Chimney cleaning safety

[mattjm1017]

I have a 21' tall exterior chimney and Im getting ready to clean it and have some questions. I can clean from the bottom up but would like to get up to the top and clean the cap and screen so here's my question. I don't have a ladder tall enough to get to the top. I do have a ladder that can get me to the roof and from there the chimney is another 10 or so feet up. Is it ok to lean the ladder from the roof to the top of the chimney? Are there any safety concerns here or things I should look out for? Also am I just over thinking this whole thing should I forget about going up top and just do a bottom up cleaning and be done with it?

 

[WellSeasoned]

My roof is mostly flat where my chimney comes out, so the ladder sits flush. I pesonally would not lean a ladder on the chimney to clean it. Lets see what others have done.....

 

[NortheastAl]

There are times it is better to call a chimney sweep. This may be one of them. It isn't worth risking injury or death by using a ladder against a chimney. JMO

 

[webby3650]

For a situation like this some kinda special ladders are needed. No a must I guess but better. I lean ladders against chimneys almost everyday. I use a single section of an extension ladder that has leg levelers and rubber feet. Unless that chimney is seriously de-lapitated, there is no real issue here. It outweighs you be a thousand pounds or more.

You could clean it from the bottom and just inspect the cap with a set of binoculars.

 

[NortheastAl]

You could clean it from the bottom and just inspect the cap with a set of binoculars.

I use binos to check mine. Works great.

 

[mattjm1017]

I can look at it with binos but what if I need to do something to it? I gather its ok to lean a ladder against the chimney but maybe not necessarily from the roof it would be better to do it from the ground.

 

[BrotherBart]

The pitch of a roof makes it real hard to lean a ladder level against a chimney. Unless you have leveling legs on the ladder.