Ok so it’s approaching that time of the year again, a time we don’t particularly look forward to but avoidance is impossible, when the length of our day is significantly reduced and our temperatures begin to drop which leaves us no option but to switch on the boiler and more importantly make our house a home by lighting the fire or stove. Unfortunately there are quite significant risks involved in sparking up the fire or stove, that is of course if we don’t put our family’s safety first and get the fireplace, stove/fire, and entire chimney checked by an expert prior to use.
Concloda Chimneys have relined lots of chimneys which are caked with soot or tar and the house owners can never understand how and the famous words are Jimmy down the road has been cleaning that chimney for me for years, even though Jimmy is doing his best to be a good neighbour he is not a professional chimney man nor does he have the required equipment to carry out the full job.
As a chimney expert I can’t stress enough the importance of using a proper registered chimney sweep who will furnish you with a certificate to say that your chimney has been cleaned on such a date and is fit for purpose, it is also highly recommended while he is there to ask him to run a cctv survey which will show up any internal problems eg cracked pots ect that may exist or if it’s a well maintained chimney it will most lightly just give you the peace of mind that your chimney is in good safe working order for the coming winter.
Finally you should also get the stack, capping and fireplace checked to make sure each is structurally sound and sealed, although the above may seem like a lot it’s a couple of hours for a chimney engineer, most of the time chimney relining can be avoided with a little more thought and maintenance.