It’s essential to properly take care of your chimney to get more heat for your money and prevent fire accidents. In addition, cleaning your chimney correctly makes it more environmentally conscious and gives you and your family the best heat experience during the colder months.
Since cleaning and maintaining a chimney is quite tricky, hiring a chimney sweep service is always better. These professionals can get it done for you without making any mistakes, but most homeowners are wary about hiring them because of the price. With our savings guide for a chimney sweep, you can get top-notch chimney cleaning services without breaking the bank.
How Much Does a Chimney Sweep Cost?
The average cost of a chimney sweep service is £95, although it depends on how complex the job is. When considering various factors, you can spend between £70 and £120 to get your chimney cleaned, and the service will take care of it within two hours.
The service would give you a price based on various factors. One of these factors is the type of chimney; for an open fire chimney, you can spend between £60 and £100. For a lined stove chimney, the service would bill you between £80 and £120; while the unlined stove cleaning costs between £90 and £150.
Asides from the type of chimney you use, the cost can also be influenced by how big your chimney is, the location, and the state of your chimney. Those that are in awful condition take longer to clean and would cost more. This is especially when some components need replacing, maintenance, or installing a new gas fire.
How to Save Money on Chimney Cleaning
You can follow these helpful tips to save money on your chimney sweep service.
Schedule Your Cleaning as Early as Possible
One trick you can use to get the lowest cost possible on your chimney sweep service is to hire them at the best time. Chimney sweeps usually face high demand in fall and winter, which means that they increase their prices with the higher demand. On the other hand, not many people want to clean their chimneys during the spring or summer months, so this is the best time to schedule a cleaning.
For one, they would have time in their schedule for you, as chimney sweep services usually have days of no work or, at most, 10 hours a day of work in the spring and summer months. But during winter, they would be in demand up to 14 hours per day. When you combine this with the cold weather and dangerous snowing environment, it becomes reasonable that the rates go up during winter and fall.
So, if you want to get your chimney cleaned up, it’s better to call them now before their rates go up or wait till spring to call them. Many top chimneys sweeps also offer discounts during warm months.
Reduce the Amount of Soot Produced
The main job of a chimney sweep, asides from ensuring your chimney is in good condition overall, is to get rid of soot that can cause a fire in your home. Remember that the price of your chimney sweep depends on how dirty it is, and so if you can reduce the amount of soot your chimney makes, you can save money and prevent fire accidents at the same time.
Soot comprises over 80% carbons and under 20% hydrogen, produced at combustion when there is a lot of oxygen. You will have a lot of soot in your chimney if you are burning moist wood, burning in an old stove with a low oxygen supply, or simply burning wood the wrong way. The buildup of soot in your chimney can cause the cleaning to go longer, leading to higher costs.
To prevent this, you should burn dry wood instead and ensure your chimney or stove is good enough to burn wood. You can also connect a clean-burning wood stove to your chimney for less soot.
Learn How to Take Care of Basic Cleaning
Whenever you’re cleaning the entire house, you should remember to give your chimney a little sweep too. This way, it won’t be too dirty when it’s time for regular cleaning and maintenance. You don’t have to clean it professionally or know how to fix faults with it.
You should have a chimney brush, chimney rod, ladder, shop vacuum, floor tarps, mask, goggles, duct tape, fireplace covers, chemical cleaners, metal bucket, and flashlight. It’s best to use the bottom-up method when taking care of chimney sweeping, especially if you can’t climb on the roof.
You can add extra rods if you want to hire. To do this, you should attach the chimney brush to the rod and push it into the chimney from the fireplace. Move the brush back and forth and scrub the flue walls. When you’re done, use a mirror to check it.
This is the safest and easiest way to clean your chimney, although it is a bit messy.
Hire Cost-Effective Chimney Sweeps
The price you pay for a chimney sweep also depends on the service you purchase, so finding the cheapest yet most reliable ones is an excellent way to save money. You can start by comparing all the licensed chimney sweeps in your area based on their prices and customer reviews.
If you see any overly expensive chimney sweep services, hiring them is not advisable, as high price does not always translate to high quality. But a chimney sweep offering more value for its money is the way to go.
How Often Should I Clean my Chimney
You might have to hire a chimney service for an emergency like if a component is damaged, smoke is entering the house while you use the fireplace, you had a chimney fire, or the carbon monoxide alarm is going off. But asides from this, you should hire a chimney sweep for overall cleaning and maintenance at least once a year.
Since you only have to clean your chimney once a year, you can follow our tips in this guide to spend the least amount of money possible for the best chimney sweep service.
