Found a weird trick for cleaning really old creosote buildup

Been fighting this one fireplace that had like 20 years of buildup. Tried the standard brushes and rods, barely made a dent. My neighbor who does this part time told me to try a heat gun on low setting before scraping. I mean I thought he was messing with me but I gave it a shot. Hit the thick spots with the heat gun for maybe 30 seconds each and it flaked right off. Way less elbow grease. Anyone else try something like this or is it just a hack for my situation?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_mason24d ago

Man, that's one of those tricks that sounds too simple to work but totally makes sense. Heat loosens up that old tar basically, makes it way less stuck to the brick. Wish I had known that years ago when I was fighting my granddad's old fireplace his dad built in the 30s. Ended up chipping a good chunk of the firebrick just trying to scrape the stuff off. You probably saved yourself a lot of frustration and maybe even saved the chimney from damage. Still good to have a pro check it out after though, right? Just to make sure nothing got cracked from the heat. Glad your neighbor let you in on the secret.

taylorcarr24d ago

Nail on the head, @the_mason. That heat trick is the kind of thing you only learn from someone who's already busted up their knuckles doing it the hard way. I used a propane torch on my own chimney last fall, just a slow back and forth, and it was like the tar turned to soft chewing gum. Scraped off clean with a putty knife, no gouges in the brick at all. Took maybe twenty minutes for a whole section I'd been dreading for weeks. And you're absolutely right about getting a pro in after, especially if you used a torch near the flue liner. A quick inspection beats patching a cracked crown later.