Remember when we used to just run a brush up and call it good?

I was totally against these new rotary cleaning systems until I did a job on a house built in 1880 last month near Cleveland and the soot was caked on like concrete. What made you finally switch up your old methods?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaret_jackson7314d ago

Wore out three brushes on one chimney before my pride finally gave in and I admitted I was just polishing the soot. Does your back still ache the next day like mine does?

the_charles13d agoMost Upvoted

and I still say the rotary stuff is overkill for most jobs. Look, I get it, that 1880s house was a nightmare, my buddy had one in Buffalo last fall and the brush bent on him twice. But here's the thing, a good stiff wire brush and some elbow grease has been working for over a hundred years. These new systems are expensive to buy and maintain, plus they kick up twice the dust. Half the time you don't need a chainsaw to cut butter, you know? I've cleaned plenty of chimneys where the soot came off fine with a standard brush and a shop vac. People forget that the old way still works on the majority of homes.

grace_knight7014d ago

Honestly, that "soot like concrete" line hits hard because I had a similar wake up call on a Victorian near Pittsburgh. For me it was realizing my old brush was just smearing the grime around instead of actually lifting it off the brick. Once I borrowed a rotary setup for that stubborn stuff, I never went back to fighting with a brush for hours.