Last winter I put the wrong chimney cap on top of my chimney which led to creosote liquid dripping down onto my roof and down the side of the house. I tried Varsol, Muriatic acid and a number of household cleaners to try to remove this fairly large stain, but had no success. What would do the job? Anyone know?

TIA, Orest

-- Orest Solonynka (greyjayca@yahoo.com), January 19, 2002

Answers

Warm it with a hair dryer, scrape it off with heavy duty steel wool, repaint.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 19, 2002.

You know when all else fails around here I try WD-40 that stuff works on alot of things. It desolves glue so maybe it will desolve creosote. also rubbing alochol desolves kitchen greese build up on celing fan.

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), January 19, 2002.

on vinyl siding?? warm day and a water hose shoudl have taken it right off. Creasote is water solulable,, and alot fo other things will etch the siding.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 19, 2002.

That little, little bottle of lemon cleaner at the store, you know, the one that takes off lables off glass. That should work. I can't remember the name but it is good stuff.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), January 19, 2002.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions. I now have a good game plan. I'll wait til it's milder and then I'll try a hot water wash and scrub first and if that doesn't work I'll go to more heavy duty cleansers and solvents (including the WD40 and lemon) and if that doesn't work I'll have to take the siding down to soak the stained areas in some kind of solution--something's bound to work--I'll post what does on this wonderful forum. While I'm on this subject, I'd like to recommend "Black Knight" rubberized asphalt aerosol roof spray. This spray coats and seals shingles beautifully, has a number of uses beyond what it's designed for, goes a long way and best of all, it's relatively cheap--less than $5 for a large spray can. Thanks again, Orest.

-- Orest Solonynka (greyjayca@yahoo.com), January 21, 2002.

I did the same thing and orange glow worked great!

-- Den Gagne (gagnedp@ppabg.com), February 03, 2002.