Reading · Kitchen extract cleaning
TR19 kitchen extract cleaning in Caversham Heights
Kitchen extract cleaning for businesses, landlords and public buildings in Caversham Heights. CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001, and fully insured.
- An overdue clean flagged by an EHO or fire officer
- Stale cooking odours from the system
- A new tenancy or takeover with no cleaning history
Kitchen extract cleaning for kitchens and businesses in Caversham Heights
We treat an extract system much as a doctor treats a patient: diagnose with a survey, treat with a thorough clean, then sign it off. The sign-off is a TR19 certificate with a photo report, issued through the BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite portal. The work covers discharge points, horizontal duct runs and plenums and filters, and common reasons people get in touch are grease drips onto cooking equipment and an extract that no longer clears the smoke. Canopy cleaning, extract cleaning and duct cleaning are often used to mean the same thing, but in Caversham Heights, as everywhere, the insurer wants the full system cleaned, not just the hood.
What can be cleaned depends on what can be reached. Sections without access panels are recorded on the report, and new panels can be fitted so they’re cleaned next time.
In a smaller place like Caversham Heights, the kitchens with extract systems are more likely to be a pub, a café, a takeaway or a school or care home kitchen than a big restaurant. Quieter kitchens still collect grease in the duct, just more slowly, so the interval is set by hours of use and grease readings.
Think of the report as the system’s health record: dated, with pictures, and showing what was done. Grease extract cleans are also certificated to TR19® Grease through the BESCA VHE portal, ready for your insurer.
- Place
- Caversham Heights (RG4)
- Wider area
- Reading
- Reporting
- Certificate and photo report
- Quotes
- A fixed quote up front
- Hours
- When your site is closed, plus a 24/7 line
- Telephone
- 0345 646 2711
- Checked
- 30 October 2026
What staff can safely do
Staff cleaning does not replace a specialist visit; it supports it. Regular in-house cleaning slows the build-up, but hidden parts of the system still need specialist attention.
Some jobs should never be done in-house: opening up ductwork, cleaning fans, drop testing fire dampers and measuring grease call for the right kit, training and safe access. That’s our job.
FAQs for Caversham Heights
Can you clean school kitchen extracts in Caversham Heights during the holidays?
Yes. The holidays are the usual time for school work. There are about 14 schools, colleges and universities on the FSA’s food hygiene register within about 1.5 miles of Caversham Heights. Booking early in the term gives the best choice of holiday dates.
Which fire and rescue service is responsible for Caversham Heights?
Fire safety enforcement in Caversham Heights is handled by Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service. Records of extract cleaning are a sensible thing to have ready if a fire safety officer carries out an audit.
What does a TR19 kitchen extract clean include?
We clean every part the grease travels through. That means canopy, plenum, filters, ducts, risers, fan and discharge, reached through access panels where necessary.
What about areas you can’t get to?
We never leave them off the paperwork. You will know exactly which parts weren’t reached and why, along with a quote to put access in.
Is TR19 a legal requirement?
Strictly, the legal duty comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, not from TR19. In practice, TR19 is how kitchens show they’re managing grease, and an insurer may refuse or reduce a claim without it.
What’s the right cleaning interval for a kitchen extract?
Under BESA guidance, the minimum depends on how long you cook each day: every 3 months for 12 to 16 hours, 6 months for 6 to 12 hours and 12 months for 2 to 6 hours. Measured grease levels set the real interval.
How long does a kitchen extract clean take?
Length of duct, grease levels and access all affect it. As a guide, it takes a few hours for a small kitchen, longer for a large system.
Will my insurer ask for a TR19 certificate?
Grease-filled ducts can carry fire well beyond the kitchen. Many policies say the extract must be cleaned to TR19, and a claim may be reduced without proof, so keep every certificate.
Keeping the system healthy
Think of this as the after-treatment advice, short and simple:
- Switch the fan on before cooking starts
- Keep to the recommended cleaning interval
- Empty any grease troughs or cups on the canopy
- Give the canopy a daily wipe
You get a photo report after every clean. It shows the system before and after, part by part, alongside a list of what was cleaned, anything out of reach and the recommended next clean date.
Keep the fan on throughout service. Cooking with the extract off lets grease and heat settle in the canopy, and the next clean has more to do.
Why deal with it now?
Every week without a clean adds another layer. Under BESA guidance, grease shouldn’t exceed a mean of 200 microns between cleans, and anywhere reaching 500 microns or more needs a spot clean straight away. The longer it’s left, the bigger the job becomes. A visit arranged in advance is far less disruptive than a callout on a busy day.
What you pay reflects the actual work. That is why we survey first, from photos or on site, and the price is agreed before work begins.
Why Caversham Heights businesses choose us
- BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite member, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease
- Fixed quotes, usually within one working day
- Fully insured
- Work around your opening hours, with 24/7 emergency cover
Take a look at what affects the cost or our accreditations and certificates.
What happens on the day
At the end of the visit, someone from your team can look over the work with us. Anything we couldn’t reach or that needs attention is pointed out there and then, and it goes on the report too. The visit takes a few hours for a small kitchen, longer for a large system. Visits to a place like Caversham Heights are planned ahead, so we arrive with what the survey says the job needs.
- You send photos or we visit, and the system is surveyed from canopy to discharge.
- We take grease readings at set points and send you a fixed quote.
- The kitchen is closed, the equipment cooled and everything nearby protected.
- We work through the system from the canopy to the fan and discharge.
- We re-test, photograph and send your certificate and photo report.
Preparing for the visit
- Tell us the best time to work, such as after service or at a weekend
- Plan for cooking equipment or plant to be off before we arrive
- Mention any parking or loading restrictions
Get a fixed quote
Getting a quote doesn’t take long. Call or email with a few details and you’ll usually have a fixed price within one working day. Where a survey is needed, we arrange a time that suits the site.
Related advice
For landlords and multi-site operators
Records are where multi-site compliance often slips. Each visit produces a dated report with pictures, ready to show insurers, fire officers or EHOs.
Whether it’s one building or many, the standard is the same: the system surveyed, the price fixed, the visit fitted around trading and everything written up afterwards.
Part by part
Schools, hospitals and care homes
In a care home or hospital, the kitchen may cook every day of the year. Cleans are planned between meals or overnight, so residents and patients are not disturbed.
Extract fan and discharge
Grease that reaches the fan coats the blades and the housing. It’s isolated, opened and cleaned as part of the TR19 clean.
Towns and villages near Caversham Heights
Also in Caversham Heights
When something else is needed
A few issues sit outside what this work can do:
- A duct that’s holed or coming apart
- A fan motor or bearings that have failed (that needs a fan repair or replacement)
- An undersized canopy or fan
If in doubt, call 0345 646 2711, or email photos and we’ll say what we think.
Where we work
- Vertical risers
- Horizontal duct runs
- Discharge points
- Canopies and hoods
- Plenums and filters
- Extract fans
What kitchen extract cleaning looks like in Caversham Heights
Food Standards Agency data counts about 151 restaurants, cafés and works canteens and about 51 takeaways and sandwich shops within roughly a mile and a half of the centre of Caversham Heights. Each one that cooks under a canopy has an extract system that collects grease and needs regular cleaning. Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service covers Caversham Heights. Fire and rescue authorities enforce the Fire Safety Order in most non-domestic premises, and in a kitchen that fire risk includes the grease in the extract. Environmental health officers from Reading council inspect food businesses in Caversham Heights. Extraction counts as kitchen equipment, so its condition can come up on the day. A dated certificate in the maintenance file answers the question before it’s asked.
If your kitchen is in a listed or historic building, like the houses around Caversham Heights (Mapledurham House is about 2.1 miles west), fitting access panels needs care. For schools such as Caversham Primary School, kitchen extract cleaning is normally booked for the holidays, when the canteen is closed. Kitchens that cook twelve hours or more a day, as some healthcare kitchens do, fall into BESA’s three-monthly minimum; Battle Hospital is the nearest hospital to Caversham Heights, about 1.3 miles south.
Caversham Heights is about 1 mile west of Caversham, in Reading. We carry out kitchen extract cleaning for commercial premises of every kind in Caversham Heights and the rest of Reading. Our area takes in 34 places across Reading, large and small.
Here we cover the RG4 postcode area for kitchen extract cleaning. Kitchen extract cleaning is available to premises on River Road, Chazey Road and Albert Road and nearby roads. Other places close to Caversham Heights include Caversham (1 mile east), Tokers Green (1 mile north), Emmer Green (1 mile north-east), Lower Caversham (1 mile south-east) and Chalkhouse Green (1 mile north). We also work in nearby towns such as Shinfield (5 miles south), Arborfield Garrison (8 miles south-east), Horncastle (3 miles south-west), Whitley Wood (4 miles south), Sonning Common (3 miles north) and Fords Farm (3 miles south-west). Being one of Reading’s larger places, Caversham Heights has commercial sites of every size, all within our area for kitchen extract cleaning.
Around Caversham Heights
Locally, jobs take us to businesses close to Hemdean House School, Round Copse and Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre. For rail, the closest station is Reading station, roughly 1.4 miles south-east. Nearby you’ll also find Battle Hospital (1.3 miles south) and Royal Berkshire Regiment Museum (1.4 miles south-west). Not far away are Fobney Island Wetland Reserve and Sonning Hill.