Have you ever had a professional chimney sweep clean out your fireplace, and if so, was it a dusty mess or was the dust contained?

I’ve lived in my house for about 20 years, and have never used the fireplace (mostly because I’m afraid of fire). I just painted the living room and had some furniture reupholstered, and this led me to look at the big elephant in the room, the fireplace. I noticed the surround was rusty, and so I bought rust remover and will put it on but am also going to have a chimney sweep come clean out the fireplace and talk to me about any issues going on with it. I want to be able to possibly use it in the future if I so desire, or am also considering having an electric fireplace installed in the space. Before I can do any of that, I figure first thing is to get the pro here and look at it and clean it out.

Have you ever had a fireplace swept out and if so, did it make a dusty mess? They told me on the phone that they use high powered vacuums and it won’t make a mess, but I don’t know if they’re just trying to be euphemistic about it, to get the business.