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Sounds like the title of a B-Side by The Fall.
However, we have two log burners on lined chimneys that haven't been swept forever, so I've gone out for some prices.
What are we guessing?
£789.37
Just had my parent's chimney swept for £175 so around the £300 mark.
Chimney sweep here was £90. Open fire, Central Scotland
£85.00 here for one chimney 4 weeks ago - log burner - mid Derbyshire.
However, we have two log burners on lined chimneys that haven’t been swept forever, so I’ve gone out for some prices.
Probably also worth pointing out to those that don't have them swept - there [i]may[/i] be a clause in your home insurance that chimney must be swept once a year.
I can't remember how much I paid (maybe £60) for a sweep of my stove and flue an while ago but the sweep said it was like new and didn't really need doing, that was despite about 8 years of regular use. I haven't bothered getting it done again since then.
£75 last week for single unlined chimney from a log burner. Cheshire/Derbs border
No stove here but after last year's pigeon in the chimney debacle, I had mine swept to remove any nest material and a cowl fitted for about £250 (two people, but the sweep recommended the cowl fitter and got him to phone me)
Just as well - the sweep was ex services and about 6'4" brick shithouse material, I think if he'd gone on the roof we'd be looking at a rebuild. The guy that actually came and did it was about 5', looked about 80, wiry as **** and I'm not even sure used a ladder to get up there he was so quick.
Also worth noting was that when i called around trying to find a sweep, one guy's answer phone was him singing 'Chim-chiminee, chim-chiminee, chim chim cheroo, leave me a message, I'll get back to you'. I was impressed and appalled in equal parts.
£50/ chimney (lined woodburning stoves) NE Derbyshire. He's coming on Monday to do ours.
Probably also worth pointing out to those that don’t have them swept – there may be a clause in your home insurance that chimney must be swept once a year.
Just checked my on-line docs. No mention of it. Thanks for the tip off though.
Also worth noting was that when i called around trying to find a sweep, one guy’s answer phone was him singing ‘Chim-chiminee, chim-chiminee, chim chim cheroo, leave me a message, I’ll get back to you’. I was impressed and appalled in equal parts.
That man would get my business
Seems much more organised round here, it's all arranged by the fire service, i get a notification with a time slot. So does everyone else in the area. Then the sweeps turn up a fortnight later and spend the day (or two days) doing all the chimneys that are due a sweep nearby.
Gets done every 12-36 months depending on the equipment and frequency of use (open fire, log burner, wood gasification, pellet burner etc).
Insurance is happy, fire brigade are happy (lots of wooden houses and forestry), the planning dept. are happy, anyone burning wet wood, using out of date, broken or otherwise dangerous equipment gets a little training, advice or worst case their fire/chimney condemned.
There's also little or no incentive to condemn either, as the sweeps aren't the same people who would fit/repair the new equipment. And they get paid the same whatever happens.
I pay ~£60 per chimney every 2 years.
Seems much more organised round here, it’s all arranged by the fire service
Where's that then, Ted?
£789.37
If we are playing The Price Is Right rules, I'll guess £788.
Also worth noting was that when i called around trying to find a sweep, one guy’s answer phone was him singing ‘Chim-chiminee, chim-chiminee, chim chim cheroo, leave me a message, I’ll get back to you’. I was impressed and appalled in equal parts.
Winner!
£50 here in NE Derbyshire for lined flue log burner. Includes camera inspection and full report online. No mess whatsoever, punctual and very pleasant.
Where’s that then, Ted?
(lots of wooden houses and forestry)
Not the UK... Sweden.
Getting 2 swept tomorrow for £120, Northumberland based.
Get a good one. We used a random guy once who'd be recommended to us when our usual person was ill. Spent literally weeks getting rid of a fine layer of black soot off basically everything in the house. That stuff doesn't just wipe off surfaces either, it smudges everywhere...
It was £45 for a wood burner and lined flue last year. That includes camera inspection and report / certificate. Herefordshire.
This thread has reminded me to book the sweep.
Also worth noting was that when i called around trying to find a sweep, one guy’s answer phone was him singing ‘Chim-chiminee, chim-chiminee, chim chim cheroo, leave me a message, I’ll get back to you’. I was impressed and appalled in equal parts.
Thank you for writing that it's given me a much needed giggle.
Just had 2 done for 80 quid total. No liners either. And that's in the home counties.
Interesting to see cheaper prices down south. Perhaps that's due to lower fuel costs with the greater population density?
I'm a little disappointed by the prosaic financial approach of this thread, given my last chimney-related report from someone with an open fire went along the lines of:
"5 full bin bags of soot, 2 years worth of dead chicks, 5 skulls, and two dead birds"
£60 here. She does a few in the area (rural) at the same time so you don't get total control of the time, which you'd expect keeps the price down a bit.
Oh, and she updates my entry in the soot offenders register FOC. I'm an unrepentant abuser - clearly going to hell.
Got my own set too - that attaches to a cordless drill. Quite fun. Then I discovered that if you burn your house down (with your fire) and don't have a record of a 'pro' doing it, you are bit bolloxed. Personally I'd risk it, but Mrs C is more risk adverse than me, so I do a mid season sweep instead. I 'm finding out what it takes to become a pro...if it's the same is being a PAT tester, I might do it.
€80 here for a traditional fireplace. Man turns up, sticks a rug down and another over the fire front, puts brush up the chimney and some sort of hoover sucks all the crap up. Done in about 20 mins. He has a van with a fake tiled roof and a chimney, looks like a house roof! Quite cool.
£70. That was our local that we used for a few years.
£50 here Wilts/Dorset border. My house is thatched so the insurance stipulations are pretty tight, multiple times a year.
Booked. £75 each. Reviews were the best and they do Sundays.