Creosote is the waxy, flammable buildup up of sticky matter that adheres to your chimney wall from burning wood. Each time you burn wood in your fireplace, you’re creating creosote. The more creosote you have in your St Louis chimney, the more likely you make it that you could experience a dangerous, and sometimes deadly, chimney fire.

Pretty soon folks in the Missouri market will see chimney-sweeping logs advertised. Lots of homeowners are asking us if they really work. The short answer is they do work, but they’re still not enough.

Chimney Sweeping Logs are typically composed of some type of chemicals or minerals that do indeed help clean the chimney, but even their websites state that these logs can only reduce creosote between 40-60%. The problem is that still leaves 40% creosote build up! Moreover, that creosote that falls off the walls of your chimney still has to go somewhere. The creosote doesn’t remove itself, so it’s still in your chimney/fireplace; typically falling on the smoke shelf, thus creating a hazard for the future. Merely transferring creosote from one part of the chimney to another doesn’t eliminate its hazards.

To truly remove creosote build up from chimney surfaces, you must thoroughly and completely scrub (with a metal brush) and use a high-suction, HEPA-filter type of vacuum to remove as much of the creosote as possible. Don’t cut corners or take chances, have your chimney professionally inspect and clean be the pros at St Louis Chimney Cleaning.