Nothing beats sitting in front of your fireplace with friends and family on those chilly days while sipping on some hot cocoa. The fireplace has served homes for the longest time and continues to be an important part of the architecture in the home. If this is your first time living in a house with a fireplace, then chances are you are confused about how to maintain it. Many people think that all it takes to maintain the fireplace is to take out the creosote after the fire dies out, but there is more to it. Here are some of the things you can do when taking care of your fireplace. They will ensure your fireplace stays clean and serves you efficiently.
Ensure your chimney is working properly
One of the things many people forget to look at when taking care of their fireplace is their chimney. If your chimney is not well looked after, then chances of there being a fire or smoke coming back into the home are increased. The best thing you can do is ensure that the chimney and its cap are in good condition. Replace the cap when necessary and have someone work on any cracks that might appear on the chimney.
Use the right wood
The quality of heat and even smoke will depend on the type of wood you use in your fireplace. The best wood for your fireplace is hardwoods, as they burn better. It is also important that you get properly dried wood that has less than 20% of moisture in them. Wood with a lot of moisture will lead to the house being smoky and might suffocate you as you use it. Hardwood might be expensive, but it burns for longer and produces more heat than softwood.
Get the right cleaning tools
Cleaning the fireplace might seem like an easy task, but it can be frustrating if you do not have the right tools. For this reason, it helps if you can get ferm tools that are specially designed to ensure your fireplace not only stays clean but that the fire keeps blazing whenever you light it up.
Hire a chimney sweep
Using the fireplace leads to a lot of soot and ash accumulation in the chimney. Over time, this ash and soot will lead to the chimney producing a lot of smoke which ruins the chimney’s efficiency. To help deal with this, ensure you get a certified chimney sweep to come and clean out the chimney every so often. You can have them come in at least once every year. Cleaning out the chimney ensures that the house does not get smoky whenever you light a fire and that the fire can burn efficiently.
Maintaining the fireplace is not something that you should think too much about. All it takes is you being keen on the place’s cleanliness and ensuring you are using the right wood for the fireplace. The simple tricks will go a long way in helping you use your chimney efficiently without any issues.