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Caught a creosote fire early because I finally looked up instead of down
Tbh I spent 5 years cleaning chimneys just checking the flue from below with a mirror. Last winter a customer in Portland complained about a weird smell, so I climbed on the roof for a peek. That's when I saw a thick glaze of creosote right at the top, way worse than anything I caught from below. Now I always do a top-down inspection after the brush run. Any of you guys switched to checking from the top first?
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wright.leo15d agoTop Commenter
Wait, you mean people actually go up top for a look first? I've been doing this job for almost a decade and I always just trusted the mirror and a good brush run... always figured if I could see daylight and the mirror was clean, that was good enough. But last spring we had a call where a chimney fire started from a buildup that I swear I missed from below, and the homeowner said he had it swept six months prior. That really got me thinking, and now I'm starting to wonder if I've been skipping the most important part of the job all these years. I guess a top down check just gives you a whole different view of what's really going on up there... might have to change my whole routine after this.
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carr.abby15d ago
My buddy swore by the mirror for years until he found a raccoon nest he'd been missing from below.
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theajohnson15d ago
Top down is the only way to catch what you can't see from below.
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