If I’m being perfectly honest, removing bees’ nests from chimneys is my least favourite chimney sweeping activity. It is not so much the job, although that can be rather dirty and sticky, it is having to clean all the equipment of sticky mess afterwards that I find quite unpleasant! This particular job was unusual in that rather than waiting for the bees to die off, pest control had been called in to kill them. The reason being that the family whose home it was had two very young children, indeed one of them had been born during the bee crisis. To get into the chimney the bees had mined an entrance through the masonry at the base of the chimney stack. So, the bees were getting into the house and everyone had been stung, so pest control had to be called to kill the bees.

This however was not the end of their tribulations; within a short time wasps got into the chimney through the same entrance at the base of the chimney stack that the bees had made. Pest control were again called and all the wasps were dispatched. Things now moved at a pace, scaffolding was quickly erected and on our recommendation John and Mark Taylor the builders came to make the chimney good. We swept what was a very extensive bees’ nest from the chimney using rotary power sweeping equipment. Fortunately for ourselves, the wasps had eaten a lot of the honey, so we only got a bit stick. There was a happy ending as the family who for a time had to move out of their home, were able to move back in.

We can highly recommend the builders we used: J. Taylor & Sons, (John & Mark) 01799 586582 (M) 07885 493034 or 07854 027082 – Email admin@jtaylorandsons.co.uk