chimney sweep

Just wondering how many of you guys do your own chimney sweeping. Il be getting my first stove this summer before the comming fall. I have read an article about cleaning your own chimney and it doesn't seem all that hard but others have been telling me im better off getting a pro to do it. Seems like a waste of money to pay someone else to do something that can be done yourself.

I swept my own last year after purchasing a brush and rods. I got the brush down my chimney about 12 feet and could not budge it. I was wishing I had hired a chimney sweep but I eventually was able to clear my chimney the next day , long story but it involved a hand grinder and a few rods and duct tape.

I would say run a smaller brush down the chimney first or a chain.

+1 . . . In my own case it's a 5-10 minute job. I remove three screws and a cap from a T outside . . . run my brush up through from the ground up and in a few minutes the chimney is clean.

How about making a poll to see how many sweep their chimneys vs hiring it done? As for us, we've always done our own.

I do mine. Some can be hard to do. Since it's a regular maintenance item get the rods and brush and save the cost every time you do it. I wonder how many people that pay to have it done don't do it as much as it should be done.

Hired a sweep the first time and shadowed him. Did it myself last time (1/2 season, after 1 cord).

Easy access flat roof and a straight run chimney down through the connector into two 30deg elbows in the stove pipe. Doesn't get much easier than that.

I do it myself during the season, but usually call in a sweep once a year to do a double check as I clean from the bottom up. I refuse to go on my 10 pitch roof where the peak is over 30 feet off the ground.

I hired a sweep the first time, watched & learned. Cost me $100, which I thought was worth the education. I learned how the stove came apart & went back together, and how the ash came down the flue.

I hired the sweep the second time, to make sure that I had everything down, and he charged me $250 for the same job. Guess it was busy season.

The next day I bought the brush (Home Boy Depot was out of rods, and I still don't have them, after 4 years). We put the brush on a chain (triple clipped), and fling the chain down first, it loosens a lot of "fluff", then pull the brush down with the chain, then up with the chain a few times. we have a bit of a "tug" issue when it gets to the slight bend of pipe on the PE at the top of the insert, but other than that, it's fine. The 13 is a straight run, so it's easy peesey.

It works for us.