How to Clean a Chimney on Your Own
First of all, you need the proper gear. Because the contaminants you are going to come across are detrimental to your health you need a very good, high quality respirator mask that allows you to frequently replace the cartridges in it, heavy duty gloves that will protect your hands, clothing that you will in no uncertain terms, throw away immediately upon completion of the job, and goggles to protect your eyes. For the cleaning itself you will need polypropylene brushes attached to adjustable poles that will reach throughout the entire length and width of your chimney and flue. If you have a lot of buildup you can purchase a stronger steel-wire brush. Just make sure that the brush you purchase for the job is one that is designed for the job you are doing. You want to make sure that it is tough enough to do the job in its entirety and with great efficiency but that it is also gentle enough that it isn’t going to damage the existing surface.
Second of all you need to prepare your home for this task. The first step for this is to cover any openings that come into your home through the anything that has to do with the chimney or the flue. You want to open the damper on your fireplace as well to make sure soot has a proper place to fall as you are loosening it during the cleaning. Cover the opening of your fireplace with plastic so that soot and debris falling into the fireplace do not enter the home.
Now you need to turn off the any appliance that vents to your flue and unattached the vent pipes coming from them. This includes your furnace and water heater, if applicable.
The best position for cleaning the chimney and flue, is of course from the roof. You must use extreme caution, however, to ensure your safety and the integrity of the roof and its shingles. You don’t want to have any accidents from a height of this nature. Once you are firmly planted on the roof, it is time to brush the flues very well. Now that you are up here, you do not want to do a half-hazard job because you do not want to have to do a repeat performance until the next regularly scheduled maintenance time. Take extra care to brush all debris, dust soot, creosote buildup and other crud from every inch of the chimney and flue. As an aside, while you are up there, it is a good time to check the roof shingles by sight to make sure they are not experiencing excess wear and tear, the condition of the chimney crown, and also to check the flashing that runs up the sides of the chimney from the roof. Once you have brushed as thoroughly as you can, you can carefully climb down from the roof, remembering to take great care not to damage any roof shingles.
You have to give the dust and soot time to settle before cleaning up from the inside of the house. Once you have allowed sufficient time for this you can remove and throw away the plastic covering you have put over the entry of the fireplace. Put newspapers down in front of the fireplace to protect the existing floor. Shovel up the majority of the debris inside of the fireplace into a large heavy, duty black garbage bag that you will immediately seal and take outside to the garbage. Use a commercial grade vacuum with a very fine filtering process to clean up any remaining soot and debris that you could not get with the shovel.
Reconnect any vent pipes on appliances that you have dislodged for this task. Uncover the thimbles and vacuum (with the commercial grade vacuum) any soot sitting in them so that it does not come into your house at a later time.
Immediately empty vacuum and change the filter and discard the filter in your respirator. You can now take off and dispose of your clothing. Shower immediately and thoroughly and be careful where you put your respirator and gloves until they have been properly cleaned prior to storage. Clean your equipment well prior to putting it away. Check the chimney again in about six months to see if it needs cleaning again, but ideally you should not have to perform the task again until about the same time next year.
