How To Clean A Chimney Without A Brush (8 Easy Steps)

Nothing brings in the joy of a holiday season like sitting in front of a roaring fireplace, and if you haven’t already, now is the perfect time to clean your chimney before Santa Clause comes sliding down and tramples soot all-around your home.

If you are also planning on cleaning your chimney this holiday season by yourself then you must check out our easiest way How To Clean A Chimney Without A Brush and do the same for best results.

Using a brush to clean your chimney is traditional and easy but what if you don’t have one right at that time. But if you know how to make one and mess-free way to clean your nasty chimney this will be a nice workout for you.

Why Do You Need To Clean Your Chimney?

Cleaning your chimney is an essential part of keeping your home safe for the winter months, and that’s because as you use your fireplace to burn wood for warmth or just for seasonal atmosphere, a highly flammable, tar-like substance called creosote begins to build upon the inside of your chimney walls.

Over time this build-up can ignite and burn at over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, which can be extremely difficult to extinguish and quickly spread to other areas of your home. In fact, on average there are over 25,000 chimney fires every year leading to over $125 million in property damage.

Tools To Clean A Dirty Chimney

Fortunately cleaning your chimney isn’t a super challenging task, and it’s something that most homeowners can tackle on their own if they choose to and have the right tools to do the job perfectly. The tools that you’ll require to do this job are:

Chimney wall scrapper
A rug
Safety tools
A sweeping brush
Plastic sheet
Shop-vac
Ladder
Step ladder (optional)
Screwdriver
Flashlight / GoPro/ action camera

How To Clean A Chimney Without A Brush

The cleaning hack we are going to explain here isn’t too difficult, but it takes a little bit of time, can get a little messy, requires you to get on your roof, and has a few basic tools to knock it out.

Step 1: Get A Sweeping Tool

Cleaning your chimney should be done when you have not had a fire in the fireplace for a while. The first thing you need to purchase is some kind of sweeping tool or make one with newspaper or rug if you do not have a chimney sweeping brush. But these brushes can make your work much easier.

Now go to your roof and measure the diameter of your chimney flue or the liner to make sure the sweeping tool you are using fits. Try to buy one that can be attached to the end of a drill.

Step 2: Cover Your Fireplace

Next, you have to use a plastic sheet and tape to tape off the fireplace area or make sure that your wood stove is closed and sealed. This process creates a lot of dust flying around, and you don’t want all that ashes around into your home. You also have to add a shop vac hose into the sealed fireplace area to help collect any flying dust.

Ep 3: Get Up On Your Roof

From there, you’ll need to get up on your roof, so make sure that you can do that safely with a ladder. It becomes a little more difficult if you have a steeper-pitched roof So make sure that you take the necessary safety precautions so that you can access the roof and the chimney safely.

Depending on how high up your chimney sticks up out of your roof, you may need an additional stepladder or stool to get to the top of the chimney.

Step 4: Remove The Chimney Roof

Once you’re on the roof, take out the chimney cap. Typically they are installed with just a few screws to hold them in place. If you don’t have a chimney cap in place, you should purchase one.

They prevent birds and other animals from nesting or climbing down the flue and getting stuck and they also keep other debris out like leaves and branches or things that can cause a blockage which is potentially problematic down the line. Use a flat head s screwdriver to pull out the screws.

Step 5: Inspect Your Chimney

Now use a flashlight to shine down the chimney and see what you’re dealing with. You can also use a GoPro or an action camera for this job. This way you can inspect if there is any obstruction or damage inside your chimney walls.

Step 6: Assemble Your Cleaning Gears

Now assemble your cleaning gears like attach a rug or newspaper to a pole if you do not have a sweeping brush. When you’re done assembling wear your safety glasses and gloves on hand so that you protect yourself from any debris and potentially any carcinogenic dust.

Step 7: Sweep The Chimney Walls

Now insert a sweeping rug attached to a rod down the chimney and go to the length of your chimney liner. it’s easier to start at the bottom of the chimney and work your way up, but it doesn’t matter how you do it.

Just work your way through the entire liner and make sure that you clean it thoroughly. Once you think you have it nice and clean, install the chimney cap and your work is done on the roof.

Step 8: Final Cleanout

Allow the dust to set for 30-minutes into the firebox. Locate the chimney clean-out door and use a shovel or scoop to remove the larger debris and vacuum the whole area to get the smaller dust and you are good to go.

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Final Verdict

When you’re done cleaning you can add a fireplace door if your want to enhance the beauty and complete your work. So this is the detailed way of How To Clean A Chimney Without A Brush.