Chimney sweep for a summer house

What happens to the chimney while the summer house stands empty

• Birds' nests: in spring jackdaws and other birds like to nest in chimneys without a cap. A nest can block the channel almost completely.
• Leaves, twigs and moss that fall into an open chimney in autumn and winter.
• Damp: in an unheated house a masonry chimney gets soaked and freezes in winter, and the joints start to crumble. On the first fire a damp chimney draws poorly.
• Fallen pieces of brick and mortar at the chimney base or on the firebox damper.
• Wasps or hornets by the firebox or the chimney head at the start of summer.

If the summer house is only heated in warm weather, the signs often show up late: the stove smokes, the wood burns badly and smoke comes out through the firebox door. What is happening then and how to find the cause: chimney has no draught.

How we clean a summer house chimney

1. Inspection from the top First we check whether there is a nest or another blockage in the chimney head. If there is, we take it out from the top, because pushing it down can block the channel even more.
2. Cleaning We sweep the flue with a brush and clean the flue pipe, firebox and damper, if they can be reached.
3. Chimney base and door We take the nest material, soot and debris out through the cleaning door. We check that the door closes tightly.
4. Condition of the brickwork We look at the joints in the attic and above the roof, the chimney head and the crown slab after the winter frost.
5. Draught We check the draught and advise how to light a damp chimney for the first time: with a small amount of dry firewood and the damper fully open.

Do the same rules apply to a summer house as to a house

Yes. In the fire safety regulations a summer house and a garden house are single-dwelling properties, just like a detached house. The owner may clean a solid-fuel flue themselves, and then no certificate is needed. If a chimney sweep does the cleaning, a certificate is drawn up.

The deadlines in the regulations are tied to the heating season: the flue is cleaned by 1 November, and for long-burn appliances, such as a metal stove or sauna stove, once more between 1 November and 1 March. If you do not heat the summer house in winter, the most practical schedule is cleaning in spring before the first fire. Home insurance terms require the flue to be cleaned at least once a year, so keep the certificate.

How to protect the chimney until next season

The simplest way is to fit a chimney cap with mesh, which keeps birds and leaves out and protects the brickwork from rain. The building code allows caps and cowls if they do not interfere with the appliance working or with cleaning. A cap is best fitted in autumn or at the end of winter, before the birds start nesting: chimney cap installation.

In autumn, when you leave the summer house, close the damper and the firebox door, but do not leave ash in the firebox: it soaks up moisture. In spring, look at the chimney from the yard first and only then light the fire.

How much a chimney sweep for a summer house costs

Cleaning one flue costs from €100, usually €100–130, with the certificate and call-out in Riga and the Riga region. If the summer house also has a sauna, its flue needs cleaning too: sauna stove cleaning. The price can be affected by a blockage that has to be removed from the top, and by access: narrow roads in garden communities and roofs without ladders. All prices: prices.

We work at summer houses across the Riga region, including in Saulkrasti, Jūrmala, Baldone and Vecāķi.