Monday 5 September 2016

All Systems Go.

This was to have been a normal Monday with my cleaner coming at nine o'clock as usual to clean through the house.   Then, yesterday, the chimney sweep rang to say could he come at eight thirty this morning to sweep the wood burner chimney - I didn't like to put him off.   After all, we never know now when we are going to get a cold spell of weather which demands the wood burner being lit.   So that added the chimney sweep to the morning.   He came on time, my cleaner came early as she had a dental appointment, but they managed to work around one another.  Shortly afterwards, the window cleaner arrived.   Now, after
lunch, all is done.   The room is back to normal and everything has been washed and dusted and put back in its rightful place.

It is a bit of a fiddly job sweeping a woodburner chimney because the stove and the part of the chimney which is visible in the room has to be removed so that the brush will go straight up the chimney.   This means that the seal round the chimney has to be broken.   Then, after it is all put together again, a new seal has to be formed using the appropriate fire cement.   But that is the farmer's department so I leave it all to him, just nipping in and taking a photograph at the right moment.

So the photographs show before, during and after.   No photo of the sweep - you saw him (and the brush) last year.



18 comments:

Derek Faulkner said...

Blimey, you'd need a small boy to get up there Pat. Cold winters will soon be a thing of the past, we just get six month autumns and six month summers now.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

To protect his knees when doing such a job, the farmer should use a kneeling mat or a piece of foam rubber. To demonstrate good manners he should remove his flatcap indoors or does he wear it in bed too?

Terry and Linda said...

Your farmer and my farmer are two of a kind! If there is work to do they do it!

Linda

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

Is this how you primarily heat your house? We have a wood stove, but also have oil and in floor heat, depending on where you are in those old house. You are making me think that it is time to call a cleaning service for the wood stove. -Jenn

Librarian said...

That sounds like a lot of work getting done in one single day!
I had no idea chimneys have seals that need to be broken and have new ones fitted after a sweep. When we lived in the old terraced house (my parents rented it until 1988 when they moved into the flat they now own), we had a wood- and coal burning stove to heat the water for baths and showers. The chimney sweep came once or twice a year but I can not remember anything about a seal.
Bow, I have been living with central heating (gas) for a long time! And while I did very much like the heat that comes from a proper stove, I certainly don't miss having to fetch coal and wood from the cellar and cleaning the ash tray (and everything else in the bathroom each time the tray was emptied!).

Dawn said...

Our wood burner has a soot box that gives access to the flue, there is also a hatch on the outside that can be removed for cleaning of the chimney, at least after every one went your house was all spick and span inside and out :-)

Rachel Phillips said...

All wood burners/multi-fuel burners are different, Librarian, and not all involve taking them out of the fireplace and dismantling the chimney as Weave describes here. Many have an inside metal plate that comes out and allows access for the brushes, straight up the chimney.

Lucky for you that it was also the cleaner's day Weave, soot is awful greasy stuff, gets onto everything, even in the next room in my experience.

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat, I cooked the Med. veg. meal tonight, as per your recipe the other day and it was delicious.

Heather said...

You must be all clean and sparkly now after chimney sweep, cleaning lady and window cleaners. I used to love watching for the sweep's brush to pop up out of the chimney back in the days when we had a chimney.

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

6 month autumns followed by 6 month autumns, more like. My mumused to get the chimney sweep in, it's a proper throw back job to the 16th century and beyond.

A Heron's View said...

Good to get it all done in one day Pat. The difference here is that my chimney is swept down from the top and the soot is scraped out from the bottom of the stove.

Mac n' Janet said...

Looks like you're set. We have a clock very similar to the one hanging in your room. Ours is German, is yours?

Frances said...

Weaver, from all the details you report in this post, it seems to me that you and the Farner have now got your home quite ready for cooler weather that will arrive. You've repainted the beautiful bedroom, got the wood burner system season ready, and even your Momday cleaner has been able to restore regular order.

I am impressed, but also just a bit glad that some of those responsibilities do not weigh on my shoulders, as an apartment tenant.

xo

angryparsnip said...

What a lovely and comfy room. All ready for winter.
Adore the Hare on the mantle.

cheers, parsnip and thehamish

Frances said...

What a nice rug, we have one exactly the same!

Acornmoon said...

What a lovely cosy house you have.

thelma said...

Well that was a lesson in how to sweep the chimney of a wood stove, we sourced a chimney sweep in the next village, so probably will have ours done, still need logs though.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Gosh. - so many things to answer here.
First, I agree all wood burners are different - our just happens to be like it is and is really no bother at all. We do also have oil central heating and the Aga in the kitchen, so we are always warm. As to six months spring and six months autumn - you obviously don't live seven hundred feet asl in North Yorkshire, when it can be jolly cold in January and February.
Up here years ago many people swept their own chimneys by shoving a sack of straw up the chimney and setting light to it (or even an old wellie) - now days we are slightly more sophisticated!
We burn wood because we have plenty on the farm (branches which come down over the year, the odd tree - often hawthorn - which dies off. In any wet day the farmer usually saws a bit more for the pile and we never run out.
Thanks everyone for participating.
Oh and sorry - there is no name on the clock so don't know whether it is German or not - it has been in that position as long as the farmer can remember.