That Tuesday in Medford almost cost me a roof

Went up to a job off Highway 62 last week. Homeowner said the flue was fine, just a slow draft. Got the brush up there and hit a solid block of creosote about 8 feet down. Tar glaze, real thick. Took me 3 hours to scrape it clean. My knees are still sore. Has anyone else dealt with that dense stuff in older houses? I think they burned wet pine for years.

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brookebailey4d ago

Used to think tar glaze was just build up from neglect, but that stuff is basically a different animal. Scraping dense creosote that hard makes you respect what years of bad wood can do to a chimney. I remember brushing a flue that looked clean on the surface and then hitting a patch so solid it rang like concrete. Changed my whole view on how important it is to question homeowners when they say the draft is slow. Now I always run a camera down first if the house is older than 40 years.