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Warning: Thought I could knock out a flue cleaning in 2 hours, took me 6 instead
I went to this house in Richmond last Tuesday for what looked like a simple chimney sweep. The homeowner said they used it maybe 5 times a year. I get up on the roof and the flue is packed with this black sticky creosote that looked like tar. My rotary brush just bounced off it. I ended up having to hand scrape every inch of that 20 foot liner. Then I found a bird nest jammed halfway down that I had to pull out piece by piece. My whole afternoon got wrecked and I was late to my next job. Does anyone else run into hidden surprises like this that just blow up your schedule?
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reese55114d ago
22 feet of liner and a nest that looked like it was from the 1980s, I feel your pain. My last "two hour" job turned into a five hour battle with a flue so clogged with creosote I swear it was a solid brick. Had to chip away at it with a scraper and a hammer like some kind of chimney archaeologist. The homeowner watched me the whole time sipping iced tea and asking if I needed a ladder taller than the house. My next job that day had to reschedule, and the guy was not thrilled. Take this with a grain of salt, but I think every flue is secretly hiding a nightmare.
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