I was at a pub yesterday sweeping a couple of chimneys, one was a lovely big open fire and the other a twinwall system connected to a multi fuel stove. The pub manager was hoping to get the stove going soon as the pub could do with the extra heat. Unfortunately when I inspected the installation it became clear that it was connected to the wrong type of twinwall, it was connected to a gas or oil twinwall instead of a solid fuel twinwall. Also the pipe passed too close to some plaster board which is a combustible material. The stove will need to be re-installed correctly before it can be used.

I was called out to quote on a simple installation. The customer had recently moved in to a renovated house where the fireplace was opened and ready to fit a woodburner. When I shone a torch up the chimney it became clear that the chimney was blocked at about the level of the bedroom above. I put a sweep rod up and gave the obstruction a good shunt but it didn’t move. So the only option was to open the wall in the bedroom. I took out three bricks at floor level and it revealed a piece of board with cement poured on top of it. With some hammering and chiseling I was able to remove it, then it was just a case of re-bricking it and plastering the area.