Chimney Sweeping in Gauteng
Having a clean chimney is important for both your enjoyment and safety to ensure that this is achieved with the minimum of inconvenience to you we offer:
- Furniture protection – We cover furniture near the fireplace to in order to ensure that no dust or soot soils your furniture.
- Floor covering – The floor in front of the fireplace is covered with a heavy duty plastic sheet to prevent any smudging of your carpets.
- Cleaning with special brushes starts at the bottom and works towards the top of the chimney and then back down again loosening all the soot and creosote build-up.
- The fire box and grate are brushed out for a professional finish.
- The average time spent cleaning your chimney is approximately one hour, depending on access and the date of the last clean a little more time may be spent bringing your chimney up to standard.
When should you clean your chimney?
You should consider cleaning out your chimney at least once a year. Just before winter starts, to make sure everything in top shape before you use it. Ideally doing a cleaning twice a year would be best – before the winter season and at the end of the winter season. If this is out of your budget, however, you can keep it to just before the winter season starts so any repairs can be carried out before you start using it.
What if you rarely use your fireplace? A rarely-used fireplace should still be cleaned and inspected regularly. Squirrels and birds could end up making your chimney their home. The chimney could also end up having structural issues, that wouldn’t be picked up without an inspection. Without regular inspections, small cracks and other structural issues can grow and could end up affecting your house and requiring expensive repairs.
Chimney Check Points
Now that you are aware that your chimney needs to be cleaned at least once a year there are a few things that you can check or confirm with your chimney sweep. Even though he is there to give you the best service he can there may still be a few uncertainties and having the answers to these questions will help put you at ease.
- Find out how long the company has been in operation
- Do they have any references that they can offer you
- Does the chimney cleaning company hold any type of insurance? If so what kind.
South Africa does not require chimney cleaners to be certified but by finding out these few details you will be able to have your chimney cleaned knowing that the company you have chosen is reputable and you are covered should anything unfotunate happen.
Our Value Added Service
Once our technician has finished cleaning your chimney you are welcome to ask him for a “certificate of cleaning”, which he will e-mail to you upon his return to the office. The “certificate of cleaning” might be required by your insurance company, it is FREE of charge and will be emailed to you.
Now that you have a clean chimney and your certificate it's time to make a fire. Ask our technician for details or pay a visit to The Joburg Firewood Company to find quality firewood: www.firewood.joburg
If your fire is being naughty, check out our "How to build a fire" page.
Brief history of chimney cleaning
With the advent of houses that had more than one storey, people could no longer have an open hearth under a hole in the roof as they did prior to the twelfth century. Chimneys thus evolved from holes poked into the wall to allow smoke to escape from where the fire had been moved to a corner of the room, and, as time went on, the grander homes were built with a fireplace and a chimney as a means for the smoke to escape. Soot, being no different than to what it is now, began to build up and cause smoke to flow back into the room causing people to become ill and sometimes a chimney fire would begin. Destroying much of, if not the entire dwelling.
Boys and sometimes girls would be taken from orphanages as apprentices
to the master sweep since they were small enough to crawl around the narrow
spaces and angles inside the chimneys of the time. Using brushes in hands
and on poles to acquit themselves of the task.
The method of using brushes has persisted and is still the most reliable,
whilst thankfully in modern times young children are no longer used.
Picture of our team?
Nowadays capable and adequately skilled technicians perform the task and
having one come to your home is just a phone call away.