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I spent 45 minutes chasing a draft issue last week only to find a dead squirrel wedged in the flue
Turned out the client in Portland hadn't used their fireplace since fall and the smell was just a blocked damper, but now I'm wondering how many of us actually check for animals before we start tinkering with the liner, has anyone else found something weird up a chimney that threw off your whole diagnosis?
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mary_schmidt24d ago
Maybe nobody's talking about how the real issue is those old mortar joints that crumble and trap critters.
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evac7224d ago
Haha oh man, dead squirrel in the flue? That's a new one for me. I actually read a piece in a trade mag that said like 1 in 20 service calls for chimney issues ends up being an animal problem not a structural one. They mentioned raccoons and birds mostly but squirrels are common too especially in older homes with gaps. I always give the damper a quick peek with a flashlight now before I get into any liner work. Saves a whole lot of head scratching.
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