If you burn wood to heat your home, keep your house and family safe by having your chimney cleaned every year. What may seem like a task you don't want to mess with, could result in damage to your home or even causing harm to your family. A chimney is not designed to be able to handle the heat from a fire, the chimney is just an area to allow smoke to travel through. Which is why you need to do annual maintenance to keep things in working order. According to the Chimney Safety Institute Of America (yep, it's real)

Dirty chimneys can cause chimney fires, which damage structures, destroy homes and injure or kill people. 

 

The reason you should have your chimney cleaned and serviced every year, is simply to make sure there is nothing blocking the chimney and to make sure everything is in working order. After your final fire of the year when temperatures warm up, birds, squirrels and other pests could make their summer home in your chimney. While they're in there, they could cause damage and block the path for the smoke to exit your fireplace or stove. Which in turn could cause a chimney fire when you build that first fire during the colder months.

There are many chimney cleaning companies all over Wyoming that can come out and take care of your chimney or you can elect to do the cleaning yourself. Having known a professional Chimney Sweep, I've seen how big of a job it could end up being and may be worth it for you to look into getting a pro to stop by.

If you do the job yourself, make sure you're equipped to do the job. The Proper tools are very important, because not every chimney is designed that same. We Love Fire.com goes down the steps and discusses the steps you'll need to take.

Prepare for a mess and cover your flooring and furniture with a drop cloth or sheet.

On the roof, measure the exact size inside the chimney

Buy the proper chimney cleaning brush. Don't get one too small too large, it needs to fit snug. Make sure you get the one that will work for your type of chimney pipe.

Get flexible fiberglass rods to attach to the brush. You'll need to make sure you know the proper height of the chimney and match up with what you need for the job.

Make sure you wear fall proof equipment (harness), eye protection and heavy work gloves.

If you're still determined to do it yourself, here is a DIY video to help you know exactly what to do.

 

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