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Chimneys are certainly on top of the commonly overlooked features when it comes to cleaning a house. This is quite understandable given the fact that they’re not readily accessible and not in plain sight, hence, home and property owners tend to overlook the relevance of any chimney cleaning effort. But this can be a grave mistake! The importance of having your chimney swept on a regular basis cannot be over emphasized and even more so if it happens to be on a wood burner. Not only can a dirty chimney constitute fire hazard, but when left uncleaned it can also give rise to blockages which can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. In fact, from 2014 to 2018, one of the top factors contributing to about 25% of home heating fires is due to lack of cleaning, mainly from solid-fueled heating equipment, mostly chimneys. Therefore, sweeping your chimney regularly is a safety precaution and when they happen to be on a wood burner, this exercise becomes a lot more important. With that in mind, the question that arises is just how often is sweeping of a chimney on a would burner needed?

Well, it’s strongly advisable to sweep chimney on a wood burner at least twice a year by a qualified professional depending on the usage. If you happen to own an oil burning fireplace, the same also applies. In other words, this means that regardless of the type of chimney you possess, the cleaning must be done regularly. However, most chimney would only need to be swept once in a year by a qualified professional.

Roof tiles should be replaced as soon as possible to ensure that your roof stays waterproof. Use crawl boards when replacing them to avoid damaging other tiles, if not ask a qualified roofer to carry out the work, particularly if the tiles are higher up.

If you’ve never had Velux windows before, you might be wondering how to open them. If you’ve got very high ceilings and your roof windows are set high up in the pitch of the roof, you might not even be able to reach them. So how do you open them in this case?

When Velux windows are installed so high that they’re out of reach, the installers will often recommend that they install an electric switch for you to open and close your windows. They often come with a rain sensor, so you don’t need to rush up to the top of the house if there’s a sudden downpour – they will close automatically. You can also choose to have a remote so you can open and close your roof windows wherever you are in the room.

If you don’t have an electric switch, but you still can’t reach to open and close your Velux windows, you should be supplied with a telescopic pole when they’re installed. If you weren’t or you’ve moved into a home with roof windows and there isn’t one, you can buy them online. They have a hook on the end and can be extended to the correct length so you can hook it over the handle of the window and pull or push to open it.

If you’ve got a top-hung Velux window that can also be opened in a centre-pivot position, it’s easy to switch between the two. Simply ensure the window is completely closed before you start, then open the handle up – but don’t push it out. Then pull the vent bar down until the sash is rotated 180 degrees. Then secure the position by sliding the barrel bolts into the holes at either side of the bottom of the frame. Easy!

How To Identify Asbestos Roof Tiles

Found in some particular rocks, asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that’s commonly used before the 1990’s as a building material specifically for roofing. This material was banned in the UK as it was discovered to possess harmful fibres which is potentially dangerous to human’s respiratory health when disturbed and inhaled. According to several reports this health conditions include non cancerous lung disease, mesothelioma and asbestosis, which are all untreatable. Therefore, be it in a domestic or industrial setting, there’s the need to know how to identify asbestos and if found, start the removal process as quickly as possible.

While the three types of asbestos used in roof tiles can be quite easy to identify by themselves, a total reverse is the case, when mixed into a tile. Generally roofing tiles that includes asbestos will mostly have colours such as grey, white or blue-white colour, but so does several other roof tiles made from other materials that are totally safe. As a result, the only way in which you can identify if a tile contains asbestos is by looking for an identification mark. These marks are mostly inscribed onto about one in twenty tiles, therefore if you have a strong feeling that your roof tiles contains asbestos, you may have to remove several tiles before you can identify the marked one. Otherwise, the only way you can confirm is by sending a sample to a certified asbestos testing lab. These labs are knowledgeable and possess the right equipment, tools as well as testing kits to determine the levels of asbestos in your premises. With this, you have a better chance of getting quality results than any other means. What’s more? They’ll also recommend expert asbestos removal services if the harmful material is found to be present in your house.

If your existing roof is still in good condition but the membrane is getting old, it’s often not worth exposing the structure to the weather whilst the contractor strips off the old membranes. The contractor will leave them in place to act as a base layer for a new roofing system. As long as there are no other problems with your roof, then overlaying is a good way to replace your flat roof.If you have any more questions about flat roofing that aren’t listed here, fill out our form to ask a contractor.

Chimney liners are a very important component of the chimney, but the fact is most home and property owners either continue to overlook them or aren’t even aware of their existence. This is, however, quite understandable given the fact that they usually last a long period of time – more than 50 years. To ensure that they last that long, the question that arises is, do chimney liners need to be swept and cleaned? The short and simple answer to this question is yes, chimney liners definitely needs to be cleaned on a frequent basis. A chimney liner happens to be an essential part of your chimney. When it’s not cleaned, it tends to accumulate dust, soot and dirt which can give rise to a number of problems you’d rather want to avoid. Chimney liner are able to provide adequate protection to your flue but even at that the water, creosote and other contaminant build up can make the liner to deteriorate, and making it unsafe for usage. In other words, contrary to several belief, chimney liners do need the same amount of cleaning as chimneys without liners. Failure to sweep your chimney liners can give rise to the following problems:

• Creosote buildup. If your main source of fire is wood, then you’ll definitely have creosote present in your chimney. This is highly combustible and its buildup may lead to fire outbreak.
• Carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is said to be on the rise by NCBI and its primarily generated from heating systems which are terribly ventilated as a result of uncleaned or dirty chimneys.

One of the most popular choices for roofing materials are roof slates. There is a number of advantages that a roof slate has, hey can be aesthetically pleasing, they can also increase the potential selling value of the house and many more. Slate is a sturdy and resilient material that delivers waterproofing physical characteristics to a pitched roof. Unlike other roof materials which absorb water slates do not. Therefore, slate is the most resistant towards freezing and water damage.

Find out the pitch of your roof

Before beginning with the fitting procedure, you need to figure out the pitch of your roof. The roof pitch commands how much overlap is essential with each slate. This has been made a lot easier than the early days with the advancement of technology.

Find out the required overlap

Once you’ve found out the exact pitch of your roof accurately, take a look at the slate producer’s description. Each manufacturer will propose the obligatory overlap in order to form a firm and safe slate roof.

Roll out the roof membrane

Firstly, guarantee your joists or trusses are clean of any sheards or old nails that could harm the membrane. You will now have to roll the chosen roofing membrane along the roof trusses. It is always wise to start from one of the bottom corners and keep rolling it along to the other corner.

Secure the roof membrane

Once the membrane has been moved out, use thump nails to protect one edge. You will now have to pull the membrane taut and carefully fix it into position. Do this before adding any nails across the membrane at points of intersection with the trusses for extra stability.

Batten placement

This is done to find the proper assignment of the battens. For this, you will need two full-sized slates along with an under eaves slate. Carefully position the battens on the top of the roof on the top of the overlay. Make sure not to fix them down since it will be easier to move them around and make any adjustments.