Home Improvement Blog Improving Your Home And Your Life

Trying to keep your fireplace clean and properly maintained is very important. You want to keep both your family and home safe. Whether you have a wood burning, gas, freestanding or fireplace owned fireplace, it’s always a good idea to have it inspected at least on time a year by a professional. A professional should check the fan, pilots and burners, for proper ignition and combustion, venting, and chimney draw.

Since birds, squirrels and raccoons are famous for building nests and adding debris to chimneys it’s very important to have it cleaned out. Even with a professional chimney cleaner cleaning your chimney, you can do numerous things to help your fireplace last longer and stay healthy.

You should avoid burning a fire longer than five hours and always be sure the door is open for proper venting. Also keep the screen closed to keep hot embers from jumping out onto the carpet. Consider a non- flammable rug to place directly in front of the fireplace, for the sparks that might jump out. Of course the rug will stop the sparks from igniting into the rug and causing a fire while you are asleep. You also want to make sure the rug is safe from anything that is flammable.

To prevent water damage, animal nesting, or other types of debris to obstruct the chimney, uses a chimney cap.

Before removing the ash from the firebox, open the damper, which will draw any flying ash up and not out into the room. Since coals can stay hot for several days after a fire has been extinguished, you should never use a vacuum cleaner to clean out the ash.

Gas logs should be cleaned once a month by using a soft bristle brush and cleaned only when cool. Do not clean the gas logs right after a fire - wait several hours until you are sure that they have cooled down.