Found a trick for cleaning out really wet creosote without the mess

I had a job last week in Portland where the homeowner had been burning unseasoned wood all winter. The creosote was this thick, tar-like mess that usually takes forever to scrape and leaves black sludge everywhere. I tried using a shop vac with a drywall bag first, but it just clogged up after five minutes. Then an old timer I know told me to hit it with a heat gun on low for a few seconds before scraping. It softened that gunk just enough that it peeled off in strips instead of smearing around. Cut my cleaning time on that job from two hours down to about 45 minutes. Anyone else got a weird trick for dealing with wet creosote that actually works?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_lee27d ago

Man that wet creosote is the absolute worst, feels like you're fighting a losing battle sometimes. Good to know the heat gun trick works, I might have to give that a shot on my next nasty job. Sounds like that old timer saved you a bunch of headache.

jamie94027d ago

The one time I tried that water and dish soap trick I ended up looking like a swamp creature. I must have sprayed too much because it ran down my arm and dripped into my boot. Took me an hour to get the goo out of my shoelaces. But hey, at least the brick looked clean, even if I smelled like a gas station bathroom for a week.

fiona_west2127d agoTop Commenter

Has anyone tried using a spray bottle with a little dish soap mixed in warm water on that wet creosote? I was working on a stack of chimney bricks last spring, and the goo was so thick it reminded me of that time I tried to scrape old tar off a roof in the rain. I ended up spraying the creosote lightly, letting it sit for two minutes, then hitting it with a plastic scraper. It broke up into clumps instead of smearing. I was surprised it didn't make a bigger mess, but the water cut through the stickiness somehow.