Buying a house is a gamble. You look at the brickwork, the kitchen worktops, and the garden, but nobody ever looks inside the walls.
When you inherit a fireplace, you inherit everything the previous family left behind—hidden structural quirks, decades of soot, and old bird nests. Most people light their first winter fire on pure hope.
We think that is an unnecessary risk.
Our New Homeowner Chimney Inspection is designed to take the guesswork out of your living room. We do not do repair work, meaning we have absolutely no interest in manufacturing problems just to hand you a massive building quote. We are here to give you an objective, data-backed truth about what is happening inside your flue.
What Happens During the Inspection?
We treat your chimney like a diagnostic puzzle. To give you total clarity, we look at the system from three completely different angles: inside, outside, and the room itself.
- The Clean & Debris Examination: Before we can see anything, we perform a thorough brush sweep. What comes down tells a story. We evaluate the soot, mortar flakes, and debris to gauge the historic health of the flue.
- The Internal Camera Inspection: We pass a high-definition CCTV camera straight up the flue. We will see exactly what the brickwork or lining looks like from the inside out, exposing hidden cracks or blockages long before they become dangerous.
- The Drone Stack Inspection: If local flight restrictions allow, we take to the air. We fly a drone directly over your roof to inspect the external chimney stack, pots, and flaunching without needing to build thousands of pounds worth of scaffolding just to have a look.
- The Smoke Evacuation Check: We run a controlled smoke test to make sure the draught is actually pulling gases out of your house, rather than letting them linger or spill into your room.
- Appliance & Installation Audit: If your home features a solid fuel stove or open fire, we examine the appliance itself. We check the physical installation to ensure it was put together safely and handles heat the way it was designed to.
- Ventilation & Room Air Flow: A fire needs to breathe just as much as you do. We check the ventilation coming into the room to ensure there is enough fresh air oxygen to feed the fireplace safely.
- The Formal Regulations Match: We benchmark the entire system against current building regulations and safety standards—specifically Approved Document J (ADJ), BS 8303, and BS EN 15287. Even if your system is old, you deserve to know exactly where it sits compared to modern safety baselines.
The Handover: Learning Your System
An inspection shouldn’t leave you with a pile of confusing paperwork and more questions than answers.
Once the physical work is finished, we explain how your specific appliance works. If you are new to wood burners or open fires, we will show you how to operate the controls, how to properly manage the air vents, and how to burn fuel efficiently to keep your glass clean and your wood bills low.
You will receive a comprehensive report of findings. This is a plain-English document outlining the structural state of your flue, its current safety status, and actionable advice for the future.
Why Choose an Independent Audit?
Psychologically, it is hard to trust a safety report when the person writing it also wants to sell you a £5,000 lining job.
Because Apex Chimney Sweeps specialises exclusively in diagnostics and cleaning, we have nothing to gain by finding faults. If your chimney passes, we tell you. If it fails, we tell you exactly why, backed by camera footage, so you can shop around for repairs with complete confidence.
It is the simplest way to ensure your new house truly feels like home—warm, efficient, and entirely safe.
Our New Homeowner Chimney Investigation starts at £250+VAT. If it is good enough for 10 Downing Street, it is good enough for you!
