If you use your wood-burning fireplace often, you will probably want to clean your chimney about once a year.A sign of this would be smoke building up inside your home—if the chimney is blocked, the smoke will find somewhere else to go.Your tools for chimney cleaning,If your chimney has bends in it, make sure to get a brush with a flexible neck.this is a dirty job. You’ll want to wear something that you don’t mind possibly throwing out later.Don’t try directly vacuuming out your chimney, you’ll just clog your vacuum and end up shooting all the dust and soot into the air.You will be working on both ends of your chimney, so be prepared with a ladder or a safe route to your roof via a window.You will be brushing and scrubbing the inside of your chimney with brushes. This means that all the debris and build-up will be flaked off and fall into the fireplace.Be aware that the long pole and attachments may be heavy. Know your own strength. Also, be sure that you don’t drop the pole or anything else down the chimney. You are trying to clean out obstructions, not add them.The lip is especially important because it may have collected ash during the scrubbing process.