PSA: The difference 6 months of dry wood makes in creosote buildup

I cleaned a house in Denver last week where the homeowner had been burning wood from a fallen tree in their yard. They only seasoned it for about 2 months. The creosote inside their flue was like tar, thick and sticky, and I had to spend an extra 45 minutes scraping it out. Fast forward to yesterday, same house, they bought kiln-dried wood from a supplier and the difference was night and day. Has anyone else noticed how much worse home-cut wood is for buildup compared to store-bought?

3 comments

3 Comments

webb.christopher9d ago

...and you're telling me they actually let that stuff harden into tar before you got there? I bet that took forever to scrape out, I would have lost my mind after fifteen minutes. Makes you wonder why anyone bothers with fresh wood when dry stuff burns so much cleaner.

anthony8839d ago

180 gallons of creosote buildup. That's what we pulled out of a massive walk-in fireplace last winter. Owner hadn't cleaned it in like six years, burned nothing but green pine the whole time. @webb.christopher, you're totally right about dry wood burning cleaner. I used to think fresh cut was fine, just more smoke. One spark from that tar pit nearly lit a roof on fire. Now I only burn stuff that's been seasoned at least a year. Never going back.

richardharris9d ago

180 gallons, holy smokes. That's not a fireplace anymore, that's a creosote factory with a chimney attached. I bet the guy thought he was saving money by not buying seasoned wood, but instead he was just building a giant candle out of tar and waiting for it to ignite. You know, the kind of candle that burns your house down instead of smelling like vanilla. I'm honestly impressed the roof stayed on long enough for you to scrape that nightmare out. Dry wood all the way, I'll take a little extra planning over a potential house fire any day of the week.