Chimney sweep in Čiekurkalns - wooden workers' houses and wood-burning cookers

A wood-burning cooker and a stove in a wooden house

A masonry-built wood-burning cooker and a masonry stove store heat for a long time, so their flue is cleaned once a year, by 1 November. If the house also has a small metal stove or a small wood boiler, its flue is cleaned again between 1 November and 1 March. A cooker has a long horizontal flue channel under the hotplates and at the sides, where ash and soot build up faster than in a vertical chimney; it is swept out through the cooker's cleaning doors.

In a wooden house the most important spot is where the chimney passes through the wooden ceiling and roof. Building code LBN 231-15 (point 54) requires combustible structures to be at least 300 mm from the outer surface of the flue, and in the attic the chimney is whitewashed so that cracks and soot marks are visible. Firewood, boxes and old furniture must not be stored around the chimney in the attic. More: stove cleaning.

If soot is burning in the chimney

Chimney fires are not rare. From January to September 2025 the State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) put out burning soot in home flues 261 times, and from 01.09.2026 to 20.10.2026 there were 19 such cases. In a wooden house this is especially dangerous, because a hot chimney can set the ceiling and roof on fire.

• If the chimney roars, sparks fly from it or thick black smoke comes out, call 112.
• Do not open the cooker or stove door and do not pour water into the firebox.
• Afterwards do not light a fire until the chimney has been checked: the heat may have cracked the masonry.

Deliberately burning out soot is banned, as is using a damaged flue. After a fire the channel is checked, and the certificate records whether it may be used: chimney check after a soot fire. More: chimney soot fire.

Several flats in one wooden house

If a workers' house has two or more flats, under the regulations it is an apartment building, and a certificate must be drawn up after every cleaning. If a flat owner wants to replace a cooker or stove, Riga rules allow replacement with a new ecodesign appliance of up to 50 kW using the same fuel. However, the application needs a certificate of the condition of the existing appliance, the flues and the ventilation ducts.

According to the municipal zoning map, part of Čiekurkalns is in zone I or II. This is our reading of the map, but if so, a new solid fuel appliance may not be installed there when the type of heating changes. Before replacing a cooker or stove, check your address in the GeoRiga layer and, if needed, ask the municipal Heat Supply Commission.

Panel buildings and warehouses

In post-war panel buildings flats usually have no flue, but they have natural ventilation ducts in the kitchen and bathroom. These are checked once every 10 years, but in rooms with a gas cooker or water heater once every five years, and the work is usually organised by the building manager: ventilation check in apartment buildings.

Warehouses and office complexes with their own boiler room need a certificate every time. More: chimney sweep for businesses.

Access and price

We reach Čiekurkalns along Brīvības gatve or Gustava Zemgala gatve. If the house is in the small streets between the wooden houses, it helps to say in the request where a car can be parked and whether there is a ladder to the roof. If it is not safe to climb onto the roof, the flue is cleaned from below through the cleaning doors and the cooker door. Cleaning one flue costs from €100, usually €100–130, with the certificate and call-out. A check after a fire is priced for your situation. Prices: prices.

Neighbouring areas: Teika, Brasa, Mežaparks and Sarkandaugava. All of Riga: chimney sweep in Riga.