Frequently Asked Questions

It is important to have your chimney swept regularly to remove a build-up of bird’s nests, cobwebs, soot and any other blockages that may form. This clears the passage to allow the combustion gases produced by your fire to exit your property quickly and safely. On top of this, sweeping removes creosote, which can be a contributing factor to dangerous chimney fires, so sweeping your fire is necessary to the safe functioning of your chimney. Regularly sweeping your flue may also help increase the efficiency of some applications.

There are a number of factors that will affect how often you need to sweep your chimney, including the moisture content of the wood you are using, how frequently the fire is used and the type of chimney you have. For smokeless fuel, oil or gas applications, your chimney will need to be swept at least once a year while wood and bituminous coal fires will need to be swept quarterly when they are in use.

Our services average between £135 and £250 per chimney including VAT, however we do offer discount rates if your property has more than one flue that requires cleaning.

We will do our utmost to make our process as clean as possible and utilise a number of tried and tested practices to prevent dust from escaping into the room. There may be a small number of incidents where a slight mess will be made – if you have a bird’s nest lodged in your chute, for example – which we will work to contain.

Hopefully you’ve been keeping on top of your chimney care so you’ll know it’s nearly time to schedule an appointment. However, if you’ve just purchased a property or have lost track of how long it has been since your flue was cleaned, there are a few signs that your chimney needs cleaned:

• Soot dropping into the fireplace
• Visible tar deposits in the chimney or stove
• A strong odour
• Smoke emitting from the chimney
• Fire burning poorly

If you see any of these signs, you should urgently book your appointment.

Our services take, on average, about 45 minutes to complete, which includes time spent filling out paperwork and producing certifications of the work completed.  When we book your appointment, we give a 2 hour window to account for traffic, parking and getting the fireplace area covered up.

While it is possible for you to sweep your own chimney, it is certainly not something we would recommend. It would take a very long time to try and clean your chimney without any of the tools and equipment that a professional would use, so you would need to be willing to put in hours of hard work and labour. You would also need to be prepared for your room and yourself to get very dirty as you won’t have the protective gear a professional would have. We’d recommend that you allow a professional to take care of your chimney sweeping on your behalf. Not only will this ensure a clean and fully functional flue, it will save you from a full day’s hard work and back-breaking labour. Another consideration to bear in mind; if you sweep your own flue and there was a problem that you failed to spot, your insurance policy may not cover the damage, as if you’d used a professional service, the problem would have been spotted earlier and rectified. We are HETAS and Gas Safe registered and fully insured, so by using our service, you’re ensuring that potential issues are spotted and that your insurance will cover the costs of repair.

Look for members of national trade organizations like HETAS and Gas Safe to ensure they have been trained and certified and are qualified to carry out the work. Here at Enviro-Flame, we are both Gas Safe and HETAS certified.