rubyschmidt•15d agoMost Upvoted

Tried the soot sponge method on a nasty creosote job

I had this house up in Bellingham that hadnt been swept in like 6 years and the buildup was insane. Normally I just go in with my rotary tool and call it good but this stuff was so thick and sticky I figured Id try the soot sponge trick I saw on some forums. Basically you wet the sponge and rub it on the glaze to pull it off without scratching the liner. Worked way better than I thought for the first pass, got about 60 percent of the crap off in half the time. But then I hit a patch that was really hard and the sponge just disintegrated on me, left little foam bits everywhere in the flue. Had to vacuum those out for an extra 20 minutes. Anyone else have that happen or did I just get a bad batch of sponges?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_james15d ago

Three Bellingham jobs this month where people tried the shortcut first then called me anyway.

julia_lee15d ago

Disagree with you on this one. The sponge trick is overhyped for heavy creosote. Ive had those sponges fall apart on me too, but the real problem is youre using them on stuff thats way too thick. Sponges are for light soot and dust, not for six years of baked on glaze. You shouldve scraped the heavy layers off first with a brush or bar, then used the sponge for the leftover film. Saves you from picking foam out of your flue for half an hour.

the_tessa15d ago

Wait, have you actually had a sponge completely dissolve on you mid job? Thats brutal. I feel you on that, Ive been there too and its such a pain to clean up. The thing is, most people dont realize the sponge isnt some magic eraser for everything. Its just a finishing tool, not a heavy duty scraper. I think its easy to blame the tool when the method is the problem, you know? Youre right though, you gotta prep the surface first or youre just asking for trouble. Its like trying to wash a muddy car with a dish sponge, it just doesnt work that way.