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TIL the difference between a fall clean and a spring clean is wild
I did a spring clean for a house last April and the chimney looked pretty good, just some light soot. Went back this October for their fall clean and I swear the flue was caked with a solid 1/4 inch of creosote. Turns out they switched to burning green pine all summer in their fire pit insert without telling me. That stuff just builds up way faster than seasoned hardwood. Has anyone else seen that big of a jump between seasons?
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nancyj111mo ago
Honestly that 1/4 inch of creosote from pine is no joke. I've seen flues go from clean to caked in one season when people burn that stuff. The resin just sticks and builds up way faster than seasoned oak or ash. Kinda scary how quick it can change.
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lewis.terry1mo ago
My uncle cleaned a flue once that had a whole squirrel nest wedged in there, took him hours.
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A nest like that isn't just twigs and leaves. Squirrels pack in moss, bark, and sometimes even bits of insulation or plastic if they can find it. The thing that makes it such a pain is how packed down it gets. Once it's been sitting there through rain and snow, it basically turns into a solid plug. That much blockage means zero draft, so the smoke just backs up into the house. Your uncle probably had to pull the whole liner just to get it cleared out.
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spencer_owens581mo ago
Dang, that’s wild. @lewis.terry, did your uncle say if the squirrels were still in there or just the old nest? I figure with a nest that big it must’ve been blocking the flue for a while. Seems like a real mess to clean out without making a huge mess everywhere. Did he have to pull the whole thing apart or was there some trick to it? Just thinking about all that twig and leaf debris gives me a headache.
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