Our story
Why the name
Lumwell started with one van, a set of rods and the chimneys of our own street in Hexham. Lum is an old northern and Scots word for a chimney, which seemed the right name for a sweep.
Older stone houses often have tall stacks and flues that bend on their way up, and some now hold a wood burner where the open fire used to be. Sweeping them well means knowing how each kind of flue behaves, and taking the time to sheet the room properly.
We still work as one sweep, by appointment, around Hexham and the Tyne Valley. You deal with the same person from the first call to the certificate.
Sweeping since 2014 Sample
How we work
Three things we hold to
By hand first
Rods and brushes do the sweeping. Vacuums keep the room clean; they do not sweep the flue.
Written, not just said
Every fault we notice is on the certificate, so you can show it to a builder, a landlord or a buyer.
We know our limits
We do not install stoves, reline flues or rebuild stacks. When a job needs one of those, we say who to ask.
Small and careful
A small business that writes things down
No call centre and no team of strangers: one sweep who sheets the room, sweeps by hand and tells you what they found.
One sweep, first call to last check
The person who answers the phone is the person who sweeps your chimney and writes the certificate.
Clean hearth, clean room
Sheets from hearth to door, a sealed opening and a vacuum running, then a last look round before we leave.
Faults written down
A cracked pot or loose mortar goes on paper with what to do about it, so nothing is lost in a doorstep chat.
Prices before parts
If anything needs a part, you see the price first. Nothing is fitted until you agree.
The visit
What happens at a sweep
Every visit follows the same four parts, so nothing about the visit comes as a surprise.
Look before we start
A torch and mirror up the flue first, to spot a blockage, loose mortar or a damaged pot before any rod goes up.
Seal off the fireplace
Dust sheets down from the hearth to the door, and the opening closed off with a sheet and a filtered vacuum running throughout.
Brush the full height
Rods and a brush sized to your flue, pushed from the bottom to the pot, then the soot bagged and taken away.
Prove it draws
A smoke pellet lit in the grate or stove to show the smoke rising up the flue and out of the pot, not back into the room.
Reviews
What customers wrote afterwards
Rated 4.8 out of 5 by sample customers. Every review here is a fictional sample.
- Sample review
Our stove filled the lounge with smoke one evening after years of behaving. An old jackdaw nest was sitting a couple of metres up the flue. It came out, the guard went on the pot, and the smoke test went straight up and away.
Morag, CorbridgeSweep and nest removal
- Sample review
Two open fires in an old stone house and not a speck on the rugs afterwards. The certificate came with a note about a cracked pot on the west stack, which our roofer has since replaced.
Gareth, AllendaleSweeping, two flues
- Sample review
I let the house out and like a written record each autumn. The camera showed the liner was sound, and I had the report in my inbox the same evening.
Priya, HexhamCamera survey
Lighting the fire again soon?
Say what you burn and which days suit. We reply with a price and a day.