On Chimney Sweeps and Ladybug Sneaks

Ladybug Stowaways

Today brought us clear blue skies and temps in the mid-seventies. It is one of the nicest days we’ve had in awhile, which is why I spent it cleaning the chimneys and wood stoves. Some of the trees have already shed all of their leaves, although others are still ablaze in color. A warm breeze over our pastures makes me appreciate the phrase “amber waves of grain” from America The Beautiful. It was such a beautiful day that I think many creatures around here, including us, sense the changing of seasons in some primal place in our minds. The picture to the left is of a few ladybugs crawling along our wall trim looking for a place to overwinter. Every window in our house has at least three or four ladybugs on the glass. Our house is under siege as they sneak their way in through every crack. It’s a risky game they’re playing. I could suck 100 of them up with a vacuum in five minutes. But those who make it will be rewarded with a nice warm home until next spring. Like the ladybugs, something winter-like in me clicked on today so I cleaned chimneys. Like the ladybugs, my purpose is to stay warm until next spring.

Cleaning out the chimneys at least twice a year is essential if you want to avoid poorly-drafting wood stoves and fireplaces, and if you want to keep from burning your house down. Last year my brush was too big and got stuck half-way down. It took a good hour to get it to budge. I used the right size brush this year so was expecting things to be easy. And they were – until I began vacuuming up the soot and creosote that had fallen down into the stoves. I forgot that I’d taken the air filter out of the shop-vac last time so I’d remember to go get a new one. Since I was looking in the stove as I turned the shop-vac on it took a minute before I realized that everything I’d sucked up was just blowing out the exhaust and covering our entire kitchen in a film of nasty soot and creosote.

I’d planned on bringing some wood piles up closer to the house after cleaning the chimneys so I could split and stack them over the next few weeks. Instead, I spent the next few hours helping a very understanding wife clean every surface in the kitchen and mop all of the floors. But now it’s time to relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon so wood piles can wait. Unlike the ladybugs who just lay in crevices like spider-bait all winter, I’m able to stack wood twelve months out of the year.

I assume most people with fireplaces know, but just in case…

How to Clean a Chimney:

1. Measure the diameter of the pipe coming out of your roof and buy the appropriate sized brush, along with enough lengths of pole (some brush kits come with poles) to push all the way down the chimney to the damper near the fireplace, or to the fireplace if you have an internal damper.

2. Make sure the fireplace doors are shut and the damper is open.

3. Remove the top plate / cap that keeps water and critters out of your fireplace. Use a steel brush to clean this off.

4. Attach one pole-length at a time to the brush as you push it down the chimney.

5. When you reach the bottom just pull the brush back out. Don’t move the brush up and down like you’re brushing teeth. Go all the way down, then all the way up once or twice.

6. Reattach the chimney cap and climb down.

7. Using a brush and ash-shovel, and a vacuum cleaner or shop vac clean out the wood-stove or fireplace.

If, like us, you have elbows in your chimney pipe it is also important to clean these out. You will probably have to detach the length closest to the stove or closest to the exit in order to do this.

An alternative many people around here use are chimney sweep logs but I don’t know enough about them to know if they are really bad for health or the environment. Maybe it’s something I should look into.

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Category: DIY Projects, The Transplants