Found out 80% of chimney fires start because of creosote buildup, not a bad liner

3 comments

3 Comments

@faithcampbell you're not wrong about creosote being a problem. That stuff is basically tar. Sticks to your chimney walls like glue. Smells like a campfire gone wrong too. I clean mine every fall. Worth the hassle when you see the pile of black gunk that comes out.

the_tessa18d ago

Friend of mine skipped cleaning her chimney one year. Woke up at 3 AM to the smoke alarm going off and a orange glow coming from the fireplace. Whole living room reeked of burned tar and the fire had actually started inside the wall. Fire department had to tear out part of the ceiling to make sure it didn't spread. She got off lucky with just smoke damage but that was a close call. Now she sets a calendar reminder every September and has never missed a cleaning since.

faithcampbell19d ago

Guess I should be grateful that my only fireplace experience is from a YouTube tutorial where I almost set my arm on fire. But hey, creosote sounds like a fancy word for "your house is about to be a problem.