Do It Yourself Chimney Sweeping or Cleaning
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Summary: I have childhood memories of our local chimney cleaner covert and soot and all his equipment on his bicycle. These days are long gone and trying to find any chimney sweep nowadays it is quite difficult. So it's basically up to you to get this to, this is a very messy job but it is very very necessary.
It's important that this is done regularly to help remove to build up of soot and creosote, the reason why it is these can catch fire or even obstruct the airflow of your chimney. If you're not aware this restricted airflow can sometimes cause soot and ash to blow back into your home.
Getting ready
Make sure you cover the mouth of your fireplace with newspaper plastic sheeting whatever you can find. Remove any nearby rugs/matts and if you have any furniture nearby move it back away from the fireplace. Place some sheeting or covering on the floor around the fireplace, make sure you have a dust mask, goggles and gloves to protect yourself from soot, ash and dust.
Hopefully you'll have a steel chimney sweeping brush, and also need rope which should be the length of chimney flue. A good vacuum cleaner will be required if you can get your hands on a heavy-duty vacuum cleaner this would be perfect. A plastic bottle with water is also required which I'll explain why in a moment.
Let's start
Caution is needed here when climbing onto the roof, once at the top and ready to go this is what you need to do. You will be using the plastic bottle with water as a weight, tightest the end of the sweeping brush this is going to be used as a weight. On the opposite and brush you will tie the rope, so simply put more will help pull the brush down the chimney and you will pull back up using the rope.
You will need to do this a number of times until the brush comes up relatively free of any debris. It may take a while for dust to settle before you are able to vacuum the soot that will have fallen into the fireplace.
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