Flue and ventilation inspection in Avoti - tenement buildings and courtyard blocks

Two sides of Avoti: district heating and stoves

The Riga air quality action programme says two things about Avoti that do not contradict each other. First, district heating dominates in Avoti. Second, by number of buildings, Avoti is named among the neighbourhoods where individual heating prevails, and the programme calls for particular attention to these buildings. The programme also notes that in Avoti the modelled benzo(a)pyrene concentration exceeds the target value where wood is widely burned.

This means two different jobs. In a large building the ventilation ducts and gas appliance flues are checked, and the customer is usually the building manager. In a small house or courtyard block the stove and cooker flues are cleaned, and the customer is the owner.

Ventilation ducts in a tenement building

In a pre-war building each kitchen and bathroom usually has its own brick duct up to the roof. Over the decades dust, brick debris and birds' nests fall into the ducts, and after renovations some ducts have been bricked up or connected to a fan. Natural ventilation ducts in an apartment building must be cleaned and checked at least once every 10 years, and in rooms with a gas cooker, gas boiler or water heater at least once every five years.

During the inspection the draught is measured in the flats, the ducts are cleaned from the roof or attic, and the certificate records which ducts work and which do not. More: ventilation check in apartment buildings.

A gas boiler or water heater in a flat

If a flat has a gas boiler or an instantaneous water heater, its flue is cleaned once a year if it is brick, and once every two years if it has a liner. Riga rules allow an old gas appliance in a flat to be replaced with a new one of up to 50 kW using the same fuel. However, the application to the municipality needs a certificate on the technical condition of the existing appliance, the flues and the natural ventilation ducts. Gaso's simplified procedure for replacing gas appliances also requires a certificate on the flue and ventilation ducts.

How this inspection works: chimney check for a gas boiler. If the channel is shared with neighbours or runs through several floors, the inspection must be agreed with the building manager, because without access to the roof and attic it cannot be completed.

Wooden houses and courtyard blocks with stoves

Small houses and courtyard blocks still have tiled stoves and wood-burning cookers. Their flues must be cleaned by 1 November, and if the house has several flats, a certificate must be drawn up after every cleaning. In such houses one chimney often serves two or three stoves, so each channel is cleaned separately and checked to make sure it does not join a ventilation duct. On stoves: tiled stove cleaning.

Access in a densely built area

In Avoti a car often cannot be parked right by the building, and driving into the yard through an archway is not always allowed. In the request, write where we can stop and who can unlock the attic or roof hatch. If the roof cannot be reached safely, the flue is cleaned from below through the cleaning doors and fireboxes: chimney cleaning from below.

Price and nearby neighbourhoods

Stove, cooker or boiler flue cleaning costs from €100, usually €100–130, with the certificate and call-out. The ventilation duct check and the technical condition inspection certificate are priced for your situation: the price depends on the number of ducts, the height of the building, access to the roof and how long the ducts have gone uncleaned. Prices: prices.

We also work in the centre of Riga, Grīziņkalns, Maskavas forštate and Dārzciems. All of Riga: chimney sweep in Riga.