How To Clean And Secure Your Wood Burning Fireplace
Posted on November 2nd, 2009
Maintaining your wood burning fireplace is important if you are going to keep your house safe from harm. A dirty fireplace and chimney will lead to a fire or cause smoke damage- so it’s good to stay on top of maintaining them. Even if you can’t find time for it, you should find someone else who can.
When you are in the situation of buying a home, you should ask an inspection agency to take a careful look at the chimney and fireplace. Both can be damaged, if only by a small bit, and cause harm to your home in time. A professional should be hired if you aren’t experienced in inspecting the chimney. Sometimes the seller will even deduct the cost from the cost of the home.
The easiest thing to check is the chimney cap- something you could likely accomplish yourself if you needed to. The screen cap is necessary to keep out critters such as raccoons, and to prevent birds from nesting in your chimney. Any debris and rain is also kept out with this contraption, so it must be kept operational to have a healthy chimney.
You can elongate the period of time between inspections and cleaning schedules by only burning the right types of wood. Make sure you only burn wood that has been properly aged and dried. Otherwise the moisture from premature wood will collect on the insides of your fireplace and chimney. This will lead to a hard buildup that is also flammable- and that could easily lead to an accidental fire.
If your room or house seems to be smoky after your start a fire, check the ventilation of the chimney. It’s possible something has somehow become lodged in the chimney and is preventing the escape of the smoke. Also check to ensure that your fires are completely burning the wood that you put in. If wood is left behind and forgotten, it could continue to burn and cause smoke to seep into the house if you have not closed the chimney gate.
You could always close off your chimney and install a vent free fireplace if you are tired of the maintenance that comes with them. A vent free fireplace is every bit as warm and friendly, and is even easier to maintain. They commonly burn natural gas or propane, so you will still have moderate costs associated with running them. Regardless, they are easier to maintain and thus more favorable.
Closing Comments
There are plenty of places to buy your fireplace over the Internet. Your next fireplace can be delivered straight to your door if you need it, making it as convenient as ever to buy a fireplace. Masonry fireplaces will require a construction team, but this is a drastic option seldom used.
Learn more about fireplaces and wood burning fireplaces.
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