Chimney Crisis - Please help!

I have a chimney full of dead birds - I mean 8 feet of the chimney is full of dead birds. I mean literally 100's of birds. Any idea how to clear it out?

Background - We bought a house in foreclosure that has only had 2 owners.

The owner/builders dropped an 8 inch well casing down the clay lining. It is about 20 feet of chimney that runs straight to the basement. They also fixed bolts on the top of the chimney and attached a metal plate that floats about 6 inches off the chimney as a roof for the chimney.

The last owners never burned wood and left the cap off the chimney for about 20 years!

I have lived with a wood stove for 20 years. My dad has lived with a wood stove for 50+ years. We are not experts but we know a lot about chimney care.

Here is what we have done thus far:

1) We tried to brush the chimney but soon realized it was completely stopped up. (We first thought it was cemented closed.)

2) From the basement, I could reach up the chimney for a few feet. I pulled out a maybe a gallon of soot and then started the dead birds.

3) We have tied off metal poles, sledge hammer heads, 20 lb. pry bars and threw them down the chimney to break it up.

4) I pour 5 gallons of water down the chimney.

5) My dad started throwing a tied off 2 inch metal pipe down the chimney. The pipe digs down a few inches into the bird remains.

** One friend recommended Draino crystals, but that is some pretty nasty stuff. I plan tomorrow to possibly pour 1/2 gallon of medical grade hydrogen peroxide (35%). The stuff that burns flesh.

In all, we have cleared out about 4 gallons of dead birds from the chimney. Based upon what we can measure. We have about another 8 or so gallons of remains.

I am open to any suggestions.

My dad and I talked about that, but the way the land and chimney lie, we would need a lot of line. Maybe 75 feet from the ground. We started laughing when we talked about trying to haul a rooter onto the roof only to watch it bounce around all over the place.

That is a good idea. I don't know how much "head pressure" a rooter can get. We probably need to push about 12 or so feet from the ground.

Anyone know how much stress a thimble can take?

If we take a rooter up the chimney, the clay and flashing are probably going to get busted up a bit.

laynes69 said:

Ideally if using a drain machine, you would want pressure to push everything down. Unfortunately, it's a chimney and not a drain so any liquid would become messy. The idea of chopping and sucking things out might not be a bad idea. Run a machine in bursts, then remove the remnants. I have an old snake from the 30's or 40's that's a flat ribbon on a spool. I bolted a sharpened curved cutter on it and it's done wonders. If using a drain machine, don't let the cable twist or bind. They can be very dangerous. The more pounding on the birds, the tighter the plug. Bottom up sounds like the best idea.

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Good point about tightening up the plug. We do have an old flat ribbon hand snake that I borrowed from my uncle. It works great for drains.

Oregon aloha said:

I rented a power snake with a circular saw blade that cut through the roots in out drain tile but didn't seem to do any damage to the clay tile. Maybe something like that might work. WOW what a issue to deal with.

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That is a good idea and I am glad to hear it did not cause any damage.

I appreciate everyone's ideas. It will probably be this weekend before I can work on the chimney again. Thankfully, it is staying pretty mild and space heaters are knocking off any chill.

Joful said:

I'd hire someone who does $90 chimney cleanings. "Can you guarantee it will be clean when he leaves?" "Yeah, I think there's a couple birds in there."

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Thanks. That made me laugh out loud. Nearest pro is probably 100 miles away. If the pro gets a call from someone out in the sticks, then they probably know there is a real problem.

DMB said:

Man...this must be the stuff Santa just won't talk about.

This might sound crazy, but if you really can't see the problem really well you could rig up an old camcorder with a light on it. Send it down on a rope and try to get a better idea of what your dealing with. Kinda like a cheap redneck version of a plumbing inspection camera. Of course you might need to be comfortable with parting ways with the camera when your done.

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Maybe I should just give Santa a call. I guess this means the former residents must have been pretty naughty cause he has not slid down that chimney in a long long time.