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Had an ah-ha moment cleaning a 150-year-old chimney yesterday
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williamw759d ago
Think you guys are making a bigger deal out of this than it actually is.
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emma969d ago
I had the same issue with a 1790s house I was cleaning out. The trick is to get a metal brush head for your shop vac hose, makes it a lot easier to scrub the soot loose without wrecking the bristles. I used a 12-foot extension hose from Home Depot and it reached just fine for the whole flue. Just make sure you wear a mask and goggles, that old creosote dust gets everywhere and stays in your sinuses for days.
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pat_murray539d ago
Nailed it with the metal brush head, that's the real pro move. Did a 1780s farmhouse last fall and the soot was caked on like cement. The shop vac with a wire brush attachment saved me hours of scraping by hand. That extension hose trick works but I had to tape the joints because the suction would pop them loose. And yeah, the creosote dust is no joke - I wore a respirator and still spent two days blowing black snot out of my nose.
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