Tried a new creosote remover spray and it made the soot HARDER to clean

I picked up a can of 'Soot-Be-Gone Pro' last week for a standard clean in a brick chimney. I followed the directions, sprayed it down, and let it sit. When I came back with my brushes, the creosote had turned into a weird, sticky paste that was way tougher to scrape off than normal. It added an extra hour to the job. Has anyone else had a product backfire like this, or did I just get a bad batch?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_nelson2mo ago

Ugh, that sounds like a total nightmare. I had the EXACT same thing happen with a different brand last fall. It turned everything into a gummy mess. What finally worked for me was just going back to basics. I used a simple metal chimney brush with stiff plastic bristles and just put in the elbow grease. Sometimes the old way is the only way that doesn't make a bigger problem.

keithb512mo ago

Yeah, the gummy mess is the worst part, isn't it? That chemical stuff just smears the creosote around and makes it ten times harder to scrape off later. Ended up doing the same thing you did, just a basic brush and a lot of scraping. Felt like I was up there forever, but at least it was actually clean when I was done. Those fancy solutions sound good but they just don't cut it sometimes.