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Pulled a squirrel nest the size of a cantaloupe out of a flue liner on Friday and now the homeowner is blaming me for the smell
So I got called out to a house in Fairport Harbor last Friday for what the lady said was a "slow draft" on her wood stove. Pulled the cap off and the flue was packed solid from maybe 4 feet up, squirrel nest plus about a garbage bag worth of acorn shells and shredded insulation all jammed above the damper. Took me almost two hours with the rods and a shop vac to break it loose, and when it finally dropped the dust cloud was unreal. I bagged everything, showed her the pile, she was happy, paid me $260, done. Now she texts me three days later saying the house reeks like a dead animal and that I "must have left something up there." I know for a fact I got the whole nest out because I ran the camera back up twice. Problem is there could be a second squirrel that died behind the brick or in the smoke shelf where I can't see it, and now I'm stuck either eating the cost of a return trip or telling her it's not on me. Any of you deal with critter nests that leave a smell behind even after you clear the flue? How do you handle the callback without looking like you cut corners?
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grace_white18d ago
Fairport Harbor homes are old, and a lot of those flues have gaps behind the brick where a nest can sit out of camera view. Running the camera twice proves the liner is clear, but it does not prove there is nothing dead in the smoke shelf or the void behind it. Dead squirrel smell can hang around for a week or more even after you pull the body, because the oils soak into the masonry. So the smell is real, but that does not mean you left part of the nest up there. I would tell her straight: the flue is clean, here are my camera shots, and if she wants me to check the smoke shelf and the chase that is a new job at my normal rate. Eating a free trip just teaches her the smell is your fault.
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