Chimney Safety and your Insurance – Annual Chimney Sweep

Chimney safety and your insurance.  OK, I concede that this isn’t perhaps the most gripping subject at the moment, so for light relief visualise this being read to you by Aleksandr the Meerkat.

Your chimney is very capable of keeping your house warm, and also capable of causing damage to your home and could become expensive.

Chimney fires can lead to problems in a number of ways, not just from the structural damage that can be caused from a chimney fire, but burning globs of soot or tar that can fall into the fireplace and out into the room and onto your carpet – this can do a lot of damage to your wallet.

Insurance firms don’t like paying out. Who would? Their attitude, not unreasonable, is that if said chimney fire is down to the householder’s negligence, of not having the chimney that is in use swept regularly, then said householder can pay to fix the damage.

The important thing here is that you as the householder not be caught out, so it is important that you do your part in maintaining your chimney safety.  An annual chimney sweep, carried out by a certified chimney sweep is the simplest and most effective way for you to keep your chimney safe and avoid the dangers of not having your chimney swept.

Fires, of course are not the only problem.  The other is the traditional ‘Bird-down-the-chimney’ delight in which one of our feathered friends, toboggans down the chimney bringing a generous helping of soot to help you redecorate the living room.  I joke, but it really isn’t funny, and when the chimney is dirty and overdue for a sweep, that soot will travel further than you ever want to know.  Again, the insurance company will seek assurances that you have been keeping your side of the bargain with an annual chimney sweep to maintain chimney safety.  So how do you do that?

To maintain your chimney safety, regular sweeping is a must, but it is important that you use a certified chimney sweep.  Certified sweeps have had to demonstrate that they are capable of carrying out the work to the required, nationally recognised standard.  In addition, they have to issue an approved certificate of sweeping.  When you receive this from the sweep, put it in a safe place, and then should you have the misfortune to have something go wrong, you can at least demonstrate that you are not to blame.

Thatched properties are a special case, and here it behoves you to discover EXACTLY what it is the company wants from you.  Sadly there is no universal list of how often the chimney is to be swept, so make sure that you find this out.  Ask them about spark guards, and if they require spark guards to be fitted, do please make sure that you establish exactly what they mean by a spark guard.  Some firms want them, some don’t.  Personally I loathe them and feel they create problems rather than solve them.

So, to recap.

1. Be aware about chimney safety and the dangers of not having your chimney swept regularly
2. Make sure your chimney is swept each year by a certified sweep.
3. Keep the certificate in a safe place.
4. If you have a thatched property, be absolutely certain of what the insurance company’s requirements are.

As Aleksandr would say.  “Simples!”