Chimney & Fireplaces
How to choose the right tradesman to fix your fireplace or chimney.
Your fireplace and chimney are an important part of your home. Providing heat in the winter, and even some nice atmosphere when you need it during the rest of the year.
But when your chimney or fireplace needs repair, and it’s done improperly, it can mean a really cold winter ahead for you and your home. We asked some of our chimney and fireplace tradesmen here on ClickATrades about some things you should look for, key issues to think about, when it comes to finding the perfect tradesman to repair your fireplace or chimney.
- Find someone with the specific experience you require.
- Do they have HETAS registration?
- Do they have Gas Safe registration?
- Get detailed and thorough quotes before deciding.
- Find out what materials and equipment they’ll be using.
Now, let’s have a look at these a little more in-depth and hear what our ClickATrades tradesmen had to say about your fireplace and chimney repair.
Find someone with the specific experience you require.
When it comes to something like fireplace or chimney repair, there are quite a few things that can fall under this umbrella. Including things like fireplace or chimney breast removal, chimney reconstruction, to replacement of liners, installations of wood burning stoves, or even chimney sweeping.
Every one of these tasks listed above takes a different set of skills to complete them. So, you want to be sure that any tradesman that you’re considering for your fireplace or chimney repair can actually do the work you need on your home. You want to ensure that you’re hiring a specialist for the exact work that you need to have done on either your fireplace, your chimney, or both.
If it’s your chimney, be sure to hire someone that specifically works on chimneys and not a general builder or bricklayer.
Like with all jobs you may need done around your home, be sure that you ask any tradesmen you’re considering to see some of the same work done previously that you need done on your home. Many of our fireplace and chimney tradesmen on ClickATrades have customer reviews you can read, as well as portfolios of their work on their site profiles.
Do they have HETAS registration?
HETAS is the official, government recongised body that approves all heating appliances used for burning biomass and solid fuels such as wood, charcoal, peat, coal, and various other types of materials.
Depending on the particular repairs needed for your fireplace or chimney, you want to ensure that any tradesman that you’re having do the work is HETAS registered. Especially if you’re installing any kind of stove, it’s important to check their HETAS registration before hiring them.
Do they have Gas Safe registration?
If your fireplace is gas, then you need to be certain that the tradesman you hire to do any repairs is on the Gas Safe Register in the UK. They are legally required to be on this register, which is an official list of gas engineers who are registered to work safely on things like boilers, cookers, fires and all other gas appliances.
This makes it absolutely crucial to verify before hiring them, that the tradesman you hire is on this register. And also, be sure to ask them about their plan for safely dealing with any gas work involved in your fireplace or chimney repair work.
Get detailed quotes before you hire anyone.
ClickATrades recommends always, before you hire anyone for any job around your home, make sure that you get three detailed and thorough quotes from three different tradesmen. Ensure that each quote has listed all the materials that they’re going to use or need, every cost associated with the labour and job. Are they subcontracting out any part of the repairs you need for your fireplace or chimney?
Lay each of the quotes side by side and compare them to find out what makes the most sense for the job you need before hiring any of them.
Find out what equipment they’re going to be using.
Before you hire a tradesman to do the fireplace or chimney work around your home, be sure that you’ve asked them what kind of materials they’re going to use to complete the work. This is incredibly important if they’re going to be doing work at the upper heights of your chimney. Are they using ladders? How are they securing themselves from dangers and falls?
These are just some of the important things to be certain you’re asking and looking for in any tradesman you’re considering hiring to do fireplace or chimney repair work around your home. You can find more information about the tradesmen and the work they do on our ClickATrades site.