Pro tip: The before and after on a creosote clog I cleared in an old farmhouse

I did a job last Tuesday on a house built in 1920 outside of Des Moines. The owners said their wood stove was smoking back into the room real bad. I ran my camera up and saw a solid 4 inch thick layer of glazed creosote about halfway up the flue. It was like looking at a tunnel that got narrower by the month. I spent about 3 hours with a rotary tool and some heavy duty brushes to break it down. After I finished, the draft pulled so hard it almost sucked the smoke out before it left the firebox. Has anyone else dealt with glazed creosote that just refuses to scrape off easy?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_jones8914d ago

Had a similar situation last winter on a house from the 30s. Found out the previous owner had been burning pressure treated lumber in it for years. That stuff turns into a nightmare glaze that almost seems baked on. Might be worth asking what they were burning before you took the job.

morgan51214d ago

Heard from my buddy Tom who does this kind of work and he ran into the same thing in an old house near Cedar Rapids. He said he was scraping for what felt like forever and finally gave up and used one of those chemical creosote removers that you spray on and let sit for a bit. Said it softened that crusty stuff right up so it broke off in big chunks the next day.