Creosote buildup caught me off guard on a routine job

I was doing a standard clean on a house in the suburbs last Thursday and found a thick layer of creosote in the smoke chamber that I somehow missed on the initial look. Had to break out the rotary brush and spend an extra 45 minutes scraping it down. Anyone else had that sneaky buildup hide in plain sight?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan_dixon6715d ago

My buddy had the same thing happen last month on a chimney in Oakville. He said it looked clean from below but the chamber was totally caked when he got the camera in there. Cost him an extra hour and a half to fix it.

the_mary15d ago

Right on. Had the exact same thing happen to me on a job in Burlington last spring. Looked fine from the ground, maybe a little soot, but once I got the scope in there it was like a solid inch of creosote built up in the smoke chamber. Took me a good two hours to chip and scrape it all out. Those cleanouts are tricky, you never really know what you're getting into until you see it yourself.