UKH

Has anyone in the sheffield area self installed a wood burning stove with liner etc and had building control sign this all off as being safe ?
The reason I ask - I expect an installation in my house to be straightforward and there is no part of the installation that I couldn’t handle.

I have contacted building control - the gent said that they could inspect it for a fee but there was no one suitably qualified and it would therefore require a Someone e.g hetas to commission it - although he stated a chimney sweep would be able to do it. He also stated that hetas are charging a similar price to a full installation for this.

Hetas can self certify which begs the question - what’s the point ? Building control seem to either not know the building regs or can’t be bothered and if a building surveyor isn’t suitably qualified the who is ??

Sorry for this being long winded but would like to know if anyone has self installed in Sheffield and if so how’d they go about it. Also not to be rude but please just don’t say - pay someone else to do it, I would love the pleasure of doing something like this myself, so when I sit and look at it I can say I did that.

What with chopping all the trees etc not that impressed with sheffield local council atm. Cheers

In reply to andyman666999:
Hi I self installed a stove and liner and got oakbrook chimney services to commission the stove it was a very quick process just lit a small fire and checked the draw.
They have a website same name and no spaces.co.uk

I found fitting the stove quite simple but getting the around the chimney bends it really is a two person job but managed on my own, getting a flu facing plate could be a problem if non standard size you can get them on ebay, again oakbrook might be able to help.

In reply to andyman666999:
I've been trying to install a woodburner in to my thatched cottage for a year and a half (I have no heating aside from a preexisting wood fired rayburn so it's a bit chilly in winter). In my case the insurers won't touch me unless it's HEATAS certified. Problem is I have too short a shared chimney stack to comply with regs (and therefore HEATAS). Had the old woodburner not been removed and taken by the previous owner when he moved it would not have been a problem as it was installed to regs at the time. But the regs have since changed! Such a palaver.

In your case the best bet is to call a firm who are HEATAS registered, grovel and ask them if they'd be kind enough to sign it off for a fee (as if they had installed it). Look for a one man band who will do a favour. But be prepared to wait. They are in very high demand this time of year. Without HEATAS you are likely not to be covered by your house insurance.

In reply to andyman666999:

I did a couple in Sheffield, and a couple out at Froggatt. Same experience each time. Hetas registered so the house insurance is not invalidated. In all cases they were happy to find the stove and liner in place, and connected to the hanging cowl on top of the chimney pot.
What they did require was that the register plate was not fitted and the bottom of the liner exposed so they could check the liner was bi-directional or if not, fitted the right way up. They then fitted the register plate and coupled the liner to the flue pipe.
I recommend you check with whoever signs off your stove what they want to see. They’re also required to fit a working CO alarm and to check that you have an appropriately sized inlet air vent.
Hope this helps
Paul

In reply to robert-hutton:

If I may ask - was it oak brook chimney services that therefore provided the certificate of compliance or did they sign paperwork provided by the local authority building control ? What fee did they charge ? Thanks

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

Thanks for the tips re: hetas engineer. The changes in regs since early 2000’s makes everything such a nightmare. Hope you manage to get everything sorted sounds like a difficult set of circumstances. Best wishes

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Thanks for the reply. Who did you use/any recommendations and what fee did they charge ?? Cheers

In reply to andyman666999:

Don't know about Sheffield but building control here in York didn't bat an eyelid when I applied to put mine in, it's well within the scope of services they should be providing.
Jk

In reply to jkarran:
I agree. They shouldn’t. BC on the phone said that they had no one “suitably qualified”. Given that they survey all other building applications and do fire safety assessments makes me think that they can’t be bothered but am unsure of how to approach the issue. Also I haven’t found anyone who has self installed and used them to get a certificate of compliance.

In reply to andyman666999:
At least with them chopping the trees down you'll have something to burn, when it's properly dried of course.

In reply to andyman666999:

Yes oakbrook provided the certificate of compliance, cannot remember the cost but it was quite cheep think less them £100.

In reply to robert-hutton:

Sorry for all the questions but
Was that recent?
Was that also with building control involved or independent?
Did you just ring them up and ask or did I you know them socially ??
Cheers - sounds promising.

In reply to andyman666999:


1, Was that recent? - No about 3 years ago
2, Was that also with building control involved or independent? - Didn't get building control involved
3, Did you just ring them up and ask or did I you know them socially ?? - Just rang them up think i got the contact from Bramdale's on Chesterfield Road

I friend also used Richard Dean in Sheffield S13 9AA for the commissioning and gave good review who is also HEATAS registered.

In reply to robert-hutton:

Thanks mate. That’s been really helpful. All the best