I was cleaning a flue in a 1920s house and the owner asked why I wasn't using a mirror

I've been sweeping for about five years now, and I always just used my flashlight and camera to check my work. Last week, I was finishing up a job on an old brick chimney in Springfield. The homeowner, an older guy who used to do masonry, watched me pack up and just asked, 'Son, how do you know you got all the creosote in the back corners without a mirror?' I froze. I realized I was just assuming the camera angle showed everything, but a simple inspection mirror would show the blind spots behind the flue tiles. I bought a cheap extendable one from the hardware store the next day for $22, and on my next job, I saw a whole patch of glazed creosote my camera completely missed. It was a real 'oh, duh' moment. How many other simple tools are we overlooking that could make the job better?

2 comments

2 Comments

simonm671mo ago

Old school tricks still work. Sometimes the simplest tool is the best one.

the_cora1mo ago

I watched my uncle spend three days trying to level a foundation with a string line and a water level. A basic laser level from the hardware store would have done it in twenty minutes. That "simple tool" cost him a whole weekend of labor. Sometimes old school just means you don't know about the new school tool that's twice as fast and ten times more accurate. Stubbornness gets mistaken for wisdom.