It’s best to leave this one to the professionals.
“An inspection will find internal and external issues with your system that a homeowner is not trained to identify, whether it is a crack in your chimney liner that you can only see from a certain angle or signs of water damage inside or outside of your flue,” says Zagar.
Only a professional chimney sweep is qualified to inspect and clean a chimney so that it remains safe for use. Not only do they know to look for things that a layperson might miss, but the average homeowner probably isn’t properly equipped to thoroughly inspect their chimney in the first place.
“Today’s technicians are often using camera equipment specifically designed for chimney inspections to inspect the inside of your chimney from the bottom to the top,” explains Zagar.