Cleaning Your Own Chimney Before Winter
One of the projects on the fall to-do list every year is to clean the chimney before winter. We like to do this before the first fire, so we can fully inspect the chimney and make sure there are no cracks, creosote, or bird, squirrel, or hornet nests that may be restricting the airflow of the flue. Chimney maintenance is usually fairly minimal, but they need to be looked over and cleaned out before the heating season begins.
Cleaning the chimney is a fairly simple task, basically consisting of using a wire (or poly) brush to scrape out any loose creosote in the chimney that can be a fire hazard. You also want to check for any cracks or other damage. Failure to clean the chimney (and stove and stove pipe) can result in a dangerous chimney fire, so starting the season off knowing that you’re cleaned out and ready to go gives you piece of mind as you get ready to button down and nestle inside for the cold seasons.
Why don’t you just contract this out?
Most people choose to hire a professional chimney sweep to inspect their chimneys and clean them out. This is a great choice if you don’t feel entirely comfortable doing the task yourself. Cleaning a chimney usually involves getting onto your roof and will require some tools that you may not have. We feel confident in cleaning our own chimney, but it is recommended that you hire a professional. For some good information you can visit this website or the Chimney Safety Institute of America for more in depth information.
Cleaning a chimney is not necessarily hard, and if you are comfortable getting up on your roof it is a simple task that will pay for it self after the first time you do it. Brushes and fiberglass rods can be purchased for under $100 and a professional chimney cleaning service (chimney sweep) will charge you >$200 for something that only takes about an hour or two of your time.
Some Things to Know Before Cleaning Your Own Chimney
Know your flue size - Some chimneys are square, some are round and some are rectangle. You will need a brush of the correct size to properly clean your flue.
Choose your brush type - Plastic or Metal? Generally if you have a clay lined chimney you will want to use a metal, wire brush, but if you have a stainless chimney liner you will want to use a poly (plastic) brush.
Can you clean it from the bottom? - Some houses with fireplaces, or large clean outs can feed the wire brush from the bottom instead of needing to get up on the roof. *Use caution as soot come out of the bottom and makes a mess if your fireplace or wood stove is not closed up.
Usually the chimney is accessed from the roof. The brush is passed down through the flue until the flue is cleaned out usually after 4-8 passes. Use a flash light to verify there are no obstructions and all build up is removed.
Where To Purchase Supplies
We sourced our chimney brushes and custom size stainless chimney cap from Chimney Direct.
About Our Chimney Cap
We really like our custom cap because it bolts to the top of the chimney, instead of just clamping to the flue which can be lifted off due to high winds. Storms only seem to be getting stronger, so investing in something that is not going to fly off and need repair or replacement sounds like a good idea. Being stainless steel, this chimney cap will not rust. The cheap steel caps we started with rusted in just one year and were causing rusty stains on our roof and our beautiful old recycled brick chimney.
This chimney cap is big enough it covers the entire top of the chimney and protects the crown in addition to keeping rain, snow, leaves, water, birds, etc. out of our chimney. One of the best features? The roof of the cap is secured to the sides using wing nuts that you can fasten with your bare hands. This is convenient up on the roof so aren’t trying to monkey around with sockets or finding the right wrenches while trying to keep your balance.
We use a wire brush, fit to the size of our flue, and several fiberglass rods to clean our Chimney
Using a hand held wire brush cleans up the creosote build-up on the chimney cap.
Think you might do some chimney maintenance yourself? Check out the video below, and be sure to do your research before tackling this or any home maintenance.
Learn More and See the Process of Cleaning the Chimney in This Video!
