"Kate Morgan" wrote in message
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In article ,
says...
In article , Kate Morgan
writes
Thank you Rusty a good idea and thank you Mike, I have never been up
in
the roof, I am told it is very interesting up there, worth considering
:-)
kate
Just my two pennorth worth, I would get a local builder in as advised, I
wouldn't go knocking holes in the chimney breast unless you really know
what you are getting into, having dismantled a few chimneys... they can
be of all sorts of shapes, sizes and of a varying thickness so I would
use this idea as almost a last resort (the last would be dismantling it)

HTH

I am an OAP and I dont think I could knock the skin of a rice pudding -
not really that feeble and I would eat the rice pudding skin especially
if it were burnt - but thank you for your concern and interest, it will
be local builder and raiding the piggy bank I think :-)

kate

You haven't said if you've tried any other chimney sweeps.

I stand to be corrected, but I don't think chimney sweeps charge
for giving estimates. And so apart from the possible inconvenience of having
loads of extra strangers visiting your home, which you might not welcome,
otherwise there's no harm in you asking any number of reputable chimney
sweeps to have a look. ( Just don't ask me how you discover whether
they're reputable or not.) And give you their opinion. If you look chimney
sweeps up in Yellow pages you might be able to discuss your problem over
the phone. It may be that the first one you asked had an over cautious
attitude, or simply didn't want the extra work involved. In this day
and age, I would imagine nowadays a real professional outfit would have
some sort of camera mounted on the end of their rods along with a light
which they could use to inspect the chimney. If local grocery stores can
afford cameras to catch shoplifters, you'd imagine a sweep could as well.

Chimney sweeps rather than builders should be the specialists for
problems of this kind. And if they know what they're doing, and have
the right equipment, they may be able to do the job in no time
without making a meal of it, or charging you the earth.

Whereas if you ask a builder, no matter how old he is etc. etc.
he has an incentive to make a meal of it by erecting scaffolding
and making as much of a fuss, and charging as much, as he can.

In my opinion at least, there's no harm in asking around.


michael adams

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