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My uncle told me to always check the damper from the roof first, not the fireplace
He said it for years (he ran a sweep service in Boise for 40 years), and last week I found a bird's nest completely blocking the top of a flue that looked clear from below. Saved me a ton of time and a callback. Do you all have a specific order you check things in, or just start from the bottom?
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oscarmurphy1mo agoTop Commenter
Notice how often the right answer is to start at the end. We check the outlet before rewiring a lamp, and we look downstream for a clog. It saves a lot of wasted effort.
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xena_thompson711mo ago
Oh man, that's solid advice. I learned the hard way to always start at the top after spending an hour cleaning a fireplace only to find a squirrel's winter stash plugging the cap. Felt like a real genius that day. Now my order is roof, cap, then flue, every single time.
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casey_brown1mo ago
Read a story about a chimney fire caused by a blocked cap. Totally backs up what @xena_thompson71 said about starting at the top. That roof check is non-negotiable.
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