Why you should get your chimney cleaned

butler_helen

How much does it cost? I will book one in for before we start decorating, just incase... I've got visions of soot filling the room!

muckybutt

butler_helen wrote: »

How much does it cost? I will book one in for before we start decorating, just incase... I've got visions of soot filling the room!

Prices vary a lot depending where you live and proximity to a sweep. Best thing to do is phone around for a few quotes.

Sweeps rarely make a mess and if they are like myself the surrounding area will probably be cleaner than when the sweep started, the messiest jobs are nest removal.

As for burning wood - ideally you want it sweeping minimum every 6 months, ideally every 3 - 4 months but your sweep will advise you accordingly on what ever comes down.

ash28

butler_helen wrote: »

How much does it cost? I will book one in for before we start decorating, just incase... I've got visions of soot filling the room!

We live in Lincolnshire and it costs us £40.

There was very little mess.

We moved into the house towards the end of 2011, it was 5 years old and the fireplace had never been used - it still had the lovely looking half logs in the hearth that had been there when it had been the show house.

We'd never had an open fire before so we just cleaned out the bird poo that had fallen into the grate and away we went. The chimney has a grill over the top.

We got the chimney swept last month - I guess it'd had about 6 months (in total) use by the time we got it swept.

The bit of mess we had wasn't the chimney sweeps fault, it was caused by the fireplace not being properly sealed when it was installed and fine soot was coming out of the sides of the fireplace. The sweep masked the sides off when he realised what was happening. And advised us to get the fireplace sealed. I'm just hoping it can be done without having to take out the fireplace - it's along the top of the fire opening.

We mainly burn logs but start the fire off with coal and have a coal top up a couple of times throughout the evening.

The sweep was here well over 2 hours - much longer than I thought - shows how little I know - I thought it would take about 20 minutes!

abwsco

butler_helen wrote: »

How much does it cost? I will book one in for before we start decorating, just incase... I've got visions of soot filling the room!

Mine was £35 last year. I'm in Lancashire. Next to no mess as the sweep covered everything up and had a huge industrial style hoover as well. From memory the hoover was on as well whilst he was sweeping it.

savemoney

I get mine done once a year usually around late Summer. I have log burner with stainless steel lining. I do get a little bit of small cinda type mess before it gets swept this is when I dont use stove in Spring/Summer it aint much. I dont get any mess when its swept at all, they do a great job. Had to replace the back plate last year as it had buckled and they had a job getting it back on, costs me around £40 and they refitted it for me, had stove 5 years now and thats only part that I replaced other than the string around the door. I do have smoke detactors and carbon monoxide alarm (battery) Kidde which I think many years I just checked date last week and it meeds replacing next year

I dont use stove every day its most likely alternative days

butler_helen

Blimey that's quite cheap! I think im blinded by the cost of plasterers and damp works... So £40ish seems amazing. I will book it and report back. I would guess its not been done in 10+ years as when we bought it we asked the tenants if they had seen it done. They hadn't and they were here for over 3yrs (from memory), so I would doubt it was done in the previous 6 and we've been here nearly one.

This and a gas certificate are top of the list! (which btw we are shocked the landlady didnt previously do!)

Greenfires

Haha - and us sweeps just love it when you give a customer the price and they say "oh wow is that all - I was expecting it to be loads more than that!"

DOH!!

abwsco

butler_helen wrote: »

Blimey that's quite cheap! I think im blinded by the cost of plasterers and damp works... So £40ish seems amazing. I will book it and report back. I would guess its not been done in 10+ years as when we bought it we asked the tenants if they had seen it done. They hadn't and they were here for over 3yrs (from memory), so I would doubt it was done in the previous 6 and we've been here nearly one.

This and a gas certificate are top of the list! (which btw we are shocked the landlady didnt previously do!)

Any rented house has to have a gas safety certificate by law I'm sure. Think it has to be an annual check and I think there's also one to be done for electrics but not as often. Obviously if you're not renting the property out you don't need a certificate but should have gas appliances serviced yearly.

muckybutt

Greenfires wrote: »

Haha - and us sweeps just love it when you give a customer the price and they say "oh wow is that all - I was expecting it to be loads more than that!"

DOH!!

LOL I had a new customer say just that today when she booked me - 2 chimneys £40 total, are you sure thats for two chimneys ?, yes £30 for the first and an extra £10 for the second, blimey thats cheap if I'd known i'd have had it swept before christmas, I can charge you more if you like , no no £40 is fine :rotfl: