How to stop birds coming down your chimney

When birds nest on top of your chimney, sometimes they can fall down the flue and into your property. A messy, sooty bird can then cause havoc in your home when it finds itself in the unfamiliar location of your living room, with many homeowners reporting damaged or stained furniture, walls and floors. 

The key is to instead halt birds before they can enter your property. So let’s take a look at preventative measures to stop birds from coming down your chimney in the first place. 

Why should you stop birds coming into your chimney? 

Naturally, birds will see chimney pots or flues as ideal nesting spots thanks to the warmth, protection and comfort they offer. This shouldn’t be a concern most of the time, but occasionally the birds can enter the home via the flue by accident, or become trapped within the flue itself and be unable to leave. 

If the bird enters the home, it can cause a significant mess trying to escape, including soot staining your interiors. This can result in you having to spend hundreds of pounds redecorating your room, making it a pretty costly mishap. 

Sometimes a bird may not come down all the way, and instead, you could hear the fluttering of wings that indicate it’s trapped. Problems that can arise from trapped birds in flues include chimney blockages, increased risk of chimney fires and damp problems from condensation build-up. 

How to stop birds from coming down your chimney? 

Unfortunately, not much can be done to remove the bird nests until they are either dead or the chicks have grown up and left the nest, as doing so is an offence under the Wildlife and Country Act. So the best course of action is always to prevent the birds from entering your home in the first place. 

One such solution is to install bird guard terminals or chimney cowls to cap off the open top of the flue. These are mesh or barred installations that are fitted to the top of a chimney on the outside of a building, effectively preventing the bird from entering the chimney in the first place, while still allowing the chimney to ventilate as it should. 

In smaller homes, these guards and cowls can be installed via a ladder. In larger or taller properties, a cherry picker may have to be used to access the top of the chimney. Either way, bird guard terminals are a worthwhile investment and measure to prevent substantial redecoration costs should a bird enter your home. 

Here at EnviroFlame, we can supply and install these guards and cowls to your chimney. As experts in fireplace and flue systems, we know how to safely protect your flues and interiors from bird ingress, saving wildlife the distress of becoming trapped and you the expense of cleaning up the resulting mess. 

English law only allows birds nests to be removed between August and February while the birds aren’t nesting. It’s illegal to remove them outside of these dates, so make sure you get booked in before Spring!

To arrange a professional fitting of a bird guard terminal or chimney cowl, simply get in touch with EnviroFlame today. We’re London’s go-to specialists for flue systems, and this includes maintaining and protecting the quality and safety of your home from incidents such as this. We’ll be happy to discuss your needs today.