01
The glass blackens quickly
Usually damp fuel or a starved air supply. Both leave deposits in the flue as well as on the glass.
Service 02
Wood burner and multi-fuel stove sweeping
Baffle out, flue swept top to bottom, rope seals and glass checked — for wood burners and multi-fuel stoves.
A stove is a more efficient appliance than an open fire, which is exactly why its flue needs more attention rather than less. Because a stove runs cooler and slower, the gases leaving it condense more readily on the way up, and what they leave behind is tar rather than loose soot. Tar is what chimney fires are made of.
Sweeping a stove properly means getting behind it. The baffle plate comes out, the flue is swept its full length from the appliance to the pot, and the baffle goes back in the right way round — which is not always how it was found. We check the rope seals around the door and glass while we are there, because a stove drawing air through a perished seal will never burn cleanly no matter how good the fuel.
If you are burning unseasoned or damp wood, you will be told. Not as a sales line, but because it is the single thing most likely to put your flue and your house at risk, and it is entirely within your control to change.
What the visit covers
Every one of these, every time.
Baffle removed and refitted
Taken out to sweep above it, checked for warping or burn-through, and put back correctly.
Full flue swept
Appliance to pot, including the liner where one is fitted.
Rope seals and glass checked
Door and glass seals inspected. A perished rope means the stove is pulling air where it should not.
Smoke-draw test and certificate
Vent test on completion, certificate emailed the same day.
When to book it
Any one of these is reason enough.
02
The stove is harder to get going
A flue narrowing with tar draws worse every month. It rarely fails suddenly.
03
You burn most days in winter
Constant use means two sweeps a year, not one. This is the most common case we see.
04
A tarry smell when it is not lit
Condensed deposits in the flue, particularly noticeable in damp weather.
Questions
The ones we actually get asked.
How often should a wood burner be swept?
Once a year as a minimum. Twice if it is in constant use through the season, and twice if you are burning anything that has not been seasoned properly. Most stoves we see in daily winter use want doing twice.
Does a lined flue still need sweeping?
Yes. A liner does not stop deposits forming, and a blocked liner is harder to spot from the room because the stove hides the problem until it is significant.
Can you sweep a stove that is built into a fireplace?
Usually, yes. If access is genuinely impossible without dismantling the installation we will say so rather than force it.
What is the difference between wood and multi-fuel?
Multi-fuel stoves have a grate and ashpan for burning solid mineral fuel as well as wood. They tend to produce a different deposit, and burning smokeless fuel and wood together is worth a conversation — we will have it with you on the visit.
The other five jobs.
01
Open fires & inglenooks
Traditional brush-and-rod sweeping for open hearths, including wide inglenook throats and register plates that need lifting.
03
Bird nests & cowl fitting
Nest removal outside the March–August breeding season, followed by a bird guard or cowl so it does not happen again next spring.
04
Thatched properties
Swept from below, with a full external inspection of the stack and ridge. Thatch is unforgiving of a flue nobody has looked at.
05
CCTV flue inspection
A camera survey of the full flue when something is not drawing right, before a sale, or after a chimney fire. You get the footage.
06
Smoke-draw & integrity testing
Proving a flue is sound and venting where it should. Booked on its own when a room smokes back, before a purchase, or after a fire.
Get a slot before the season fills.
Monday to Saturday, 7am–7pm. Voicemail answered same day.