c/chimney-sweeps

Just noticed my flue tiles got way cleaner after switching brushes

I used to use a standard wire brush for years but switched to a poly brush about 6 months ago. The before and after on soot buildup is night and day with no scratches. Has anyone else seen a difference with poly versus wire on clay flues?

Wasted $200 on a "self-cleaning" chimney cap that did nothing

I bought this fancy mesh cap from a supplier in Ohio that claimed to cut down on creosote buildup by 80 percent. After three months it was completely clogged with soot and I had to take the whole thing down and clean it by hand anyway. Has anyone else had luck with those vortex-style caps or are they all just a gimmick?

That customer who wanted me to sweep their chimney in a tuxedo

I showed up to a job last Tuesday in Portland and the homeowner handed me a tuxedo jacket. Said he was having a formal dinner party that night and wanted the chimney sweep to look classy. I just stood there holding it for a minute, then asked if he was joking. He was dead serious, so I took a picture of him holding the jacket instead and told him I'd wear it for an extra $200. He actually paid it, and I swept the whole thing in that stupid jacket with soot all over the cuffs. Has anyone else had a customer request something completely bizarre like that?

Overheard a 30-year veteran say wire brushes are obsolete and I'm just not buying it

He was pushing those nylon rotary brushes for everything, even heavy creosote, but after 15 years in this trade I've seen too many fluffy brush jobs leave a glaze behind especially on those old clay liners in Seattle winters, so who's actually switched completely and regretted it?

Old school chimney sweeping methods that just work better

I was up on a roof last week in Portland doing a clean on a house built in 1922 and it got me thinking about how much the trade has changed. 3 years ago I was still using the same round brush my mentor gave me back in 2010, but now every new guy I meet has a fancy rotating whip system. Don't get me wrong, those things have their place, but last month I had a job where the motorized setup just couldn't handle the heavy creosote buildup from a wood stove that had been burning wet pine for years. I swapped back to my old hand brush and rods and got it done in half the time with way less mess. There's something about feeling the rods catch every little ridge in the flue that you just don't get with a machine. Has anyone else noticed that the old fashioned methods still beat the new gear on certain jobs?

Appreciation post: The old wire brush method I thought was bunk

I used to laugh at this old timer who swore by scrubbing my brush heads with a wire brush after every job. Told me it'd double their life. Figured he was just stuck in his ways. Then I tried it for a month straight on my stiff bristle brush. That thing is still going strong after 60 cleanings. My last one gave out at 30. Guess I owe him a beer.

Had a Tuesday last month that tested everything I know about sweeping

I was working an old Victorian in Rochester and the third flue had a raccoon nest so packed in I had to pull the brush apart twice to clear it. The homeowner watched me the whole time and kept asking if I was sure I knew what I was doing - that made the day stand out more than the mess.

Broke a vintage brush trying to clean a 1920s flue in Philly

I got called to this old row home in Fishtown last week, and the homeowner wanted me to use his grandfather's original horsehair brush. I figured what's the harm, but that thing snapped clean in half after two passes on the third floor flue. Now I gotta figure out how to tell him without sounding like I wrecked a family heirloom on purpose. Anyone else get roped into using ancient gear on a job?

Opted for a polypropylene brush over steel wire for a heavy creosote job in Denver

Had to choose between steel wire and polypropylene brushes for a big cleanout last month on a rental property near City Park. The poly brush slid through the glazed creosote easier without scratching the stainless liner. Any other sweeps here ever switch to poly and stick with it?

Found out 90% of chimney fires start in the flue, not the fireplace

I was reading through some old NFPA reports last night and couldn't believe it. I always thought most fires were from creosote buildup near the firebox, but the numbers show the flue is where it really gets bad. Found a stat saying over 20,000 chimney fires happen each year in the US and almost all of them are from flue issues. Has anyone else looked into this and changed how you inspect?

Watch out for homeowners who don't mention their 'repair' work

Last Tuesday I showed up at a house in Cleveland to do a routine sweep. The homeowner said he had fixed a crack in the flue tile himself a few months back. When I got up on the roof and looked inside, he had used regular duct tape and some kind of caulk. That tape was already peeling off and blocking the damper halfway. I had to call him up to show him before I could even start the job. Has anyone else run into folks trying to patch their own chimneys with stuff that just doesn't hold up?

That stat about creosote at 1/8 inch surprised me

I was reading the NFPA 211 guide last week and found out that creosote buildup just 1/8 inch thick causes something like 90% of chimney fires. I always thought you needed a thick layer before it got dangerous, but that stat from the Chimney Safety Institute of America really changed my view. Been recommending more frequent inspections to customers in Cleveland since then. Has anyone else seen numbers that made you rethink your routine?

Just found out 90% of chimney fires happen because of creosote buildup under 1/8 inch thick

I was reading through some NFPA stats from 2023 and that one blew my mind. Always figured you needed a thick layer of glazed creosote before things got dangerous. Turns out even a thin film of Stage 1 can ignite if the flue gets hot enough from a big fire. Found it in a report from the Chimney Safety Institute of America. I've been sweeping for 12 years in Cleveland and never realized how tight that margin really is. Has anyone else seen this stat or am I just late to the party?

Nearly set a house on fire before I realized my mistake with creosote logs

I used to think those chemical creosote logs were a substitute for actually scraping the chimney. Last winter after a small flare-up on a job in Austin, a senior sweep showed me the pile of crunchy creosote that still needed manual removal. Has anyone else trusted those logs too much and learned the hard way?

Old timer told me to skip my monthly sweep and it backfired hard

A guy named Hank with 40 years in the business said I was overcleaning and to push it to every 3 months. I listened for about 6 months and then pulled 15 pounds of creosote out of a flue on a job last Tuesday. Customer's liner was half clogged and I felt like an idiot for trusting that advice. Has anyone else had bad luck skipping schedules?

I finally switched from steel brushes to poly ones and wow what a difference

For 8 years I swore by steel chimney brushes, thought the poly ones were just a gimmick. Last month I had a job on a really tight flue up in Westchester and the steel brush kept getting stuck. Grabbed a poly brush from my truck out of desperation and it slid right through. Cleaned just as well too, maybe even better on the soot. Anybody else made the switch and noticed less wear on their rods?

An old mason in Pittsburgh told me I was brushing too hard and it changed everything

The day I found a beehive inside a Victorian flue in Albany

Last spring I got a call from a lady in Albany who said her fireplace was making a weird humming sound. I figured it was just a draft or maybe some leaves stuck in the damper. When I opened it up and ran my camera up the flue, I saw this massive honeycomb built right inside the clay liner. Bees had gotten in through a crack near the roof and set up shop maybe 15 feet down. I had to call a beekeeper to come remove them before I could even start cleaning. Took us two full afternoons to get the comb out and repair the liner. Has anyone else run into wildlife in a chimney that made you rethink your day?

Lost a whole day because my brush system jammed on a creosote log

Creosote log crumbled inside the flue at a job on Elm Street. Made a huge mess. My rotary brush got tangled up in the debris. Took me 4 hours to get it unstuck. Are those logs really worth using or should I just stick to manual scraping?

Tried the poly rope method instead of wire brush on a creosote job last week

Had a heavy buildup in a customer's chimney in Detroit. Normally I'd go at it with a wire brush for an hour. Decided to try a poly rope with a plastic scraper head instead, just to see. Cut the time in half, maybe 35 minutes total, and the debris came off cleaner. Less mess on the floor too. Any of you guys switched methods for tough creosote?

Hot take: 6 months of using a rotary brush and I saw way less creosote buildup than my old standard wire brush ever gave me.

Switched after a job in a 1920s house where the flue was so tight my regular brush kept jamming. Has anyone else found rotary heads actually cut down on how often you need to scrape?

Warning: Found out my brush length was way off after 12 years of sweeping

I was reading through an old trade manual from 1987 that my mentor left me, and it said the bristle length on a chimney brush should be exactly 1.5 times the flue diameter, not just whatever fits. Measured my flue today, it's 10 inches, and my brush has 8 inch bristles, so I've been missing the corners for over a decade. Anyone else ever check their brush specs against the actual flue size?

Tried both a standard brush and a poly brush on a heavy creosote job yesterday

The poly brush cut through that glazed creosote in half the time and left way less mess behind. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a real difference?

I finally switched from wire brushes to rotary tools for flue cleaning

I spent 15 years thinking rotary brushes were just a gimmick for rookies. Tried one on a heavy creosote job in an old house built in 1923 and it cut my time down by half with way less mess. Anyone else have a tool they were late to adopt?

That magnetic sweep cover I rigged up saved me 20 minutes on a job in Lansing last Tuesday

I got tired of fishing soot out of the firebox bottom with a hand brush so I taped a rare earth magnet to the inside of the sweep cover plate and now I just pop it off and dump the debris into a bag in seconds - has anyone else tried a magnet trick like that?