Anybody ever chimney swept?

6BangBronk

6BangBronk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Location
Durham
Heading up to my Grandmother's for T-giving and she mentioned the guy that sweeps her chimney charges her $150 and has put her off for weeks now. Seems steep to me. Alot of people out to take advantage of old folk now days. Thought I might give it a shot? Never even imagined doing one before? Any advice on doing it myself? Specialty tools? Procedures?
It's a one story house, no pains to get to chimney, does that price seem fair?

Thanks...
 
We used to do ours when I lived at home. Parents had a fireplace insert stove. Cleaning the chimney was easy, cleaning all the crap out from behind the stove was kinda a pain, but I would have done it myself before I even paid 75$. My dad got the brush and fiberglass handle 20 or so years ago, so no telling what one cost now.
 
^^^Ditto!^^^

Our folks heated with wood for the majority of the time I lived at home (huge Fisher woodstove). The chimney would literally get full over the heating season. Dad welded a huge nut to the top of a 30# "tank bar" w/ 30' of boat rope and used it to bust the larger chunks. Seems like he got a HF/NH (cheap) quality poles/brush set for the rest...

And double Ditto what Jim said about the mess at the bottom! We shoveled/scooped the majority out and finished up with a shop vac., but this was in an unfinished basement

If the fireplace is in a finished (read: nice) area of the house... SEAL THE OPENING GOOD (plastic and ducktape) BEFORE YOU START! If you don't, a thick black dust will settle on EVERYTHING! The guys getting $150/sweep usually have some huge ducted fans to keep that crap off your Granny's antique sofa! ;)
 
This site rules!:flipoff2: A Jack of every trade... Open for more input! Definately thought about the plastic / tape thing. I just felt $150 seemed high especially if it only takes a day and no expensive tools.
I think my main concern would be if someone who has never even looked down a chimney could do this task? Seems straight forward as can be though. I can do about every other trade in the world but never did chimneys and don't know anybody that has...
:beer:
 
As mentioned above, i sweep my stove pipe on my fireplace insert.

I bought the stuff 4-5 years back from Lowes/HD

4" (i think) Brush was like $15
and fiberglass poles were $5-8 each..


I tape off the inside with newspaper, then I climb up on the roof and shove it down there a few times. My pipe is SS and in good shape so its easy to see if I got most of it as i can see the shiny parts inside..

I do it yearly even though I don't use the FP only 10 times a year tops..

When I'm done I vaccume out the crud in side..

Warning: If there has been a recent fire in the fireplace. DO NOT use a vacuum cleaner (or make sure its designed for fireplaces) as it can ignite any hot embers and start a fire inside the cleaner..
 
yager said:
Warning: If there has been a recent fire in the fireplace. DO NOT use a vacuum cleaner (or make sure its designed for fireplaces) as it can ignite any hot embers and start a fire inside the cleaner..
Click to expand...


wow, never would've thought about that! makes damn good sense! good pointer.
 
I imagine a stiff brush? Not like wire brush stiff but close? I think the rest is pretty self explanitory. Just didn't know if chemicals were involved but I take that as a no?
 
6BangBronk said:
I imagine a stiff brush? Not like wire brush stiff but close?
Click to expand...

IIRC, the brushes are actually wire of various gauges to get stiff, med, "soft"... you'll need them sized to fit snuggly in the size pipe you have, be it terracotta or doublewall vent pipe...


6BangBronk said:
Just didn't know if chemicals were involved but I take that as a no?
Click to expand...

There may be some "pro" chemicals these days, but I doubt any of the pro's would mess with them given liability & storage/disposal hassles...

We never worried about hot sparks/embers as the stove contained all that. The creosote accumulation in the 6"sq terracotta chimney flue was very heavy most of the time... but that was with the Fisher fired for 4-5 months straight. I think most of that was due to to the drafts being shutdown during the day to keep it from burning all the wood up in an hour = more smoke than heat out the pipe?

In a std. fireplace (that's been swepted annually), you'll likely encounter just a bit of black soot w/ no creosote (unless pine is the primary wood?)...
 
Hasn't been fired since last season and only hardwood. Cleaned annually as well.
I imagine I can get everything I need from any Home Improvement store and just ask the right dude for assistance. If anyone in Raleigh or between here and Tennessee wants to rent a set of brushes and a handle out, I'd gladly pay ya 10 or 15 bucks compared to buying everything and return it this weekend.
 
Jermey, Your welcome to barrow my stuff, I've got ~6 handles (i think) @3' each.. I normally don't even use all of them..

You can take my brush and if its the right size your welcome to use it.. If not swing by the local HD and pick up the correct size end.. (Note: don't try forcing the wrong size brush down the tube...
 
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