How Do I Clean White Film Deposited From Fireplace?

Discover chemical and non-chemical ways to remove stubborn carbon fireplace residue, and learn why standard glass cleaner won't do the trick.

LESLIE: Alright. Nelda in Georgia, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

NELDA: I’m having a problem with the glass on my gas fireplace. There’s a white film on it, and I just cannot get it off. I went to the place where I bought it and they gave me some glass cleaner. But that doesn’t work, either.

TOM: Well, if it’s carbon-based, it can be difficult to get off. So, there’s sort of a mechanical way to do it and then there’s another chemical way that you could try. So mechanically, you could simply get a straight-edge razor blade and try to scrape it off like you would clean, say, paint off glass. So you can try that.

But the other way to try it is with oven cleaner. Because if it’s a carbon buildup, the oven cleaner will melt that carbon and make it possible to clean the glass just like it melts the carbon on the inside of, say, the glass on your oven door.

NELDA: Oh, OK. Sure. I never thought about that.

TOM: But regular window cleaning is probably not going to do the trick, because that’s really just for dirt and grease. But if it’s built-up carbon, then it’s a lot harder to get off. The same goes for black soot on fireplaces – chemical cleaner works best for cleaning black soot from stone.

NELDA: I’ll try the oven cleaner. That sounds like a good idea.