That Monday I cleaned a chimney that hadn't been touched in 20 years

Last Tuesday I showed up to a house in old town Springfield and the homeowner told me the chimney hadn't been swept since her grandma moved in back in 2004. I got up on the roof and saw the creosote was about two inches thick in spots, like a black crusty mess. It took me over three hours with my rotary brush and a few different rods to finally break through it all. The stuff coming out was like thick, greasy tar that smelled worse than a burnt campfire. I ended up hauling out five full buckets of debris before I was done. The homeowner was shocked and said she never realized how bad it could get. Have any of you had a job where the buildup was way worse than you expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkerb7512d ago

Ask her if she ever started a fire in it during those 20 years, because that's wild. How did it not catch before you showed up?

eva_lewis12d ago

Right, because nothing says "cozy home" like a campfire pit in the living room, perfect for roasting marshmallows while the drywall slowly smolders. I mean, she could have saved a ton on heating bills if she just let the whole place go up in flames on a cold night. Maybe she thought the smoke detector was just a really loud, annoying decoration that went off for no reason. Honestly, it's a miracle she didn't end up with a house that looked like a giant, blackened s'more.