Measure your chimney flue.
How to clean your chimney from inside.
When you clean your own chimney you accomplish three things.
Also wear protective equipment such as a dust mask and eye protection while cleaning a chimney.
First you remove the creosote that has built up on the inside of the chimney walls.
First take a good look at the inside of the flue.
How to clean your chimney.
If you find a 1 8 in.
Drop cloths and plastic tarps to seal off the area from all the dust protect yourself with the appropriate gear protective goggles a dust mask a sturdy ladder and purchase the right types of chimney brushes for the job.
There isn t a simple rule of thumb on how often to clean your chimney such as cleaning after 50 uses or one year.
Determine the size and shape of the flue.
How to clean your chimney.
To save yourself the time of cleaning up a mess later take proper steps to protect the inside of your home think.
You can clean a chimney top down from the roof or from the bottom up inside the house.
A quick way to tell if your chimney needs cleaning is to run the point of your fireplace poker along the inside of your chimney liner.
The chimney should be cool and no fire should be present.
If the chimney has not been cleaned in a long time it is wise to have a chimney sweep do the first cleaning.
Chimney sweeps may see 40 to 50 chimney fires a year and more than half of the chimneys they service require.
Or more layer of buildup the thickness of a nickel call a chimney sweep.
To clean your chimney you ll have to use properly sized tools.
Stay safe by practicing good ladder safety and by having an assistant monitor you when you are on the roof.
Why clean your own chimney.
You could also climb up a ladder and measure it from the top.
If you re not experienced working on the roof of a house or if your roof is particularly steep hire a professional or consider the bottom up method of cleaning the chimney from the fireplace.
You may choose to call in a chimney sweep or clean the chimney by yourself.
But it s still an important task as a smoky fire without enough oxygen emits lots of unburned tar vapors called creosote that can condense inside the fireplace flue and stick to it possibly leading to a chimney fire.
It will be either square or round 6 or 8 determine the height of the chimney.