Chimney sweep in Baldone - wood stoves, boilers and country properties

How homes in Baldone are heated

Heat in Baldone used to be produced by the municipal company SIA “BŪKS”, which received a licence to produce heat in 2010. It has now been merged into SIA “Ķekavas nami”, the only municipal utility company in Ķekava municipality. Ķekavas nami says it produces and supplies heat to apartment buildings and municipal institutions. We did not find a current description of the Baldone heating network.

So owners of detached houses in Baldone heat their homes themselves: with masonry stoves, wood-burning cookers, firewood or pellet boilers, and in some homes a fireplace for extra heat. Across Latvia, 45.9% of homes that burn wood use room stoves, and the average age of these stoves is 32.7 years. In the older housing of Baldone this means masonry chimneys that after decades need not only cleaning but also an inspection.

Old masonry stoves and cookers: what is checked

A masonry stove stores heat for longer than three hours, so it is enough to clean its flue once a year, by 1 November. If a wood-burning cooker and a stove are connected to one chimney, each flue has its own entry in the cleaning certificate. The internal flue channels of a stove are cleaned through the cleaning doors, so a bricked-up or painted-over door gets in the way of every future cleaning.

In old houses the most common findings are crumbling joints in the attic, cracks between the chimney and the wooden beams, and a chimney head that has started to crumble. Once every five years solid-fuel appliances and flues need a technical condition inspection, with a certificate on the official form and photos. If you have just bought or inherited the house and do not know when the chimney was last inspected, start with that: chimney sweep's condition report and chimney check before buying a house.

Tiled stoves have their own routine, because the flue channels wind through several bends and the ash and soot pockets are hard to reach: tiled stove cleaning.

When a boiler replaces the stove

If you put in a boiler instead of a stove (firewood, pellets or, if there is a connection, gas), there are several things to bear in mind. When you change the heating appliance, you need a certificate on whether the new appliance may be connected to the existing flue. An old masonry channel is often too wide or too cold for boiler flue gases: the smoke cools, condensation forms and the masonry gets damp. Then a liner matching the diameter of the boiler flue is fitted in the channel.

A boiler flue is cleaned twice a season: by 1 November and once more between 1 November and 1 March. More: boiler flue cleaning, chimney lining and chimney insulation.

Forest, hills and scattered properties

Baldone is surrounded by wooded, hilly terrain with damper spots, and on the outskirts the properties are scattered. Road surfaces and access differ between the centre and the rural areas. In the request, say whether there is a gravel road to the house and whether a car can drive into the yard, because the equipment has to be carried to the cleaning door.

On houses near the forest, needles and leaves fall onto the chimney, and birds tend to nest in the flue. If the chimney has no cap, we suggest you consider one: chimney cap installation. A country property often also has a sauna or an outbuilding with its own stove, and its flue needs the same cleaning.

What may be burned in Ķekava municipality

The Ķekava municipality waste regulations forbid burning waste, including in containers and bins. For a stove this means one thing: burn dry firewood, briquettes or pellets, not packaging, painted wood or plastic. Smoke from waste leaves sticky soot and tar that a brush does not remove, and then you need chimney tar removal.

Price and call-out to Baldone

Chimney cleaning in Baldone costs from €100, usually €100–130, with the certificate and the call-out. Cleaning the flue channels of a masonry stove, cooker or sauna stove costs the same. The technical condition report, chimney lining and repairs are priced for your situation, because the price depends on the height of the chimney, access to the roof, the length of the flue and the materials. If one property has several buildings with stoves, put them in one request. All prices: prices.

Nearby places

In the same municipality we work in Ķekava and in Baloži, and also in Iecava and in Ķegums. All places: where we work.