Cleaning your own chimney?

We have the wire brush and screw together poles. We take the pipe apart to the ceiling. To go up to the roof we stick the poles through a trash bag and wrap the bag around the pipe and I hold it while hubby runs the brush up and down through the pipe. When he's done, 98% of the ash is in the trash bag. I just tie it up and haul it out. Works great. The other sections we do outside.

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

I also do my own, and as others have said, it's very much a DIY job.

Only caviat I'd mention for that is roof access. If your chimney has a bottom cleanout port, you're fine and can work from the ground. If you've got to go up and work from the roof, be your own judge of your safety up there.

Frequency is a function of burn, but generically yes, you should inspect/clean a few times through the burning season.

Our house has a steep (12-12 pitch) roof. On this house, and on our previous house, I made a ladder of treated 2x4s and 1x4s that is permanently on the roof, hooked over the ridge and running right next to the chimney and down to the eaves where I can get on it with a regular ladder from the ground. That way I can get to the chimney safely no matter what the weather or roof conditions. Makes it safe and easy to check the chimney in nicer weather too. I have heard that some Scandinavian countries require some kind of permanent access to chimneys if the home is heated with wood.

We do ours exactly like Rose does hers. DH on the roof, lowers a rope to me inside. I tie on the brush and he hauls it up slowly. Takes no time at all and we do it every month in the winter.

Since I have a fireplace insert, I tend to knock the stuff onto the TOP of the insert. I then take off the side guards and vacuum or brush out the stuff. And brush off the top of the fireplace insert INSIDE the fireplace (sounds confusing, but the insert is a BOX shoved INSIDE the actual fireplace). I've cleaned my own for 5+ years and haven't had any problems. Wire brush with screwtogether poles. Straight shot from the roof to the top of the insert. Only one story... Good luck!

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Radically conservatively un-biased liberal.

http://whitepinesoapworks.com/

Thanks, folks, for all the input. I believe there is a local store that sells fireplace and chimney equipment, I'll cruise by to see what they have. Now I just have to decide weather to go at it from the top or bottom. I've taken our stovepipe apart once, and it wasn't fun. Then again, breaking my neck after sliding off our metal roof wouldn't be much of a riot either... I particularly like the "pole-through-the-bag" idea, though because we have 10' ceilings, our chimney connecter is rather awkwardly high.

As I've stated elsewhere, I'm pretty persnickety when it comes to the wood I use in our stove, and we virtually always burn it well above 500 degrees in the firebox (so as to engage our catalytic combustor). I'll make a particular effort to burn it nice and hot every now and then just for good measure. Perhaps I really can get away with a once a season cleaning...

cheers, and thanks again!

thebugguy