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That 200 year old flue liner took me 5 hours instead of 1
Got a call for a simple sweep on a historic house in Richmond last Wednesday. Owner said it was a straight shot, regular brick chimney. Got up there and found the flue was this old parged clay liner that was crumbling in sections. Had to stop every 15 minutes to rod out chunks that fell into the smoke shelf. By the time I got it clean and inspected the damage it was 5 hours later. Anyone else run into old liners that just turn a quick job into a whole day mess?
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mary_west23d ago
Pull up on that thought about the smoke shelf for a sec. It's actually called the smoke chamber, not the shelf. The shelf is the flat ledge at the bottom of the chamber where debris lands, but the whole space above the damper is the chamber. That crumbly parged clay you found is a beast though. I've had to chip out sections of that old stuff with a hammer before just to keep it from falling in clumps later. Did you give the owner a heads up about needing a reline before you left?
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ellis.faith23d ago
5 hours sounds like you were being really careful though, right? I mean if you rushed through it you could've missed something serious and then the whole thing would've been on you. Maybe the extra time just means you're doing your job right.
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