Old timer told me to switch my brush direction on creosote build up

I was scrubbing a heavy glaze in a 1970s fireplace in Portland and a retired sweep watched me for five minutes before saying "you're pushing the crap back into the flue, go the other way". I flipped my brush around and pulled instead of pushed, and the third pass knocked off way more than I got in the first fifteen minutes. Anybody run into a stubborn layer that needed a total angle change like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

abbyc3326d ago

Pulling beats pushing every time on that baked on tar layer.

troy_wilson826d ago

Funny you mention that, I read something similar from a guy up in Canada who does chimney work for like thirty years. He said the direction of your brush strokes matters more than people give it credit for, especially when you get that baked on creosote that feels like tar. The way he explained it was you're basically scraping a surface, and if you push you just smash the debris back into the grooves instead of lifting it out. Once I started pulling with the brush, especially on the heavy spots, it was like night and day difference. That old timer probably learned that back when they used burlap sacks and rocks for brushes.