How to maintain an older home chimney yourself
Most older home chimney maintenance involves knowing which routine upkeep steps you can handle yourself instead of paying high recurring cleaning fees. Homeowners often look for ways to keep their chimney in good shape and evaluate whether additions like a chimney cap are actually necessary.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Getting a sweep once a year
- 2Buying a steel chimney sweep and cleaning it themselves with a handheld drill
- 3Hiring local contractors to perform the cleaning and inspections
- 4Installing chimney caps and ash pit doors to prevent debris and animal intrusions
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“What all should I do for maintenance? There's a local company that will do a cleaning for $250, but that seems pretty steep for a recurring expense I could probably handle myself.”source ↗
“Also, how much of a difference would adding a chimney cap make?”source ↗
“We're in an older home with a newer fireplace (3.5 years)....wondering how I should make sure the chimney stays in good shape.”source ↗