Cleaning your fireplace is necessary throughout the colder months, because a buildup of ashes or creosote can be very dangerous for your family and your house. As long as you clean your fireplace regularly, it will not be as large of a project as you might think.
The first thing that you will want to do is remove the ashes from the fireplace. Using a fireplace shovel is best and you will want to place the ashes into a metal bucket. The reason that you need to use a metal bucket is because ashes can stay hot for a long time after a fire has been put out. The ashes should be cleaned out of the fireplace before they become two inches deep. Once all of the ashes have been removed from the fireplace, you will want to vacuum anything else out of the fireplace and on the hearth.
In order to remove any soot or smoke buildup, you will want to spray the area with a soap and water mixture and let it soak for a little bit. You should then use a stiff wire brush to scrub away all of that soot and buildup. It may take a couple of cleanings if you have procrastinated with cleaning the fireplace. The glass doors of the fireplace will need to be cleaned as well and that can be done with any glass cleaner.
If you want to prevent yourself from having to clean the fireplace all of the time, you will want to burn wood that is dry. Dry wood does not let off as much smoke and it burns much more efficiently.
As long as you schedule your cleanings regularly, you should be able to stop a major buildup of soot and creosote inside your chimney, which will help prevent chimney fires. A professional will be able to help you create a reasonable schedule for cleaning your fireplace according to how much you use it. Give us a call here at Lou Curley’s Chimney Service at 610-626-2439 and we’ll schedule an appointment with one of our CSIA Certified chimney sweeps to ensure that your chimney is clean and in proper working order.