You’ve booked your Chimney Sweep, marked it on the calendar and now the day has come for your sweep to arrive. At this point, you may be asking yourself, “Do I need to do anything for when my Chimney Sweep gets here?”. There isn’t much that your sweep needs from you, but knowing what your sweep does require is a great help in making sure your appointment runs smoothly.
Put the fire out
This one may seem obvious, but it’s somewhat common that your sweep will turn up to sweep a chimney whilst the embers of the fire are still glowing hot. Ideally, your appliance or fireplace should not be used in the 24 hours leading up to your appointment, however in cases where your fire is your only source of heating (which is particularly common here in rural France), this may not be possible. Speak to your sweep and let them know, they may be able to schedule your appointment for later in the day to allow your fire the chance to completely cool off if using it the evening before. Stoking your ash pan and making sure your embers are out prior to your sweep’s appointment is great practice of which your sweep will be very grateful for.
Clean out your fire grate and ash pan
On the note of checking your embers, this is a great time to undertake your routine emptying of the ash from the fire before. Cleaning out the ash from your fire is not usually considered part of the sweeping service however should you forget, it’s likely your sweep will deal with this for you.
Clear a space in front of the fireplace
Your modern-day Chimney Sweep comes equipped with lots of equipment. The first part of any Chimney Sweep’s routine will be to put down a ground sheet in front of the fireplace for them and their equipment to reside on and work from for the duration of the sweep. A space a metre and a half in front of the fireplace and two metres wide should be sufficient for most sweeps. Move any furnishings, rugs and ornaments from this space and around the fireplace itself in preparation for your sweep’s arrival.
Don’t worry about covering your furniture with dust sheets
Gone are the days of Dick Van Dyke waltzing into your home and simply shoving a brush up the chimney to release an avalanche of Soot and other Chimney debris into your home. Modern sweeps are certain to ‘sheet up’ your fireplace to prevent any debris coming into your home and will be equipped with Hepa rated vacuums to remove the harmful particulates from the air. Rest assured knowing that what was once a seriously dirty job, is now well and truly cleaned up.
Children, Pets and Other Valuables
The debris from chimneys is not something that you want to be breathing in. It is recommended that you and your family keep a safe distance from your sweep whilst they are working. Your sweep will be wearing a PPE3 rated (or higher) air filtering mask and will be using the aforementioned Hepa rated vacuum to be certain no one is breathing in anything they shouldn’t be.
All pets (yes, even the cute ones) should be kept away from the sweeping area or preferably out of the room altogether for your pets and your sweep’s safety.
Any valuables should be locked away and/or removed from the work route (From van to chimney), to remove the albeit slight risk of damage – Better to be safe than sorry!
Relax and have a cuppa (and maybe one for your sweep too)
That’s everything you need to do to prepare for the arrival of your sweep. Put the kettle on, relax and wait for the van to arrive.
