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Tried the bag of walnuts trick on a sooty flue and the homeowner thought I was losing it
I read somewhere that dropping a handful of walnut shells down a dirty flue helps knock the creosote loose before you brush, so I gave it a shot on a 1940s house in Dayton last week. About 30 seconds in, a squirrel popped out of the chimney and ran across the living room, and the homeowner just stared at me holding an empty ziplock bag. Has anyone actually made this work, or did I just make a new friend?
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quinn_king1628d ago
Used to roll my eyes at the walnut trick, figured it was just old timer nonsense passed down. Then I watched a guy on a 1920s bungalow run a length of chain down first, spin it with a drill, and pull out chunks the size of my fist before he even touched it with a brush. The shells do something similar, they knock the big stuff loose so the brush isn't fighting a brick of tar. Your squirrel was probably nested up there and the noise spooked it, which tells you the flue was blocked enough for a critter to call it home.
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