Guy on a job in Rochester asked why I brush bottom-up, and I've flipped my whole routine since

Sam Thomas · 2026-10-20T22:50:05.456433+00:00

I've been brushing flues top-down since I started, mostly because that's how the old guy who trained me in 2016 did it, and I never questioned it. Back in April I was on a two-story colonial outside Rochester and the homeowner, who used to work maintenance at a school, watched me work for a bit and asked why I wasn't starting at the bottom on a straight run like that. I shrugged it off at first, but he said I was pushing soot back down onto clean surfaces and making twice the work for myself on the smoke shelf. Next morning I tried working the bottom of a straight flue first on a job in Greece, NY, and the dust cloud was smaller and I finished about 20 minutes faster. The big thing I noticed was my vacuum didn't clog up half as much, since I was pulling debris toward the door instead of letting it settle in the throat. I still go top-down on offsets and anything with a cap I can't reach easy, but straight shots are all bottom-up now. Curious if any of you switch based on the flue shape, or do you just pick one way and stick with it?

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Guy on a job in Rochester asked why I brush bottom-up, and I've flipped my whole routine since | Chimney Sweeps - Chatter Central