Is It Safe To Clean Your Own Chimney?

10/01/21

Keeping your chimney clean is a vital part of protecting your home from fire risk. Yet, it is an expense, and sometimes homeowners are tempted to avoid the cost by tackling the job on their own. Cleaning your chimney on your own without the help of a professional could be a dangerous thing to do. Before you climb up the ladder and attempt to do your chimney cleaning, consider these risks.

It’s Easy To Fall

Cleaning a chimney requires getting on a ladder and up on a roof. A fall from the roof can have devastating, even fatal, effects. Doing your own chimney cleaning is a risk you may want to leave to the professionals who have the proper harnesses and safety equipment to get on the roof and walk across it safely.

Soot Is Messy

Another reason you may want to hire a professional to deal with your dirty chimney is the soot in the chimney. Scrubbing soot out of the chimney can lead to soot in your home. Professionals have the right tools and cleaning materials to protect your home against clouds of black soot. This is the protection you want because once soot gets into your home, you’ll be hard-pressed to get rid of it. It also can lead to more costly cleaning bills than you would have had if you had started with a professional.

Professionals Know What To Look For

You may think that the only role of a pro when cleaning your chimney is cleaning, but these pros also look for problems that could lead to issues with the structure and function of the chimney later on. For example, if you continue using a chimney with a cracked flue, you could end up with smoke or fire inside your home. These are problems that most homeowners aren’t trained to spot.

Along these same lines, professionals are trained to know how to spot dangerous creosote buildup. There are around 21,000 chimney fires every year, and many of these come from creosote. Removing creosote requires professional cleaning, and the average homeowner may not be able to tell the difference between normal soot and creosote.

Professionals Have the Right Tools

Finally, trusting a professional with your chimney cleaning means the job gets done more thoroughly because pros have specialty tools to reach all areas of your chimney. A flue brush, noodle brush, long-handled brush, and similar tools can clean those hard-to-reach spots that you could not access if doing the job on your own. Specialized cleaning chemicals can more easily remove soot and creosote.

As you think about protecting your house, keeping your chimney clean should be at the top of your list. While you may be able to tackle routine spot cleaning on your own, scheduling professional cleaning a few times a year will ensure a deeper clean and heightened protection.

Reach out to Chimney.com, your DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia chimney experts. Contact us today to schedule a chimney cleaning service.