we mostly burn oak, but I can tell you not to burn pine at all if you can help it. That residue can build up in your chimney and start fires, so burning pine requires pretty regular chimney cleanings.

it looks like they are safe and less polluting than wood logs. I can see why you want to use them because of the situation you have stated. I was surprised to find that all the green living sites are saying that artificial logs beat out real logs. I always thought that they were too expensive for me to even consider.

filled with creosote. After going through a couple of chimney fires, which scared the willies out of me, I'd advise you to at least get it checked out. My husband and I lived in a house where we had a wood furnace. It was wonderful, heated the house beautifully when we were there to feed it. Husband decided to check out the vent pipes and found they were completely packed with creosote. The system worked much better after we clean the vents and stopped burning pine.

Also, read up on how to put out a chimney fire, just in case you need to do it.

You can buy a chimney ball--it's big ball with wire spokes that you lower down into the chimney and jiggle it around to loosen anything that is clinging to the sides, like old birds nests and mice nests AND creosote.

All chimneys need regular cleaning, whether you burn wood or not, some more often than others depending on how they're used etc.

If you're able to get on the roof to sweep the chimney from the top safely, you can sweep from the top down, which can be easier sometimes, or if you think the chimney's got a more serious build-up, you can make something that works like the chimney ball you describe (if it's not so serious, you could alternatively use a burlap sack with some chains inside it in the same way I'm about to explain, for instance; holly bushes were a traditional alternative!).

The following assumes the chimney is straightforward in design and doesn't have any kinks in it, in which case I wouldn't recommend it at all and suggest you call in a chimney sweep. I also wouldn't recommend it if the inside of your chimney's degraded, as you risk taking off internal mortar or even dislodging internal brickwork, possibly giving yourself major and potentially expensive problems.

Take whatever precautions you need to stop soot engulfing the room from the fireplace (we have a stove, and it's enough to just remove the throatplate and shut the door).

Get a building brick (the type with up to three holes all the way through). Wrap it in some chicken wire, just enough to envelop the brick with a little overlap, then tie a decent length of rope securely through one of the holes toward one end, binding the chicken wire together as neatly as you can at the top.

Leave the fire unlit for long enough to let the chimney cool down, so it doesn't damage the rope and lose you the brick!

Assuming the chimney's wide enough to lower a brick down (I can't imagine many aren't unless they're stove pipes), you can compress the chicken wire around the brick so it fits snugly but not tightly down the chimney. Lower it gradually, working it steadily up and down as you go to dislodge the crusted-on creosote and soot.

If you encounter an obstruction, take it easy - you may simply have dislodged a bunch of creosote shards that have gathered towards the bottom of the chimney, and there's a danger of tamping that down into a hard pack that you may have problems shifting if you compress it too much. Otherwise, suspect a chimney kink or ledge you didn't know about, or possibly chimney damage.

Once you reckon you've cleared the length of chimney, if it's an old chimney and has only ever been cleaned by brushing, you may be astonished by the amount of debris that comes out of the bottom.

I strongly recommend following this up by rodding or sweeping the chimney with a brush from the bottom, which should clear any collections of debris that might otherwise block the bottom part of the chimney, or could catch fire the first time you start a proper fire again.

Finally, do a smoke test - burn a little paper and maybe something that will produce a short burst of smoke (say some leaves, but not too much in case you have a problem), and see if the draw is satisfactory and smoke readily clears the chimney top. If not, you may still have a partial blockage, so you'll need to run the brush up again.

Don't light the fire again till you're absolutely sure you have a good draw.

chimney cleaner, but it's a great idea. Holly bushes, eh? Guess our pioneer ancestors had to make do with what they had. Even though I no longer have a fireplace/chimney, I plan to put in a few more American hollies just because they are beautiful and the birds like them.

Thank you for some very good advice.

I've been a member since 2009, I just prefer to bite my tongue and read and digest much of the time! Nice to meet you, too.

This was all fresh in my mind as I've just cleaned our chimney in the way I described, hence the screed, and some of the warnings. We'd been sweeping it regularly for years with the traditional brush and poles. This never produced much soot, so we assumed the stove was burning reasonably cleanly, but I don't think it had ever been cleared properly since the house was built back in the 70s, so there was quite a build-up of creosote (not outlandish, but about an eighth of an inch or so - I suspect there may have been minor chimney fires in the past, which is certainly one way to clean a chimney, but definitely not recommended) and we'd had a fall of soot inside the stove recently, so alarm bells rang (not literal ones!).

In the absence of holly bushes, I understand a street urchin can do a fine job if you've a capacious chimney. With the holly bush method, they'd take up a small bush to the chimney top, attach it to a rope, drop the rope down the chimney, then haul away. I could see a few potential hazards with that method, and it must have been quite messy inside.

I have an unlined chimney in my garage with a wood stove. I lowered a stainless steel liner from the top of the chimney and it works great. Once a year I pull the liner out and clean it.