3 Tips For Preparing Your Fireplace For Summer
During the summer you don't really need to use your fireplace much, making sprain a great time to clean your fireplace and get it ready to be dormant for a few months. Here are a few tips for taking care of and preparing your fireplace for summer.
#1 Get The Chimney Cleaned
The first and most important thing that you need to do is get your chimney cleaned. Over the course of the year, as you burn wood in your fireplace, soot and grim build up in your chimney. This grim needs to be removed. Removing this grim will improve the safety of your fireplace when you use it again next winter. It will also improve the air quality of your home this summer, as the air that goes in and out of your fireplace will not be contaminated with the gunk that is inside of your chimney.
Cleaning out a chimney requires special cleaning tools, and generally requires you to be comfortable getting up on your roof with cleaning equipment, which is why it is smart to hire someone to clean your chimney this spring.
#2 Remove Ash From Your Fireplace
You don't need to leave the ash from your last few fires sitting in your fireplace all summer. By leaving the ash there, it can slowly get dispersed into your home as air runs across your fireplace this summer. It also just creates more work for you when you want to use your fireplace again this next winter.
Scoop up the ash in your fireplace and put it inside a five-gallon bucket and transport it outside. Once you get most of the ash out of your fireplace, use your vacuum cleaner to remove any lingering ash and dust that is still inside of your fireplace. After you vacuum your fireplace, wipe down the inside with some paper towels, water and dish soap – be sure to wear some gloves and a face mask during this project.
Really cleaning the inside of your fireplace is a great way to take care and maintain your fireplace for years to come, and spring, when you haven't used your fireplace for weeks and everything is cool inside of your fireplace, is a great time to do so.
#3 Clean The Outside
Finally, take some time to clean the outside of your fireplace. If you have an open fireplace, remove and clean the grate and screen guard, and wipe down the mantel around your fireplace. If you have a contained fireplace with a door, be sure to clean the window to your fireplace and wipe down the entire outside structure. Lots of dirt and dust can accumulate on the outside parts of your fireplace, so it's a good idea to clean them thoroughly as well.
By taking care of your fireplace this spring, it will look great as it sits dormant this summer and will be ready for you to use again right away this fall or winter when it gets cold once again. For more information, contact a business such as Country Corner Chimney Sweeps.