The holidays are quickly approaching and that means that you will have lots of people in your home along with a myriad of decorations to make everything look festive. The holiday season also brings time in front of a warm and cozy fire, which means that you will want to take a few precautions to ensure that everyone is safe as it is burning.
Here are 4 things that you should do to ensure that you can keep the home fires burning safely this holiday season:
Have Your Chimney Inspected and Cleaned Once a Year
We recommend that you have your chimney cleaned and inspected at least once a year, so that you know that you can have a fire without issues. A professional and certified chimney sweep can clean all the creosote out of your chimney and then check for any cracks, missing bricks, or other problems that can cause your chimney to crumble or collapse.
Always Burn the Proper Materials
It is so easy to just throw all that wrapping paper and those paper plates into your burning fire to get rid of them, but that can cause the fire to become too hot. A fire that is extremely hot can crack the interior of your chimney. Plus, these materials will cause a lot of smoke that will billow into your home. The only thing that you should be burning is seasoned hardwood, because it doesn’t create a lot of smoke or create as much creosote.
Keep Decorations Away from Your Hearth
Your hearth and mantle will look beautiful all decorated for the holiday season, but those decorations can become a fire hazard quite quickly. We recommend keeping all decorations off your hearth and mantle when a fire is burning.
Install Smoke Detectors and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
While you may think that you will be in front of your fireplace the entire time that a fire is burning, we all know that everyone gets distracted all the time. We all either need to get something from the kitchen, answer the phone, or use the bathroom. It happens. We get it.
Therefore, we recommend that you install smoke detectors throughout your home, in case the unthinkable does happen. Carbon monoxide detectors are another item that everyone needs, simply because no one can smell carbon monoxide. This gas can make you and anyone else in your homesick quickly, and it may be too late before you are aware that it is present.
Chimney Cleaning and Inspection in the Haverford Area
These four tips will ensure that you can safely have a fire burning in your fireplace this holiday season. Hopefully, you will be able to sit to relax and enjoy it with all the preparations that you need to make and all the entertaining that you will be doing!
Give us a call at Lou Curley’s Chimney Service at 610-626-2439 if you’re in need of a chimney sweep in Springfield or the Haverford area. Both of our chimney sweeps are CSIA certified and able to handle all types of chimney issues.