My mentor called me out on skipping brush throws on second-story jobs

I was up on a roof in Portland last Tuesday finishing up a flue cleanout and I just dropped the brush after one pass. My mentor was holding the bag at the bottom and he looked up at me and said "you trying to get a recall on that job next spring?" He was right. I was being LAZY because it was hot and I wanted to get down. Second and third throws knock loose that fine creosote layer that builds up in the smoke chamber. I could feel it in my shoulders after the second throw how much soot was still coming down. Now I force myself to do three full passes minimum on every flue even if the customer is watching from their window. Has anyone else caught themselves cutting corners on multistory jobs just because the ladder climb wears you out?

2 comments

2 Comments

seth_martinez215d ago

Gotta ask though - are you getting enough rest between those throws or just hammering through them? I've seen guys on three-story flues where the smoke chamber is way up in the attic and they do one fast pass then call it good because their arms are shot. Real question is how do you judge if it's your body telling you to slow down versus just being lazy and wanting to be done? Because I've definitely confused the two before and ended up with a callback in January that was way more work than just doing the extra throw would have been.

jamiew834d agoMost Upvoted

Ain't that just the tired-versus-lazy trap every chimney guy falls into?