Just hit my 500th flue this year and my body is feeling it

I was counting up my jobs for the year yesterday (you know, trying to figure out taxes) and I realized I just crossed 500 flues cleaned in 2024. That number surprised me honestly because it doesn't feel like I've been that busy. But then I thought about it more and remembered there was that one week in March where I did 18 houses back to back (my knees still ache thinking about it). What really got me was how many of those were on houses built before 1950 in my town (about 340 of them). I've been sweeping for 8 years now and I never really kept track until this year. Has anyone else ever counted their yearly total and gotten shocked by it?

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emmag221mo ago

Wait 340 out of 500 were on houses built before 1950? That's wild. Those old places always have the most gnarly buildup too, like layers of stuff from decades ago. Honestly I'm more surprised you kept track that specifically than the 500 number itself. But yeah, I bet your knees and back have a lot to say about those pre-war houses with the tiny crawlspaces and weird angles.

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ivan_mason1mo ago

340 out of 500 is pretty specific, I only know because I started marking it down after the first hundred or so jobs... noticed a pattern. Those old houses from the 20s and 30s usually have three or four layers of paint and wallpaper glued right onto the plaster, takes forever to strip. Makes you wonder what people back then were thinking, just piling stuff on top of each other like that.

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