Chimney Cleaning near you

Clause 12.4.3 is the one that governs the structure. An internal lining of composition mortar parging not less than ten millimetres thick, mixed one part cement to one part lime to five parts sand, and a termination not less than three hundred millimetres above the highest part of the building within a horizontal distance of three point six metres. The masonry itself follows AS 3700 or AS 4773. If a sweep tells you the chimney is unserviceable, those are the provisions the assessment should be measured against.

Clauses 12.4.4 and 12.4.5 cover the appliances most Australian households actually have: insert fireplaces and free-standing solid fuel heaters. Both must have been tested and passed the tests required by AS/NZS 2918, and the flue must have fifty millimetres of clearance between the outer flue and adjacent materials. Clearance is a common defect in retrofits, and it is one a cleaning visit is well placed to notice.

Clause 12.4.2 deals with the open fireplace: two separate leaves of solid masonry with a total combined thickness not less than one hundred and eighty millimetres in the fireplace walls, a non-combustible hearth extending not less than three hundred millimetres beyond the front and one hundred and fifty millimetres beyond each side, and combustible materials kept not less than one hundred and fifty millimetres from the upper surface. These are the numbers to ask about if a sweep recommends work rather than just a clean.

The cleaning itself is the straightforward part: sweeping the flue or chimney from top, bottom or both, containing the soot, and removing what comes out. What distinguishes a useful visit is everything around it. Ask for the flue and firebox to be inspected as well as swept, and for what is found to be written down.

The specific things worth having looked at are creosote build-up and obstructions, the condition of the flue and its joints, the clearances to combustible material, the state of the firebox and any baffle or flue collar, the termination and cowl, and whether birds or animals have got in. The CFA's own homeowner advice is to use a torch to check for creosote build-up or obstructions like bird nests, which tells you that a nest in a flue is an ordinary rather than an exotic finding here.

Finally, ask what fuel you should be burning, because the answer changes how often you will need this service. The CFA is clear that creosote builds up faster when incorrect fuels are used, such as green wood or treated timbers, and that you should burn only dry, clean wood. Treated timber in a domestic fire is a health question as well as a chimney one.

Anything that involves getting onto the roof to reach the flue or the cowl is roof work, and the ordinary warning applies. SafeWork NSW records falls from heights as the number one cause of death on NSW construction sites, with the most serious and fatal falls from roofs, ladders and scaffolds and from a height of under four metres, and names physical guardrails as the best control measure for a roof edge. A chimney is usually at the highest point of the roof, which is the worst place to be improvising.

The second hazard is what comes down the flue. Soot is filthy and pervasive, and creosote is what the CFA describes as a highly flammable black tar-like residue, so containment, sheeting-out of the room and disposal are part of the service rather than a courtesy. Ask how the firebox opening will be sealed and how the debris leaves the house before anyone starts brushing.

The third is the fire itself. A chimney fire is a fire, and the advice if you suspect one is to get everyone out and call the fire service rather than to investigate. The point of annual cleaning is to make that call unnecessary.

Book it before the heating season rather than during it. EPA Victoria's advice to householders is to clean the flue before winter and to check the chimney for smoke, and to use a professional to check the chimney or flue if needed. Australian winter runs June to August, so the useful booking window is autumn, across March to May, when sweeps are not yet fully booked.

The CFA's position on frequency is annual: chimneys and flues should be cleaned annually, and having the chimney professionally cleaned annually is the recommendation. Households that burn more, or that burn less than ideal fuel, will need it sooner rather than later, because creosote builds up faster when incorrect fuels such as green wood or treated timbers are used.

One extra Australian item: a chimney or flue that has sat unused all summer is a nesting site. Checking it before the first fire of the season is not fussiness, and it is easier to discover in March than on the first cold night in June.

Cleaning a chimney is unregulated, but installing or replacing an appliance or flue is not. The Housing Provisions require insert fireplaces and free-standing appliances to have been tested and passed the tests required by AS/NZS 2918, with the specified clearances, and require masonry chimneys to meet the construction, lining and termination rules in Part 12.4. Local councils in many areas also have their own approval process for installing a solid fuel heater.

Smoke is separately regulated. EPA Victoria tells residents that smoke from a wood heater can be reported to the local council, which is the route most nuisance complaints in Australia take. If your neighbour is complaining, a clean flue burning dry wood is both the cheapest defence and usually the actual fix, since build-up in the flue reduces airflow and increases smoke.

If any part of the work touches the roof, the flashing at the penetration is licensed work in several states. In New South Wales, roof flashings sit inside the definition of roof plumbing, licensed above the Home Building Act threshold, and in Queensland the QBCC's roof and wall cladding class covers flashing penetrations through roofs and walls. A sweep who proposes to reseal a flue flashing is doing more than sweeping.