A professional chimney sweep will inspect the chimney, give a thorough clean with his brushes and remove debris, not only soot and related dirty material, but also birds' nests, cobwebs, leaves – with the aim to leave your chimney in fine, efficient working order.

it is a heavy rod with metal bristles around the top that are used to sweep down the inside of the chimney. They will put down a drop cloth and use a shop vac to decrease soot levels inside the home.

Using his back, elbows, and knees, he would shimmy up the flue in the manner of a caterpillar and use the brush to dislodge loose soot, which would fall over him and down to the bottom, and a scraper to chip away the solid bits, as a smooth chimney was a safe chimney.