Cut a hole in my house on purpose

[dodge man]

I’m not sure how much wood I burn, less than a cord of wood a year. Roughly every 5 years I clean mine. I get enough crap out to fill a gallon milk jug usually. Definitely clean your flue.

 

[hosspuller]

I burn about 2-3 cords of wood each season. Chimney is insulated 6 inch SS liner in 8 inch square tile. About 16 feet long. Here's three years of ash swept down. Not a lot of creosote, mostly ash in pipe. It does restrict flow

 

[Oaktree]

I believe I'd have taken out another stud (doesn't appear to be load bearing there) and put in either a door or window. It may be deceiving, but that attic space almost looks big enough for a small room and a window might be quite fitting.
.....
How far out from there is the chimney? Is it along that same roof peak? If so, is it possible to do a catwalk type of thing from there to the chimney?

I probably would have done the same. Even if the space isn't suitable for a room, having natural light in an attic would be nice.
Catwalk sounds like a good idea if the chimney is accessible from that section of roof. Would also give a bit safer place to stand.

To the OP: how accessible is the bottom of the chimney for cleaning? From the picture it looks like stainless steel, might be easier to clean from the bottom, that's what I do though my chimney is external to the house and any creosote/soot that doesn't get caught just goes on the grass. Might be different if it ends in the living room.

My wife will also smolder a fire instead of burning clean....grr.

Yeah, mine too.

 

[jyoutz]

Thanks. Mine is probably 12 feet long. I figured that when winter hits, we burn it so hot that it would burn out anything on the pipe, but since I never looked, or tried to clean it, I really don't know what's in there.

Breyer check and be safe instead of sorry. When I was heating exclusively with wood, I would clean the chimney twice during the season.

 

[Deere Dude]

For fall protection, I wouldn't worry about in much as long as as you keep the tether snug. Not much momentum build up that way.

At work we had a demonstration where 1/2-5/8"rope was over an A-frame structure and a 225# sand bad weight was dropped 6'. The rope snapped immediately.

 

[Jstpssng]

Your setup to get on the roof is way too similar to how I did a swan dive many years ago. The ladder was straddling the peak of the lower roof, I had one leg on the upper roof and the other on a rung when the ladder kicked out. I must have used 8 of my 9 lives up when I hit the ground... I got up and said “*.*”, I’m ALIVE!!!!!
I’m glad to see you utilizing safety equipment.

 

[Alien]

So lucky chimneys are not needed here. Only older homes that had wood stoves may still have them but most are blocked off now.
As a kid in New Zealand we used to have chimney fires now and again. The roar was quite frightening. Dad would soak a wheat sack and climb up and smother the top of the chimney with it.

 

[Jstpssng]

The one time that I had a chimney fire I opened the fire box, touched a fire extinguisher off and put the fire out instantly. The scary part is if you don't have a good chimney, that's when it can spread to the structure.

So lucky chimneys are not needed here. Only older homes that had wood stoves may still have them but most are blocked off now.
As a kid in New Zealand we used to have chimney fires now and again. The roar was quite frightening. Dad would soak a wheat sack and climb up and smother the top of the chimney with it.

 

[dougtrr2]

I heat with wood. I have a wood fired indoor boiler and radiant floors. I was having my triple wall chimney swept every year. The access was precarious. I got fed up with chimney sweeps. I had to call every year to get set up. I never understood why they weren't calling me since they knew I wanted it swept every year.

The final straw was the sweeps free chimney inspection. He pointed out some problems which I could clearly see also. But, he didn't replace chimneys, and couldn't provide any recommendations. So great, you point out an issue and then walk away without solutions.

I replaced the chimney myself. But since the chimney path was in the corner of my garage, I added a TEE. Now I can uncap the tee and sweep up and down without ever going on the roof. Flexible fiberglass rods are great. I have a very good view of the cap from my loft (but precarious access) so I can see there is no build up.

Doug in SW IA

 

[fruitcakesa]

I heat with wood. I have a wood fired indoor boiler and radiant floors. I was having my triple wall chimney swept every year. The access was precarious. I got fed up with chimney sweeps. I had to call every year to get set up. I never understood why they weren't calling me since they knew I wanted it swept every year.

The final straw was the sweeps free chimney inspection. He pointed out some problems which I could clearly see also. But, he didn't replace chimneys, and couldn't provide any recommendations. So great, you point out an issue and then walk away without solutions.

I replaced the chimney myself. But since the chimney path was in the corner of my garage, I added a TEE. Now I can uncap the tee and sweep up and down without ever going on the roof. Flexible fiberglass rods are great. I have a very good view of the cap from my loft (but precarious access) so I can see there is no build up.

Doug in SW IA

I used to climb 2 ladders to get to the chimney then a number of years ago, realized it was a lot easier to pull the elbow off at the furnace and sweep from the bottom. Dohhh