jamesc79•9d agoProlific Poster

Small house fire last month changed my whole approach to inspection

Got called out to a job in Portland after a chimney fire damaged a row house. The homeowner said they had it swept 6 months ago but I found a thick creosote glaze that must have been building for years. The previous sweep just ran a brush through and called it good without doing a proper scrape test. Now I always spend an extra 10 minutes checking for that shiny glaze with a mirror and flashlight. Anyone else run into lazy work like this that you had to fix?

2 comments

2 Comments

ward.diana9d agoMost Upvoted

You know, I used to think a brush and a quick look was good enough. I was THAT sweep for a while, not gonna lie. But a couple years back I had a customer who lost a good chunk of their roof because of a glaze I missed. That messed me up for weeks and I changed my whole routine on the spot. Now I carry a dedicated inspection mirror and will spend 15 minutes on the flue alone if I have to. It's the difference between a real inspection and a pretend one. That shiny glaze can be invisible to a quick glance, and it's the most dangerous thing you'll find.

william_craig79d ago

Hate seeing that kind of half-assed work. I had a similar situation a couple years back where a homeowner called me after another sweep and their chimney was still smoking like crazy. Crawled up there and found a solid quarter inch of glaze they left behind. It's scary because folks trust that sweep did their job right. Good on you for adding that extra check, that's exactly the kind of care that saves houses. Makes me wonder how many other people are out there paying for a service that's just a cash grab.