c/chimney-sweeps

Spent $80 on a soot-eater drill attachment and it paid off in one job

I bought one of those rotary soot-eater kits from the supply house in Akron after a customer with a wood stove had about half an inch of creosote buildup. Hooked it to my drill and cleaned that whole flue in 20 minutes instead of an hour with brushes. Anyone else use these things or do you stick to the old way?

That $200 power sweeper attachment was a total dud for me

Bought one of those rotary power sweeper heads off Amazon for my drill about 6 months ago thinking it'd save time on heavy creosote jobs. First use on a chimney in Portland and the plastic connector snapped clean off after maybe 10 minutes. Ended up going back to my regular wire brush and elbow grease like always. Has anyone else had better luck with a different brand or are these things just junk?

Rigid vs. Poly Pro brushes was a game changer for me

Used a standard poly pro brush for years and kept fighting with stubborn creosote on clay liners. Switched to a Rigid brand wire brush last month and the difference was night and day. The wires grabbed better and I didn't have to go over the same spot three times. Anyone else find a particular brush style that works best for heavy buildup?

Warning: I paid $380 for a telescoping rod system and it either saved my back or wasted my money

Pro tip: Is it better to sweep from the top down or bottom up?

I've been on jobs where other sweeps swear by starting at the roof and working down, but I've always done it bottom up. Last week in Denver, I tried it the other way on a tricky clay liner and ended up with soot everywhere. Maybe it depends on the flue type or how dirty it is. What do you all do when you run into a heavy creosote build up?

Switched from wire brushes to poly brushes for clay flue tiles

Did a job out in Springfield last week where the wire brush kept catching on rough tile, swapped to a heavy poly brush halfway through and finished the whole stack in 20 minutes. Anyone else run into this with older clay liners?

Just spent $200 on a magnetic sweeping tool and it cleared a chimney flue in 10 minutes flat

Bought this magnetic rod setup from a supply house after fighting with a stuck damper for two hours, and honestly it saved my back and my sanity - has anyone else tried one of these things or am I just late to the party?

Just realized my brush was the problem after a job in a 1920s house

I was out in Oak Park last Thursday on a routine sweep for an older couple. Their flue was so narrow I could barely get my standard 8-inch brush through it, took me almost an hour to get it clean. Turns out the original clay liner was actually only 7 inches wide, so my brush was scraping and jamming the whole time. Anyone else run into weirdly sized flues in older homes and have to swap brushes mid-job?

Warning: I saw a chimney go from clean to clogged in 3 months after a DIY creosote log

Used to sweep a house every spring for this guy in Denver. Customer decided to try one of those chemical logs instead of calling me last fall. Went back this week to do his annual and the flue was packed with this flaky, sticky black stuff. Took me twice as long to scrape it out. He said he used the log like the box said. Anyone else seeing these things cause more buildup than they fix?

Finally chose brush over vacuum attachment for my hardest job

Last Tuesday I had a really stubborn creosote buildup on a job in an old house downtown. I had to pick between using my rotary brush kit or just trying the vacuum attachment with some hand tools. I went with the brush because the flue was too narrow for the vacuum hose to get a good seal. It took me about 45 minutes of scrubbing, but I got all of it out with zero mess inside the house. The customer even said it looked cleaner than when the house was built in 1927. Has anyone else had a job where one tool just works way better than the other?

Overheard a guy at the supply house say he's skipping firebox repairs for 'next season'

I was grabbing some refractory cement yesterday in Columbus and heard a sweeper tell his buddy he's patching a cracked firebox with just mortar to get through winter. He said 'it'll hold til spring' and laughed it off. How do you even respond to that without starting a fight?

Just realized I've been using the wrong brush size for years

I always grabbed a 7-inch brush for everything, thinking bigger meant faster. Then a guy on a job in Cleveland pointed out I was missing half the creosote in tight corners because my brush was too wide. Has anyone else found that a smaller brush actually does a better job on certain flues?

Thought I could squeeze a quick clean in before lunch. Took 4 hours.

Had a single flue that looked straightforward from the ground but the creosote had built up into a hard glaze near the top. Spent forever chipping it out with a hand tool instead of just using the rotary brush from the start. Anyone else ever get humbled by a "quick" job?

Soot fell straight into my eyes while cleaning a double-flue on a steep roof in Pittsburgh last Thursday

I was leaning over the crown trying to reach the second flue and a clump of loose soot dropped right past my goggles, had to finish the job basically blind and then spend 20 minutes flushing my eyes out with bottled water from my truck, has anyone found a better way to keep debris out when you're in a weird position?

Honestly, I used to think those old clay flue tiles were basically bulletproof until a job in the old district last Tuesday.

My uncle told me to always double-check the flue liner on a 1920s house

He said the old clay tiles can crack behind the smoke chamber and you won't see it from below. Did a job in Tacoma last week and found a 3-inch gap exactly where he said it would be. What's the best way you guys explain that kind of hidden damage to a homeowner?

I used to think a basic brush was fine for everything, but a tough creosote job in an old farmhouse near Madison changed my mind.

The old brush just pushed the glazed creosote around, but when I switched to a rotary whip, it broke everything up in about half the time. The difference in how clean the flue looked was night and day. Has anyone else found a specific tool that made a huge difference on a certain type of job?

Switched from a basic brush to a rotary whip for a tough creosote job

I had this one house in Springfield with a chimney that hadn't been cleaned in maybe 15 years. The creosote was like tar, and my regular poly brush just wasn't cutting it, it was taking forever. After two hours of scraping, I was only halfway up. So I went and got my SootSweeper rotary whip head, the one with the chains. Put it on my drill and went back up. The difference was crazy. What took me two hours of hard work before, I finished the rest of the flue in about 20 minutes. The chains just shattered that glazed stage 3 creosote into dust. It was a total game changer for those really bad jobs. I'm never going back to just a brush for the heavy stuff. Anyone else have a go-to tool for breaking through that rock-hard buildup?

An old man in Boulder showed me his 40 year old brush

I was cleaning his chimney last fall and he pulled out this huge, worn out wire brush from his garage. He said 'Son, this thing has seen more soot than you've seen days' and told me he used it on his first job back in 1983. It made me think about how tools have changed. What's the oldest piece of gear you guys still use or have seen?

Pro tip: I swapped my old drop cloth for a zippered containment bag after a job in Spokane

The homeowner's white sofa was ten feet from the hearth, and my old method just wasn't cutting it. Anyone else made a switch like that after a specific scare?

That time a squirrel nest in a Portland flue almost got me

I was cleaning a chimney on a house in the Laurelhurst area and found a huge squirrel nest blocking the whole thing. My old boss always said to just poke it down, but this one was packed tight with leaves and junk. I ended up using a shop vac with a long hose from the top to suck it all out piece by piece, took about an hour. Anyone have a better method for a nest that's really wedged in there?

Update on the new synthetic brush fibers I tried in a damp flue

They don't scrub creosote as well as the old boar bristle ones, and I had to go back over a job in Burlington twice. Has anyone found a good modern alternative that actually works?

Pro tip: check the flashing on those new builds in the Westgate subdivision

I was doing a cleanout on a 2-year-old house over there and the silicone seal around the chimney base was already cracked and pulling away. The homeowner had no idea water was getting in behind the brick. What's the best sealant you guys have found for that specific spot?

Appreciation post: The old timer who showed me a better way to clean a tricky flue

Last week in Albany, I had a job on a 1920s house with a really narrow, offset flue. I was stuck between trying to force my standard rods through or just giving up and telling the owner it was too risky. An older sweep I know told me to try his trick: use a smaller brush head and attach it with a flexible nylon coupler. I gave it a shot and it worked perfectly, no damage. Has anyone else run into a flue like that and found a different fix?

Showerthought: Everyone pushes the big rotary brushes, but I went with a set of hand rods for my first year.

Honestly, I kept hearing 'you need the power sweep system' but I couldn't swing the $800 upfront. I bought a basic 6-foot rod kit and learned the hard way on a 25-foot flue in an old brick house, but it taught me way more about feel and angles. Anyone else start with the simple tools and stick with them?