The day I realized I was over-scraping flues for years

I was up on a job in Nashville last March, working on this old Victorian with a real heavy creosote glaze. My mentor's son was helping me and he asked why I was scraping down to bare brick when we only needed the loose stuff off. I just stared at him for a second. I've been doing this since 2015 and nobody ever told me you could damage the tile liner by going too aggressive with the metal brush. Now I'm wondering if half my past clients got worse service because I was stripping their flues raw. So which side are you on - scrape it clean down to the bone or just knock off the crunchy bits and call it good?

3 comments

3 Comments

holly_flores7925d ago

Scrape it clean down to the bone" is the phrase that got me. I've been there too. I used to go HAM with the wire brush thinking cleaner was ALWAYS better. Then a old timer told me I was basically sanding the liner smooth which makes new creosote stick HARDER. Now I just knock off the crunchy stuff and leave the glaze alone unless it's flaking bad. Less is more for sure.

reese55125d ago

Yeah but if you don't get it all you're just asking for a chimney fire later.

betty_fisher525d ago

“Asking for a chimney fire later” really hit me... I used to think sweeping it myself was good enough but now I see I was being lazy about it. @reese551 you changed my mind for sure.