Just spent 4 hours on a flue that should have been a 45 minute job

I was doing a basic sweep on an old house near downtown and hit a creosote blockage that looked small on the camera. Took me four tries with different rods and a rotary tool to finally break through the glaze. Turned out the previous sweep had left a loose brick sitting right in the bend of the flue. Has anyone else dealt with hidden debris from a past job that added way more time than expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

emma9614d ago

Actually a loose brick means the last sweep did their job thoroughly by removing the source.

thea60214d ago

Fixed a loose brick on my own chimney last fall. I figured out that grabbing a masonry bit and drilling pilot holes was the game changer, then using some construction adhesive along with the new mortar. Honestly, my neighbor just patched over his and it fell out again within six months. Nobody talks about prep work, but getting the old stuff out completely and cleaning the gap made all the difference for me. Took a full weekend but hasn't budged since.

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olivermason14d ago

Hold up, I gotta push back on this one. Prep work is fine and all, but you're making it sound way more complicated than it needs to be. I patched a loose brick on my garage two years ago with just a glob of exterior construction adhesive and some plastic shims to hold it in place while it dried. Never drilled a single pilot hole. Hasn't moved an INCH since. And sorry @emma96, but I think that whole "loose brick means the sweep did their job" thing is just a myth chimney sweeps tell people to cover for bad work.

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