I used to skip sweeping the smoke shelf on every job until a 30 year guy called me out in Columbus

Julia Jones · 2026-10-12T05:05:04.304193+00:00

Three years ago I got taught to just brush the flue and vacuum the box and call it done and I ran jobs that way for way too long. Last month a sweep with 30 years in the trade watched me finish a fireplace in Columbus and asked if I even knew what the smoke shelf was. He pulled his mirror out and showed me a half inch of creosote crust sitting right behind the damper that I would have walked away from. I went back to that same house 2 days later and scraped out enough junk to fill a coffee can, and the homeowner said her draft had been bad for years. Now I hit the shelf with a small wire brush on every single job, even when it looks clean from the bottom. How are you all handling smoke shelves on tight prefab boxes where you can barely get a hand in there?

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I used to skip sweeping the smoke shelf on every job until a 30 year guy called me out in Columbus | Chimney Sweeps - Opinions Matter