Nothing beats the traditional warmth and gleaming beauty of orangey embers of a fireplace. If you have a chimney that keeps you cozy during winter, it is imperative to keep it properly maintained, or suffer the drawbacks it can cause a sooty, smelly home to even disastrous creosote fire. The creosote is the greasy liquid, highly volatile byproduct of burning that eventually accumulates in the chimney. Leaving it builds up each day poses a big risk not just to your property but also to your family’s well-being. Having a piece of knowledge on how to do chimney cleaning yourself can not only save you some bucks for the annual professional cleaning but can also safeguard your investment and loved ones.
If you have the right tools and are confident enough to climb up the roof, you can do just fine in cleaning your chimney.
Steps on How to do Chimney Cleaning:
Step 1: Minimize the Mess: Protect Your Interior
Move all the stuff away from the face of the fireplace. Cover the furniture and sensitive items with an old sheet or tarp cloth to keep safe from any debris or airborne dust. Roll up your expensive rugs.
Seal up the fireplace with a piece of sheet plastic enough to cover it fully. Secure it with a painter’s tape or duct tape. Get another plastic sheet to cover the floor in front of the fireplace and tape it in place.
Step 2: Dress Properly.
Wear comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. Cover your hair with a bandanna. Wear protective gloves. Use a dust mask to prevent inhaling the airborne dust and goggles that effectively seals your eyes. With protective gear in place, you can set off for a thorough chimney cleaning.
Step 3: Remove the Grate and Cleanup the Fireplace.
As precautionary, do not work on an open flame as the dust can be flammable. Remove the grate and surrounds, and shovel out ash and debris from the fireplace.
Step 4: Do the Inspection.
Light your way into the smoke chamber using a flashlight. Using a firestick, scratch the surface of the chimney wall. If you got soot with a matte, black finish and measures about 1/8-inch deep or less, then you can set off the chimney cleaning by yourself. If it appears to be drippy and sticky similar to tar, rather shiny and hard, or the build-up is way thicker than recommended, it is better to get a professional chimney sweeper to get rid of the heavy creosote build-up.
Step 5: Remove the Damper to Clean.
Locate the damper in the chimney. Detach it from the chimney to free the way for the brush as you proceed with the chimney cleaning. Clean the damper with a small brush. Set it aside on a drop cloth.
Step 6: Clean from the Top Down
Use the ladder to climb your way to the roof. Use the largest-diameter chimney brush to scrub the chimney, starting from the top and slowly working downwards. Add more extension rod to reach further down. Scrub thoroughly until satisfied. Scrub all the way to the smoke shelf, where the farthest area that DIY chimney cleaning can tackle.
Step 7: Scrub as You Remove the Brush
Do not remove the brush in one go. As you pull the rod attachment upward, lightly scrub in an upward motion. Afterward, you can disassemble the rod and brush and set them aside. Climb your way down the roof and remove the ladder.
Step 8: Clean the Bottom Part of the Chimney.
When the debris and dust already settled, peel off the plastic sheet and wad up the plastic with the enclosed dust and dispose of it properly. Using a smaller chimney brush, scrub the visible areas in the chimney. You can add rods to reach farther up the flue. When done, shovel the pile of soot on the plastic sheet that lies at the bottom of the chimney. Remove all the tools and clear up the remaining debris with a vacuum. Dispose of the soot properly by following the local laws.
Step 9: Reassemble Grate and Surrounds.
Finish things off by reassembling the grade and surrounds. Now, your chimney is winter-ready.
How Often Do You Have to do Chimney Cleaning?
As a national safety standard, it is crucial to have chimneys, fireplaces, and vents inspected annually for any blockage, appropriate clearances, and efficiency check, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Upon thorough inspection, there can be a need for maintenance, cleaning, or repair.
If there’s a considerable amount of soot and creosote build-up in your chimney as much as 1/8-inch, then get started with the chimney cleaning. According to the Chimney Safety Institute of America, as soon as you see a glaze in the flue system, it can be a trigger for a chimney fire that may also spread to your home. Having a regular chimney cleaning can prolong the life of the fireplace since the acidic build-up can eventually corrode and damage its walls if left uncleaned.
When it the Best Time to do Chimney Cleaning?
Before you light your fireplace as the wintertime comes, consider having your chimney inspected or cleaned. So, when is the best time to do chimney cleaning? You don’t really have to wait until fall to the cleanup. You can scrub your way into the chimney wall during the spring, summer, or beginning of spring. Before the weather changes to chilly days, your chimney will be up and running efficiently without a doubt.