Time To Clean: Come spring, cleaning the chimney is very important for your kitchen. A thorough cleaning of your chimney is all the more recommended after a long winter of frying and barbecuing. The initial cost of purchasing a brush and the rods for cleaning your chimney will depend on the size of your flue and the height of your chimney.

Cost Cutting: A chimney sweep can set you back heavily. The amount of effort you have to put in is entirely dependent on the height of the chimney and how dirty it is. Once you have purchased the brush and rods the rest of your chimney sweeping only requires some elbow grease and hard work instead of paying for a cleaning.

On your way up: The hardest part of the job is getting out the ladder. Once you have dug the ladder out of the garbage you are on your way. Don’t forget to take a tape measure, pen and paper up there with you, (there is nothing worse than getting back on the ground and forgetting what the dimensions of your chimney were).

Remove caps: Now that you are on the roof if you have a chimney cap remove it. Some chimney caps can be easily be removed by loosening four thumb screws at the base. Some chimney caps are permanently mounted and the screws are on the lid.

A good brush: The double spiral brush contains more bristles which will give you more surface contact. This is good device for moderately cleaning the soot. A single spiral brush with fewer wires is great for the quick sweep when there is just a light dusting of soot.

Vacuum: Slowly and very carefully remove the plastic sheet from the opening of the fire-place. Then begin with vacuuming inside to get all the soot and dust out. One should use a shop vacuum with a fine filter so that the dust does not get inside your home.