Talking with a retired sweep changed how I see chimney fires

I was doing a routine clean on a 60 year old house in Portland last week and the homeowner mentioned he used to sweep chimneys back in the 70s. He told me he never bothered with a camera, just used his hands and a mirror to check for cracks, said he could feel the heat damage through the brick. That stuck with me, do you guys trust your hands over a scope on older flues, or am I missing something by relying on tech?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancyn691mo ago

Admit I used to think scopes were the only way to go, but hearing that guy describe feeling heat damage through the brick really hit me. Older flues have so much history in them, and fingers can catch stuff a camera might miss, like soft spots or hairline cracks that don't show up on a screen. I still use a scope for the tight spots, but now I trust my hands way more on the old stuff, it just makes sense.

ray_martinez821mo ago

That article in the trade mag last month about old timers and their inspection methods got me thinking. It talked about how the patina and roughness of old flue tiles tell a story that a camera just flattens out. You can feel the spalling and the slight give in the mortar with your fingertips, things that might look like shadows on a screen. Doesn't mean I'm throwing the scope away, it gets me into the bends and the offsets my arm can't reach. But for the main run on a pre-war house, my hand has caught way more than my camera ever has. It's like reading braille for heat damage, you just have to know what you're feeling for.