issues to the homeowner about the soot level,and left. Litigation and insurance companies started to change the industry and were the basis for developing the industry’s Standard of Care. 
Taking the NFPA 211 Annex and placing it into installation type.
One day, at the turn of the century, as I sat on my deck relaxing, my mind wandered back to the year 1998 when a bunch of guys and I drafted the Levels of Inspections, Degrees of Access, and the list of inspection items in Chapters 14 & 15 and in the NFPA 211 Annex. As I thought about how it would be incorporated into a chimney technician’s inspection, I realized it would be difficult for the technician to try to hit all the inspection items from memory. Additionally, some items would apply to one type of installation, but not all. Today, 25 years later, some chimney technicians are still missing inspection items from NFPA 211. It’s almost as if our industry Standard of Care slipped through our fingers. Is it because there are too many items for a technician to inspect? No, we've become lazy and pick and choose what we want. This led me to begin my 10,000 hours of creating what became the Flue and Hearth Notes™ inspection forms. 
Different Installation Types.
Forty years ago, before NFPA 211’s Inspection criteria, an inspection form was created with a fireplace and a handful of inspection items to check. It was in triplicate form, and chimney sweeps used it for all types of installations. It was used for all chimneys. However, a fireplace inspection differs dramatically from a chimney serving a gas water heater and an oil boiler venting into one flue. Unfortunately, some chimney sweeps and technicians still use these forms.  Twenty years ago, I envisioned building a comprehensive inspection form Based on NFPA 211 but for specific applications such as a Masonry Fireplace, a Prefabricated Fireplace, a Masonry Thimble Chimney Serving an Appliance(s), and a Prefabricated Chimney Serving an Appliance(s).  Although these installations all have chimneys, each chimney vents a different type of heating unit or fireplace. In addition, the fuels can differ: LP gas, natural gas, oil, coal, wood, and pellets.
No installations are the same, but you will see the same types of defects.
Every installation is unique, but the types of defects are the same across the board. For instance, defects can range from vertical and horizontal cracks, protruding mortar joints, stacked liners, and misaligned liners to missing chimney liners.
Start creating a Unity track: Defining what’s important.
One of my all-time favorite stories is one Tom Grandy shared about a trip to the dentist. As with any dental visit, almost everyone gets the lecture about how to floss twice a day, and we are given the same demonstration of how to floss each time we brush. One day, after a lecture on flossing, Tom shared what we all feel, and the dentists regularly hear. “I hate to floss!” I suppose that day, the dentist had heard it for the umpteenth time, and he was ready. He responded, “OK, just do the teeth you want to keep!” This has similarities to our industry. A technician can’t just pick and choose what they want to search for (the insurable cracked flue liner). All inspection items must be investigated (NFPA 211, Chapters 14, 15, and the Annex). I felt pulling all this together would create unity on chimney inspections in our industry since it didn’t seem to be happening.
The start of the Flue and Hearth Notes™ (10,000 hours) of form building and why and how they are built.
I began with the vision of a unified form. I grouped inspection items with installation types. I further included an area for defects related to specific areas, such as a chimney liner. I grouped inspection items per area where they were found in the chimney or fireplace. I included information on appliances. I had professionally created drawings and pulled everything into multiple inspection report forms. Recently, I added more forms to the offering and broke them down by fuels. We now have eight form types: Masonry Fireplace, Masonry Fireplace with a Hearth Stove, Masonry Fireplace with an Insert, Masonry Thimble Chimney Serving a Solid Fuel Appliance, Masonry Thimble Chimney Serving a Liquid Fuel Appliance(s), Prefabricated Chimney Serving a Solid Fuel Appliance, Prefabricated Chimney Serving a Liquid Fuel(s) Appliance, and Prefabricated Fireplace and Chimney. We have Level I and Level II forms for each installation type. That’s 16 forms in total. But then, we went a step further.

​40 years of innovation in Chimney Camera Inspection Systems
Over twenty years ago, Jim Gillam of SNEWs wrote a great article about Estoban Corporation, the manufacturer of Chim-Scan® Chimney Camera Systems for internal chimney inspections. Another article was featured in Blue Collar Magazine in 2021. Now, it is time to bring you up to date in 2024.

Many assume that Estoban's location is in some big glass building with a giant loading dock. This mental image could not be farther from the truth; 99.5% of people driving by Estoban do not even know we are here. We are located outside a small town called Fairfield in southeast Iowa. If you google Fairfield, Iowa, you'll get some fun articles, videos, and even an Oprah visit.
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Estoban isn't a spelling error; it's the combination of Owners' names. E stands for Esther, S stands for Shelley, TO stands for Tom, and BAN stands for Urban. Mom and Pop, who revolutionized the industry, still run the business. Jim's article is a great way to know how Estoban started. So, here's a link to Jim's article; please read it. 

In a brief overview, Tom and Esther started as chimney sweeps in the late '70s; as time passed, Tom's curiosity and concern for his customers' homes got the better of him. Like all sweeps, customers asked him, 'Is the chimney safe?' He couldn't wholeheartedly answer because he knew he didn't see everything.
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Tom started tinkering. He traveled to Cornell University to search the library's optics section of Thomas Registers. A year later, Tom built the Footlocker Camera, which was lovingly named because it was the size of a footlocker with a lens.

In 1984, at the National Chimney Sweep Guild convention in Washington, D.C., Chim-Scan® was shown for the first time to a national audience. CNN News Channel pronounced it a showstopper, and many thought Tom was nuts for sticking a camera in a chimney, but time has shown he's an innovator.

So, in the early 2000s, Chim-Scan® built units that connect to computers, which was AWESOME. Then the World experienced the 'wonderful' (please note sarcasm) jump in Windows Operating systems of XP>Vista>Windows 7>Windows 8> and finally 10. During this jump, they learned the hard way of working with 3rd party parts and programs: one day, they are here, and the next, they're gone.This great inconvenience led them to look for other recording abilities. They have used Polaroid, VHS, Floppy disks, CF burners, PDAs, Computers, DVD recorders, and four versions of SD recorders - all done by 2010.
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Estoban stays current on new technology, but with the rise of disposable technology, they have become even pickier about what they put in their equipment. They only buy and work with commercial electronics, which tend to move slightly slower than consumer electronics. They use Commercial because it has to work day after day, with the option of repair. Shelley explained, "One would never trust a sewer company if they showed up with a teeny tiny camera hooked up to their phone. That stuff is cool and cheap but cannot withstand everyday abuse."
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Back in 2000, when Jim's article came out, Estoban had just added on the schoolroom (where Shelley was homeschooled until high school), a big new office, and the machine room. A total of about 2,000 sq ft: they quickly outgrew that by 2008, they added on Electron row, which now serves as a hallway with 3-D printers, and the 'shipping room,' now the office, added another 800 sq ft. The schoolroom was transformed into Marvin's repair room, bathroom, and commissary. For anyone wondering, Marvin is their oldest employee; he's worked for Estoban for over 30 years, which is why he gets his room. The original shop was now surrounded and became half wiring, half internal highway.

In 2014, we had a record year but at a dreadful cost. From July to January 2015, the company worked seven days a week, sometimes 12 hours a day. This busy schedule was due to disappointing results from high expectations of a cheaper product that came on the market that did not fulfill the vision needs that a Chim-Scan® chimney inspection system can produce. Well, that opened a fantastic door. We heard from people we hadn't spoken to since the mid-'90s, and many jumped on the 'I want to upgrade my old unit' bandwagon.

For those who might not know, Estoban builds Chim-Scan® Units right in Iowa, and we repair, and upgrade units built since 2010. It used to be 1995; however, we had to change to 2010 as new and old technology is a little over 66 units a month, which may sound small, but that number does not include routine repairs or new units, which always work well together. Units were housed in Tom and Esther's front/living room before the busy season repairs came in mid-September. We realized during this time that we needed to expand. As of December 31, we had upgraded over 400 units. When you do that, math bumps the unit number around 800. Eight hundred may seem like a medium-sized number, but to put it into perspective, we don't physically build the monitor, SD recorder, and camera chip. Everything else is built in-house. When you look at a Chim-Scan®, you are looking at a controller that Alicia or Shelley wired, a Case that Tom or other staff built, a reeler that Esther or Therese wired, and a camera that Tom or Shelley built. 

In 2016, the new addition, the backroom, was added. We had a great local team come, and the whole building was constructed, insulated, and concrete poured in 4 days. It was amazing. The Urban Family spent the next two weeks riding bicycles around the 4,000 sq ft addition, waiting for the concrete to cure.
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The new addition starts with a 9-foot ceiling and then jumps to a 16-foot ceiling, allowing us to build a mezzanine. The back half of the 'Backroom' is Tom's Chimney Lab. They have a masonry fireplace, prefab insert, and a masonry thimble chimney; the mezzanine allows roof access to these chimneys just by climbing a set of stairs. Watching their videos, you'll see the Lab; they use it daily to test repairs, new units, and new products. There is also a 14x30 classroom that provides space for training, Zoom meetings, and video presentations.

Tom's favorite tools are his four CNC machines; they have sped up production 100-fold. Parts are constructed in-house for the Chim-Scan® Units. Tom shares these tasks with other employees.

In 2020, Estoban could stay up and running even when other businesses had to close. Tom and Esther literally walk out the door, down a short sidewalk and into the office. Staff was spaced so everyone had their own work area during the pandemic.

As stated before, Estoban also repairs the equipment it builds; this involves the oldest employee, Marvin, who performs most repairs, and Ray, the quality control, shipping, and receiving guy. Every package that comes in gets unpacked and photographed by Ray, who then cleans it within an inch of its life and hands it over to Marvin, who does 80% of the repairs and upgrades. Esther, Alicia, Shelley, and Tom pick up the other 10%. Once a Repair or Upgrade is complete, it gets reviewed, tested, and tested a second time by Ray or whoever is free. It is then cleaned again (as fine soot is worse than glitter to get rid of), photographed, boxed up, and shipped out.

Alicia wires the New Controller/Monitors, and Tom and Steve build the cases for the 211 and make modifications for the 100 Units. Esther or Therese builds the reeler, and Tom or Shelley build the cameras.

Shelley creates CAD drawings and works with 3D printers to create parts for units, which has helped the operation become more efficient.  This frees up the CNC machines to manufacture other parts.

Once new units are complete, they 'sit' for 8 hours, being turned on and off, running for a few minutes to hours, are taken to the Lab, and run up the chimneys to test every part of the unit. They are then photographed, packed, and shipped. You may ask, "What's with all the pictures?" Well, it serves many purposes. The primary objective is that we can see what they're talking about when a customer calls. 

Some may ask, with the listed jobs above, who answers the phone? Shelley and Esther are the voices of Estoban; they cover customer service, sales, and tech support. Shelley is also a webmaster and marketing department.

Estoban also has the benefit of being a pet-friendly workplace. If you stop by for a visit, you receive a greeting from Bella, the Wheaten terrier, and a dismissive glance from Binx, the cat, aka Inspector 13. Bella oversees internal security, employee well-being, and occasional photo shoots. Binx oversees everyone's work, and the rare photoshoot.

Speaking of the past, you may ask, What about the future?
Shelley plans to run Estoban if Tom and Esther ever retire; she will maintain their standard of excellence and keep growing with technology.

​The chimney is a long and dark mystery that has been a part of human culture through the centuries. Because our ancestors frequently used their chimneys for heating and cooking. They were at the chimney's mercy when they became clogged. An unfortunate goose or a small child was used to attempt to dislodge blockages and sweep away the soot and grime. For centuries, humans' best efforts have led to the question, "Can I see from bottom to top?" and “Does it look OK?” Based on a poor visual view, they assumed all was good! Only in recent history can we see inside the chimney to determine whether there are defects and why the system may not be venting correctly.
Tom and Esther Urban started sweeping chimneys in 1979 after spending time in the Peace Corps. They founded their business in Pennsylvania and enjoyed interacting with customers. What bothered them was that they couldn’t see into the chimneys very well. The concept of an interior chimney camera was born.
At that time, there were no chimney cameras. Trying to lower a regular camera was not only a bad idea, but when Tom attended a security conference in New York City, the vendors asked, “You want to do WHAT with a camera?” They thought he was nuts.
Today, Tom, Esther, and their Daughter Shelley run a chimney camera manufacturing business. They design, construct, and assemble new cameras, controllers/monitors, and repairs, in addition to wearing many other hats. Their staff is well-taught, can tackle complex wiring boards and repairs, and runs diagnostic procedures on damaged units needing repair. The chimney camera equipment is manufactured just outside Fairfield, Iowa, a small town in Southeast Iowa. Their chimney cameras have been used for four decades to pinpoint defects, take images, and capture videos, making America’s homes safer.
These cameras are reliable, easy to use, repairable, and manufactured from heavy-duty commercial parts. They are designed for day-to-day use for scanning chimneys. Other uses include air duct scanning, crawl spaces, confined spaces, search and rescue, and are even installed on farm equipment. Along with the equipment, Tom provides technical support training on chimney scanning, diagnostics, and documentation. He taught for the National Chimney Sweep Guild at conventions, the Chimney Safety Institute of America, several state chimney sweep guilds, and home inspectors. He was a guest on 20/20, This Old House, CNN, and others. He served as an NCSG director, as the head of the Tech Committee, and on the CSIA Board of Directors. He received some of the industry/s highest awards, such as the President’s Award from the National Chimney Sweep Guild, the Education Award from the Chimney Safety Institute of America, and more. 

Tom and Esther Urban founded a chimney-sweeping business in 1978 after they served in the Peace Corps. When they got out, it was during the oil crisis. Homeowners were installing woodstoves in old chimneys or installing them with new chimneys. Creosote rapidly built up, and chimney fires started to erupt all over the country. It was a great time to start a chimney-sweeping business, and that’s just what they did. Tom partnered with an insurance adjuster on some of his calls. It always bothered Tom and Esther that they could never obtain a clear view of what was in the flue. At this time, no chimney cameras were available to scan the flue. Tom saw the need for one and researched what it would take to build one. The search would take him to Cornell University, Ithaca, in New York State.
Tom and Esther traveled on Sunday afternoons to Cornell University to search the library’s optics section of the Thomas Registers. There were about twenty 3-inch-thick books listing almost every manufacturer in the U.S. and what they manufactured. They spent many hours copying information about everything they could foresee needing for Tom’s design. Tom then attended a security convention in New York City. After a year of research and work, he took his first camera to the 1984 National Chimney Sweep Guild Convention in Washington, DC, and the first chimney camera – the Chim-Scan®- was born. It was pronounced a “Showstopper” by CNN News Channel. However, it took years before America’s Sweeps adopted and used this critical tool.
Today, forty years later, in 2024, it’s hard to fathom a time when there was no available technology. Imagine what it would be like if the internet disappeared today. That’s what Tom Urban faced when he started researching parts to create a camera capable of being lowered into the chimney and taking a picture from several feet away.  
Eventually, sweeps started to catch on to the need for scanning chimneys. When they needed to prove there was damage to a chimney and could back it up with pictures, the insurance adjuster was more likely to approve a chimney fire claim. Over the years, many companies have sold “chimney cameras,” some of which are decent quality, some modified baby monitors, and some are lightweight consumer-grade camera systems from China or another location. But 40 years later, Chim-Scan® Cameras are still churned out from their manufacturing facility in Iowa, right in the Heartland. Unlike some other chimney camera companies, Chim-Scan® Cameras can still be repaired unless they are too old, and the parts are no longer available. Someday, when Tom and Esther decide to retire or spend time chiseling away at their bucket list, their daughter Shelley is poised to step up as President to run the Estoban Corporation, manufacturer of Chim-Scan® Cameras, the true original commercial-grade chimney sweeping camera. 

​©2024 Estoban Corporation LLC. 

​In 1983, Tom and Esther Urban had a successful chimney-sweeping business in Pennsylvania (founded in 1979). It was a great time to be a chimney sweep. As a result of the oil embargo, people couldn’t afford to heat their homes. Oil surged from $2 per barrel to $11. The price of gas soared by 40%. Gas and oil were also in short supply. Home heating prices went through the roof as homeowners struggled to purchase and install wood stoves. Factories shut down. The economy was at a low point.
With the rapidly growing demand for wood heat, manufacturers sprung up overnight with people welding and selling stoves in their garages. With the lack of design, the poorly designed stoves generated a lot of creosote, leading to a surge in chimney and home fires from poorly installed units. Most of the codes we see today weren’t written yet.
As Tom and Esther continued to clean chimneys, they worried about what they couldn’t see in the flue. Using a flashlight allowed them to see some problems, but they became convinced they needed to see the inside of the flue close up. This was when Tom conceived manufacturing a chimney camera, especially for scanning chimneys. Little did he know he would embark on a journey that strayed far from his degree in Dairy Science and resulted in becoming a chimney camera designer, manufacturer, and well-recognized expert in the field of chimneys and hearth installations.
It took Tom nine months to create and finalize his black-and-white camera system. It was the size of a footlocker and had wheels to assist in taking it in and out of the customer's home. When he first scanned a chimney he swept the previous year, he entered an entirely different world. It was simply amazing.
The property was a large farmhouse in the country. As Tom pulled up, he noticed it was pretty tall. He met the homeowner, who was a retired Navy Veteran. He had spent 23 years doing tours and was ready to kick back and enjoy his farm in northeast Pennsylvania. He had heard about Tom’s chimney camera and wanted his chimney scanned. This was the last job of the day in January. Tom had just completed three jobs with slammers, and he was cold, exhausted, and just wanted to get home.
He had looked down at the flue with a flashlight and saw the top two flue liners with vertical cracks. The others looked OK. There were 14 liners, so the flue was 28 feet tall, which meant extra time and work to scan this chimney. Since he had just seen damage at the top, he didn’t feel like dragging out the “footlocker,” the 50-pound unit, and bringing it into the house. The homeowner persisted, and this is what Tom found.
The camera showed a thimble hole covered with sheet rock. The man would have burnt his house down if he hadn't caught that. This ignited Tom’s passion for putting a chimney camera in the hands of every sweep and the need to scan every chimney, even when it visually passed muster.
Tom started scanning every chimney; he built a wealth of knowledge from scanning flues and gathering information. He also spent time with an insurance adjuster. He became privy to the homeowner interviews, documentation, and the chimney fire damage it caused. He also learned how an insurance adjuster works by traveling with him to investigate chimney fire claims. The insurance adjuster and his bosses were impressed by Tom and his invention.
As Tom continued to scan chimneys, he became like a fine tracker who picks up nuances of what has gone before, learning to read the signs in the flue. Tom became the expert. He shared his experiences as a teacher at the Chimney Safety Institute of America and the National Chimney Sweep Guild. Still, there were doubters, thinking the customer would never pay for the service and that scanning chimneys wasn’t needed.
Once sweeps started to get sued over missing defects in chimneys they labeled “safe,” they began to take an interest in scanning. What also helped is insurance adjusters were more likely to approve the installation of a stainless steel chimney liner if they saw documented proof of a hazardous condition inside the flue caused by a sudden occurrence, like a chimney fire. By then, they were aware that chimney cameras existed.
In the meantime, a national distributor took an interest in Tom and his camera, and he was offered the position of Director of Technical Advisory Services. Tom worked there for a few years, but business was picking up as Chim-Scan® Cameras took off.  Tom became more involved in industry boards such as the CSIA and the NCSG and offered his time as a teacher.
In 1997, Tom was the Technical Chair for the National Chimney Sweep Guild and was on the Task Force with five others: Ashley Eldridge, Dave Johnston, Jack Pixley, Jim Brewer, and Pete Luter. This group created the levels of Inspection known today as Chapter 15 of the National Fire Protection Association and the Annex. Until then, there were no guidelines in the NFPA 211 for chimney inspections. There was only a reference to an annual inspection and cleaning if necessary.
Tom went on to create training for the Inspection & Documentation class for the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA). He has taught this class, Chimney Physics, and has taught at the CSIA National Training Academy at the Chimney Safety Institute.
Today, chimney scanning has gained acceptance with insurance adjustors and within the trades. It’s almost unheard of not scanning a chimney. Scanning finds defects; if you inspect, you’d better not miss anything. Also, how can you prove to an insurance adjuster the degree of damage that a chimney fire caused? Scanning a chimney is also required when performing a Level 2 Inspection as outlined in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 211 Standard, Chapter 15, and the Annex.
Tom was in a special feature on ABC’s 20/20 on carbon monoxide issues. Tom was in the hit TV Show “This Old House,” demonstrating a chimney inspection with the Chim-Scan Inspection System®. He has been interviewed on CNN and featured in many magazines and newspapers nationwide. Tom has been a National Chimney Sweep Guild (NCSG) member for 40 years. Tom served as an NCSG Director, as head of the Technical Committee, and has served on the board. He was part of the NCSG Safety Team, which swept and video-scanned the chimneys at the White House in 1989. He has written articles for Blue Collar Magazine, Sweeping Magazine, and SNEWS, among other industry magazines.
Tom has received some of the industry’s highest awards, such as The President’s Award from the National Chimney Sweep Guild, the Education Award from the Chimney Safety Institute of America, and many more.
Today, Tom leads the innovation teams for Flue & Hearth Notes™ and the Chim-Scan® Inspection System businesses. He continues to construct and design cameras and is dedicated to increasing the knowledge of the chimney, hearth, and chimney inspection industries with Flue & Hearth Notes™ and teaching.
Tom has written two books – The Chimney Scanning & Inspection Guide and Interior Chimney Scanning. He continues to create educational presentations and even an inspection process using the Flue & Hearth Notes™ Checklist (Short Form), The Long Form, and the Summary Form. Urban Inspection Language™ is a model language integrated into reports and documentation. This copy has been legally reviewed.
The first man in the world to invent a chimney camera and scan a chimney laid the basis for a nationally accepted practice. Word has gotten around about the documented inspections with photos, and homeowners are disappointed if they can’t see images of the chimney interior. [The “Short Form” checklist was indoctrinated into Case Law in California.] What will Tom think of next?
The pictures show Tom with his students, simulating a chimney fire to show how flue tiles crack. The photo on the right shows a cracked flue tile. This was done at our Fairfield, Iowa location.

​©2024 Estoban Corporation LLC.