Ran into 3 feet of creosote on a job in Butte and ended up covered in it

Got called out to this old miner house in Butte two Saturdays ago, and the flue was so packed I could barely get my rods up past 4 feet. Pulled the brush back out and this black crud came down like a mudslide, right onto the drop cloth and my boots. The homeowner took one look and said it was probably from burning pine for 20 winters straight. I spent 20 minutes scrubbing soot out of my ears in their driveway with a hose. Now I always run a mirror cam first on anything built before 1930. How do you all break up the hard glazed stuff without making a huge mess?

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uma_baker9923d ago

3 feet of glazed creosote from pine sounds a bit much honestly. Pine burns dirty but it usually flakes off as powder way before it gets that thick, unless the old man never swept it in 20 years. I've seen maybe 2 inches of stage 3 on a stubborn flue and that was scary enough. You sure the whole 3 feet was glazed and not just crusted soot on top of a smaller layer?

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