I am getting to the end of my tether with our new (old) house. We took on a project house, which had been empty for a year before we bought it, and honestly it might have been too much for us!
Our sitting room has an open gas fire place which is covered with debris from the uncovered chimney. It needs cleaning before we can use it. I have just found out that the cat has peed in the fire place and the smell is awful 
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I have approached chimney sweeps and maintenance people without any luck, so I think I may need to tackle it myself. Does anyone have any tips? I won’t use it until the chimney has been swept, but I can’t deal with it being a cat toilet (she is a bit stressed as a lot of other cats pop up in our garden, poor girl).
Please give me hope that we will get there! Photo of the offending fire place attached.