How much does it cost to sweep a chimney in the Algarve?

A chimney sweep is priced per flue and per visit. The appliance and the access set most of it: an open fireplace takes longer than a closed stove, a bent flue takes longer than a straight one, and a roof that needs ladders and a line costs more to work from than a hearth. Everything else on the quote is what the sweep finds when the brush goes up.

How is a chimney sweep priced?

Per flue, because each chimney in a house has its own length, its own route and its own history, and per visit, because the travel, the sheeting and the vacuum are set up once. That is why the second flue on the same morning costs less than the first, and why a cooking chimney, which collects grease rather than soot, is listed as its own item rather than folded into the fireplace.

Nothing is priced by the metre. A sweep does not measure a flue; a flue is either straightforward or it is not. The underlying currency is time on site, so a quote states what a flue of that type normally takes and names the things that would change it once the chimney is open.

What moves the price up or down?

What changes	Which way it moves the price
Open fireplace or closed stove	An open hearth is wider, dirtier and has to be sealed before a rod goes in; a stove usually has a narrower lined flue and a door that closes
Length and route of the flue	Straight and vertical is quick; bends, offsets and a stack shared with a cooking hearth take more rods, more time and sometimes work from both ends
Roof access	From the hearth is the cheap route; a steep, high or fragile roof adds ladders, a line and time, and a platform can cost more than the sweep
Time since the last sweep	One season of soot brushes out; several seasons in a damp flue harden into creosote, which is a different job with different tools
What is found on the day	A bird’s nest, fallen mortar or a cracked liner are itemised separately once they are seen
A camera inspection	Its own line on the quote, and worth it on a flue with a history
A second flue on the same visit	Less than the first, because travel and set-up are already paid
Season	October and November are the rush; a quote given in September is given without pressure

Why does an open fireplace cost more to sweep than a stove?

Three reasons. The flue of an open fireplace is wider, often unlined, and holds deposit on rough masonry rather than on a smooth liner. The opening has to be sealed with a sheet or a board so the room stays clean, which is set-up time before any brushing starts. And the first metre above the fire, where the flue gases are hottest and then cool fastest, is where the hard layer sits. A closed stove or recuperador de calor, with a lined flue of a fixed diameter, is brushed through a port in the flue pipe with the door shut, or up through the stove itself once the baffle is out, with the opening sealed around the rods.

That distinction matters more here than the word chimney suggests. Of the Algarve’s 193,395 main residences, 23,287 have an open fireplace and 6,593 have a wood burner or recuperador de calor: 12.0 per cent against 3.4 per cent. Source: INE, Censos 2021, quadro Q303, Algarve main residences. Most of what gets swept in the region is the older, wider, open kind, which is why the job is priced by the flue in front of the sweep rather than by a flat rate.

What should a written quote itemise?

• The flues. How many, and which appliance each one serves.
• The route. From the hearth, from the roof, or both, and what access equipment is included in that.
• Sheeting and clean-up. Whether the opening is sealed, a vacuum is run, and the soot leaves the property with the sweep.
• The inspection. A visual check of the flue, the pot and the cowl as standard, and a camera survey as a named extra if you want one.
• What happens on a find. Whether a nest or hardened creosote is dealt with at a stated rate, or the work stops and is re-quoted.
• The paperwork. Whether a written record of the visit is included.
• The date. A September appointment and an October one are not the same thing.

Why is there no figure on this page?

Because the number that would sit here is not one number. A straight stove flue brushed through the door in a calm half hour and a wide open fireplace, unswept for four winters, reached from a steep roof with a nest above the bend, are both “a chimney sweep” and are nowhere near each other. Search limpeza de chaminés and most of the prices you find are for Lisbon, for Porto or for companies working on another scale, and none of them says what a hearth in Monchique or a flat in Portimão will cost. A single figure would be right for one flue and misleading for the next, and you would meet the real price on the day.

What can be done is quote your flue, free, before anyone comes out. For what the visit includes and how a request is handled, see chimney sweeping in the Algarve.

What should you ask before you book?

1. Is the price per flue, and does it cover the cooking chimney if there is one?
2. Is the opening sealed and the soot vacuumed, or will I be cleaning the room afterwards?
3. What is checked besides the brushing: the liner, the pot, the cowl?
4. What happens if a nest or glazed creosote is found: an agreed extra, or stop and re-quote?
5. Is a camera survey available, and what does it add?
6. Will I get a written record of the visit?
7. Can it be done from inside, or does someone need to go on the roof, and is that access in the price?

The one question that decides the quote

Not “how much is the sweep” but “how many winters since the last one”. A flue swept every season is a brush job every season. A flue left for years builds glazed creosote that no brush shifts, needs chemical treatment or a rotary tool, and may already have cracked the liner, at which point the sweep turns into a relining quote. If you are not sure which of those yours is, the guide to the signs a chimney needs sweeping sets out what to look for from the hearth with a torch before anyone is booked.