Our woes with our chimney continue... it's still damp despite having been rebuilt above roof level and then reprinted..... but I digress. We had a ne w cowl fitted which was supposed to cure the damp. But it had no bird guard s and squirrels got in and built a nest.....
So the chimney sweep came to call.....
Or rather another chimney sweep that he had subbed the work to as his van w as off the road.
My mother in law "baby sat" the sweep as we were at work (we shawl the ask her to do this sort of stuff again. It's just not fair on her).
We came home to a very smelly house and a very sooty (horizontal surfaces) sitting room.
Mum's version of what happened is
"He said he would look at the chimney with the squirrel's nest first. He se t out his dust sheets and started working with his rods. It took a very lon g time to get a small amount down. He carried on with his rods. Eventually, he got a similar amount down. He could not shift any more with his rods. H e said the only way to clear the nest was to set it on fire. I expressed my concern. He said that it would not damage the chimney lining and indicated that it was a normal way to deal with it as he could see I was unsure. He went to his van and came back with a roll of blue paper roller towel he sta rted unrolling it and scrunching it up. I said that if he had to use that m ethod to clear the chimney that he should use newspaper. He took some out o f the log basket, agreeing that it would be better. He pushed it up the chi mney and went outside to make sure the smoke was going out. He came back in and said that it was so it was doing alright. I went and stood outside for a while to keep an eye on it. Eventually, the smoke changed from grey to b lack. I wonder if the blackened door (on the wood burner) was because he bu rned the blue roller paper in the stove ... Which may have caused the black smoke as it was not likely to burn well. He assured me that it was all cle ared. I asked about the soot. He told me that there had hardly been any as he thought that the squirrels had kept it clean going up and down. It was a ll fine."
We are wary of lighting the fire as we are not convinced the chimney is cle ar.
I spoke to the original sweep who spoke to the sub-contractor who gave a di fferent story of having cleared it all with rods and then burnt the debris/ waste in the wood burner (why would you??). He gave me the second guy's num ber and was keen for me to do any "sorting out" with him (but my contract w as with the first guy, and the second guy asked for the cheque to be made o ut to the first guy.
Anyway, questions for the panel....
Is setting fire to a flexi lined chimney an acceptable way to clear it.
If he did it is it likely to have been successful?
is he likely to have damaged the liner?
How should I proceed?