TIL I was brushing my flues all wrong after a 20-year vet called me out

I had a guy watch me work on a job in Pittsburgh last month and he said I was putting too much pressure on the brush head, which can actually push soot deeper into the creosote. He showed me his method using lighter passes and a different rod angle, and the difference in how clean the flue came out was night and day. Has anyone else gotten feedback that made them rethink something they thought was basic?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret9920d ago

My buddy Tom had a master carpenter watch him frame a wall and told him he was overdriving every nail by about a quarter inch. Said it weakened the hold. Tom fixed it and the next wall he did felt way more solid.

king.ruby19d ago

Wait, is it the extra force that actually does the damage or does it mess with how the nail sits in the wood? I always thought a deeper set meant a tighter grab but I guess if you mushroom the head or bend the shaft you're losing all that holding power. Plus that means you're putting stress cracks in the studs if you hit them too hard. Sounds like Tom learned the hard way that a flush set is stronger than trying to bury it.