All chimneys and flues much be swept annually by a fully trained and certified technician. All our Sweeps are trained and certified by HETAS, the governing body for our industry and have years of experience. If your chimney or flue is not swept, any insurance policies you have will be invalid in the case of an accident/result of a chimney fire.
We begin by fully covering the surrounding area and furniture with protective coverings. Next we cover the aperture, with a specialist sweep sheet. The chimney is then swept with traditional brushes of various sizes and a vacuum cleaner to catch the soot and debris that comes down. Then we conduct a smoke test. This check is to ensure that the smoke is all going up the chimney as it should and not leaking out of the Chimney/flue into places it shouldn’t. Then we clean everything down, pack up and issue you an official certificate with a unique identifier. We then leave your home as it was when we arrived, comfortable in the knowledge, that your home is safe for another year. This process can take up to an hour.
Prices from £85 for the first sweep, with subsequent ones at £70, should you have more than one chimney or flue
We exercise all the same precaution on a log-burner chimney/flue sweep as we do with a fireplace chimney clean. The difference is we have to dismantle parts of the stove, including, but not limited to, removal of firebricks and baffle plates. The chimney/flue is then swept via the inside of the stove. These chimneys can be tougher to clean, so we utilise powered spinning brushes to perform the actual sweep itself. In the case of log-burners, we must sweep them twice per visit to ensure they are fully clean. Again, a smoke test is used to check the integrity of the log-burner itself. Finally, as above, we clean up and certify.
Price for chimney sweep and stove clean from £75 per stove.
Inglenooks are huge and the cover up to protect your home is a much bigger and more involved job! Not only is the fireplace place enormous, but frequently the chimneys and flues are too, so we have to carry a large variety of brushes to deal with them. The process is done totally by hand, as the sweep needs to “feel” their way up and which brushes to use. This can be very involved and take a lot of skill and experience. At the end, we pride ourselves in again leaving your home as we found it, clean, safe and certified so.
Price for Inglenooks Chimney Sweep £125 additional flues at £95
Birds especially Rooks and Jackdaws do build nests in chimneys, we’ve sadly seen it all too often. Under the terms of the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, birds’ nests cannot be removed if they are inconvenient or a nuisance. Fortunately DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), allow chimney sweeps to remove nests in chimneys to preserve public health and safety. We are happy to provide this service. A birds’ nest must be removed from below for 2 reasons, firstly they can penetrate deep into the chimney, which makes it difficult to reach all of it from above. Secondly, we avoid going on a roof where ever possible, to comply with health and safety legislation and to avoid risk of damage to a customer’s roof! All nests are therefore removed from below. This is primarily done either an Archimedes or double worm screw, to pull the material down from beneath. In terms of "material", we mean not only the expected twigs sticks and mud, but anything they can carry to help bind the nest material together, including frequently carrier bags and rubber gloves. This can often amount to a van fully of refuse sacks! Please bear in mind, some nests can be done in an hour, but some can take up to a full day. Once the swept out, and tested, we clean up and issue the expected certificate.
Price for birds nest removal £80 for hour thereafter per hour £60
Given what an issue a birds nest can be in your chimney (read above), it makes real sense to avoid letting them build one in the first place. Bear in mind that birds come back to a successful site year on year. Birds nest in chimneys from the end of March to the end of August. It’s not unusual for somebody to remove a nest from a chimney in the autumn, use their fire all winter then find the following autumn the birds came back and rebuild their nest! To avoid this vicious cycle, it’s best to have a bird cowl fitted. We supply and fit a range of styles and prices to suit.
Price for Anti Bird cowls from £70 fitting from £145
Carbon monoxide is an odourless, tasteless, poisonous gas that is a by-product from anything that burns carbon fuel. It is known as the silent killer. CO is very dangerous. A CO alarm is a must. All our installations will be fitted with a new audible alarm, which will be tested and commissioned by our fitting team, as part of our remit. The alarm must be positioned correctly by the appliance, so even if you already have another alarm installed somewhere in the house, we will insist on installing one and testing it.
Price for Carbon Monoxide Alarm Supplied and fitted from £45