Chimney sweep Minster

Chimney Sweep in Minster

Sooty & Sweeps are a family-run business with over 40 years’ experience, and we offer chimney sweeping and chimney cleaning in Minster for homes and businesses. We sweep and inspect open fires, wood-burning stoves and gas fires, and our sweeps are HETAS approved and fully insured.

We’ll give you a final quote before any work starts, and you’ll get a HETAS certificate afterwards that your home insurer will accept.

Chimneys in an old village

Minster is an old village with an abbey, with older cottages around the centre and a lot of later housing around it. Cottages that age often have small, narrow flues that were built for coal and never relined, so it is worth having one inspected before you fit a stove. Newer houses usually have a liner already, but a camera inspection will show whether it is in good condition. For anything that changes how a stack looks, check with Thanet District Council first.

What a Minster sweep includes

• Visual inspection of the chimney stack, chimney pot and cowl
• Visual inspection of any appliance and installation for safety and compliance (HETAS)
• Chimney sweeping (ensuring no blockages are present)
• Smoke evacuation test of chimney flue
• Visual inspection of CO alarm
• HETAS approved certificate of Chimney Sweeping (home insurance approved)

In addition to the above service, we offer additional chimney inspection and chimney maintenance services including:

• Chimney fault finding
• Chimney integrity tests
• Camera inspections of chimney flue
• Supply and installation of chimney cowls
• Supply and installation of chimney caps
• Supply and installation of chimney bird guards
• Down draft and all-weather solutions
• Chimney stack repair

We also install wood-burning stoves and line flues; our flue liner and log burner installation pages have the detail. We also work in nearby Ramsgate and Broadstairs, and across the Isle of Thanet. See all our chimney sweeping areas in Kent, or contact us for a quote.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How often should I have my flue swept?

HETAS recommends yearly when burning smokeless fuels, twice a year when burning wood or bituminous coal. The reason it is recommended to have a chimney sweep regularly is because soot builds up inside your flue which can cause a fire hazard, leaving your chimney sweeps too long can cause buildups of soot to the point where smoke can instead of leaving through the chimney leave through your fireplace. This is dangerous as your house can then have a build up of carbon monoxide.

What is involved in Sweeping?

Sweeping a chimney usually requires a good amount of patience and plenty of time to devote to the task (at least half a day to a full day) as well as the having the correct equipment and the right attitude! Chimney sweeping is undoubtedly a messy job so a good amount of pre-planning is paramount, make sure your room is covered in any type of sheet you can find, making sure your furniture is covered too. If you look up your chimney and can’t see straight up it, you may have a blockage, though we recommend hiring a professional if this is the case sometimes the debris is just built up soot or a birds nest. Sometimes though it can be a structural integrity issue such as a misplaced brick that will need professional attention.

If choosing to maintain your own chimney instead of hiring professionals, you will need to be aware that it is important to check for structural damage on a regular basis, small cracks and chips can be patched up alone but large cracks will need the aid of a DIY manual or hiring a professional. Sooty and Sweeps have years of experience in dealing with structural problems in chimneys, our expert advice may be what you need!

Sooty and Sweeps for all your flue sweeping needs in Minster and across Kent.