By
eHow Home & Garden Editor
Difficulty: Moderately challenging
Things You’ll Need:
Step1
Buy a set of chimney rods and brushes at the hardware store.
Step2
Change into old clothes and don safety goggles and a dust mask. Lay out a clean tarp in front of the fireplace. Cover the fireplace opening with a plastic tarp held on with duct tape.
Step3
Open the fireplace's damper. This is the metal door up inside the fireplace, located just above the firebox; it prevents cold air from entering your home when you don't have a fire burning.
Step4
Carefully climb up on your roof, taking the rods and brushes with you.
Step5
Remove the chimney cap - sometimes called a spark arrestor - and check it for weather damage. The purpose of the chimney cap is to keep sparks from escaping your chimney. It also serves to keep out rain, small animals and debris.
Step6
Assemble the chimney rods and brushes according to the equipment manufacturer's directions.
Step7
Run the brush down the chimney, using a short up-and-down plunging motion. Some brushes are designed to twist as well.
Step8
Go back inside the house and use a short chimney brush to clean the flue, which is the pipe that runs between the fireplace and the chimney.
Step9
Use a vacuum cleaner or small broom and dustpan to remove the cold ashes and creosote from the fireplace and the damper.
Step10
Brush the floor and walls of the fireplace with a stiff, dry scrub brush.
Step11
Use the brush to clean the creosote built up behind the damper.
Step12
Reach through the damper with a vacuum hose and vacuum the creosote out of the 'smoke shelf,' a cavity behind the fireplace.
Step13
Vacuum up all of the dust and debris.
Comments
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 I have a WoodChuck wood stove and I clean mine by removing the elbow and the first section of pipe that is connected to the stove. My pipe is 22 feet long, so I push and pull the brush and clean the pipe in segments. I have a 5 gallon pail on the floor to catch the mess. Some vacuuming and sweeping is required when done, but not much.
To clean the very top, where the cap is attached, I bolted a paint removing wheel (looks like a wire brush wheel on a grinder) to the end of a section of the cleaning rod and wiggle it around when the it reaches the cap.
I tried cleaning from the roof, but the method described above works much better and there is no chance of falling.
Anonymous said
on 10/1/2007 I have been told by a chimney sweep that instead of using rods, get a chain, and knock it on the sides of the chimney pipe. It may not get everything out, but it will knock the larger buildup off.
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 I've been told by a professional that if I have a reasonably straight pipe from the cap to the wood stove, I can simply close the wood stove doors and sweep down from above. Then I can open the doors and vacuum out the contents. Of course this will not work if the built-in draft of the stove has a lot of twists and turns, but on mine (a Garrison) there is only one steel plate that can be removed.
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 On my stove, at least, I think it may actually be easier to disconnect the chimney piping and clean each segment individually outside on the ground. I'll use such rags or brushes as I have and forgo the expense of the chimney rods. The stove has not been cleaned for many years...
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 I own a chimney sweep company. If you sweep down from the roof, you will blow soot throughout the house. Hire a sweep, or sweep up, controlling the dust from the bottom with a high-powered vacuum.