Rogue Traders, buyer beware
How to avoid a rogue trader chimney sweep
Winter is coming. ‘You know nothing John Snow’
So with Game of Thrones and the white walkers coming back its getting time to think about your stove and fire. As September approaches the only thing that is red hot is our telephone. We are currently taking 6 or more calls a day plus all the web based enquiries. These are quickly filling the[…]
Cost, safety and service
Putting to one side urgency and availability (which with forward planning shouldn’t be an issue for most) what exactly should a customer be looking for when choosing a Chimney Sweep? A google search will reveal that there are a number of chimney sweeps operating in any given area in the UK, the use of open[…]
Fancy a surprise £2K bill?
That is unfortunately what this new customer is facing after operating their new stove for less than a year. The picture is a CCTV snap of the inside of a stove liner. You should see a nice circular, well defined metal tube, what you can actually see is an almost completely blocked and deformed line[…]
Birds nesting in chimneys, Spring 2018
It’s now mid April and we are starting to get calls from people about birds, mainly jackdaws, starting to nest in chimney pots and can we come and remove them. In short we cant, nor can anyone else. Once certain birds start nesting then a nest, eggs or birds cannot be killed, damaged or destroyed.[…]
Why you should look up at the sky.
A single pot chimney stack can let gallons of water into your house each year. The rain soaks into the old mortar joints, porous bricks and the lining of the chimney, it usually runs down the inside of a chimney for 2 or 3 meters unless the flue is dead straight. If it is, you[…]
When to sweep your wood burning stove
Many people don’t realise that stainless steel flexible liners are not a permanent fix, they have a limited lifespan. I need to qualify that statement with the fact that you can now purchase flexible liners that do have a lifetime guarantee (If you follow the terms and conditions) Click HERE for a good example. Most[…]
Tar Removal
A sure way of making a chimney unsafe to use and unsafe to install a stove liner is to tar it up. Incomplete combustion of wood creates tar (creosote) which coats the walls of a chimney leading to a serious risk of a chimney fire, wet tar soaking into the fabric of the building, creating[…]
When you have a chimney fire in a stove liner
A build up of soot and/or tar, infrequent sweeping, burning unseasoned timber or slumbering your stove (particularly trying to keep it going overnight) can lead to a chimney fire within the flexible liner of your stove. The picture above shows the typical evidence of at least one chimney fire in a liner. Sometimes you can[…]
Dangerous Stove Installations
Installing a stove, liner and associated parts is not brain surgery. All parts are freely available, specific training is provided on ‘how to do it’ and the government has provided free online guidance on what standards need to be met. It is called Approved Document J. Given that parts, training and guidance is available it[…]