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January 7, 2011
From Real Simple:
Take your fireplace from filthy to flawless in just 15 minutes. Here’s what you’ll need: a kneeling pad, a shovel and brush set, a scrub brush, glass cleaner, an apron, a large plastic tarp, rubber gloves, a lidded trash can, used coffee grounds, a spray bottle filled with water, dishwashing liquid, a soft cloth, and paper towels.
Start here: Wait at least 24 hours after you’ve burned your last fire so the ashes cool thoroughly.
Minute 1: Put on an apron and lay a plastic tarp in front of the fireplace.
Minute 2: Situate yourself on a kneeling pad. Wearing rubber gloves, remove logs, tinder, and the grate; set aside on the tarp. Keep burnable logs; toss badly charred logs into the trash.
Minutes 3 to 5: Sprinkle a handful of used coffee grounds on the ashes to minimize flyaways. Sweep each interior wall top to bottom with the fireplace brush. Shovel the ashes into a pan, then dump the debris into the trash.
Minute 6: Sweep each screen top to bottom with the fireplace brush.
Minutes 7 to 10: Tackle the exterior. For brick: Spray water onto sooty areas followed by hearth cleaner. (For bricks more than 50 years old, use only water—no hearth cleaner.) Clean with a scrub brush, spritz with water, then use a soft cloth to dry. For iron: Spray with hearth cleaner, rinse with water, and use paper towels to dry. For marble and stone: Spray residue with water, clean with dishwashing liquid and a cloth, rinse, and dry.
Minutes 11 to 12: If the fireplace has glass doors, apply hearth cleaner to the back and front of each door, then wipe down one panel at a time, removing the cleaner before it dries.
Minutes 13 to 14: To polish tools and grates, place them on the tarp, spray with hearth cleaner, and wipe clean with paper towels.
Minute 15: Replace the grate and logs. Carefully ball up and toss the tarp. Take the trash can outside. Now draw the screens, close the doors, and kick back. But don’t make a fire just yet. You should enjoy that sparkling-new fireplace for at least a few days, right?
November 6, 2010
Creosote is a very dangerous substance that naturally builds up in your chimney. In order to reduce the chance of chimney fires you need to have your fireplace and chimney cleaned at least once a year. Besides this essential maintenance step there are some simple ways you can reduce creosote build up and burn safer.
Use a specialty product available at hearth retailers to break down the creosote currently lining your chimney and help prevent further build up. These creosote destroying logs are burnt just like regular logs, produce heat and provide an attractive flame. Pick up a package from Fireplace Village and give your hearth a treatment a few times each year.
Always burn seasoned, dry hardwood in a wood burning fireplace or wood stove. Don’t add paper, wet wood or any other foreign substances. These will not burn completely (as seasoned hardwood does) and will produce more emissions and a thicker build up of creosote. Keeping your air flow at the proper level is also important to obtaining a complete burn.
Enjoy a safer atmosphere in your fireplace with products and practices that reduce creosote build up. Combined with a regular chimney cleaning and fireplace maintenance, these will help keep your family and home safer and cleaner.
Contact Fireplace Village today to schedule your fireplace, wood stove or chimney cleaning. Prevent fireplace and wood stove fires by cleaning your chimney every year. According to the National Fire Prevention Association:
Creosote is a major fire problem for wood-burning home heating equipment.
Creosote is a likely explanation for the 25% of home heating fires, confined or non-confined, with failure to clean as factor contributing to ignition (16,500 fires per year). Creosote is also a possible explanation for the 34% of home heating fires (22,700 fires per year), confined to non-confined, with item first ignited coded as unclassified item (12,700 fires, or 19% of total, film or residue (5,300 fires or 8%), unclassified organic material (3,700 fires, or 5%), or waste or trash (1,100 fires, or 2%).
October 18, 2010
Maybe the fireplace was causing trouble last year or summer renovations did some damage. Whatever the reason is, when you need fireplace repair services don’t hesitate to call in the professionals. For safety and efficiency it’s important that your fireplace is operating properly.
You might even save the cost of your fireplace repairs by not wasting fuel due to inefficiencies, not creating a potentially dangerous situation and not relying too heavily on more expensive heat sources.
The staff at Fireplace Village is trained and experienced to ensure the highest quality of repair work on your hearth. Having dealt with the top manufacturers for decades, Fireplace Village is up to date on the latest with each model and make and can service your fireplace quickly and completely.
When you need fireplace repair services, call the professionals at Fireplace Village. The sooner your fireplace is up and running properly again, the warmer and more comfortable you’ll be. Fireplace Village provides complete fireplace, wood, gas and pellet stove and chimney service. Our service offering includes annual maintenance, repair and cleaning.
October 15, 2010
We’ve talked about how important it is to choose the proper size fireplace or wood stove and why it’s essential to have that unit installed by a professional. But don’t forget the most important element of owning a fireplace or hearth product – regular maintenance.
Using a clean, properly operational fireplace, gas insert or wood stove is vital for the safety of your family. With the services of a certified chimney sweep you can ensure smoke and emissions have a clear path up and away from your living space. By having a qualified technician inspect your fireplace, you can be sure that all of the essential mechanisms and components are working well and that the hearth appliance is running at peak efficiency.
It pays to have a certified, experienced fireplace technician into your home every year. Your family will stay safe and enjoy the dependability of a wood burning insert, gas fireplace or wood stove all winter long. Fireplace Village has knowledgeable, trained and experienced staff on hand to perform fireplace maintenance. We are also professional chimney sweeps and can handle all aspects of maintenance for any of the models we sell. Trust the pros who know. Let Fireplace Village keep your family safe this heating season.
October 2, 2010
Although modern fireplaces are designed and built for safety there is a certain amount of care and attention that homeowners must practice to ensure their family is entirely safe. Booking an annual fireplace inspection and service is one of the most important things.
Besides burning clean, seasoned hardwood and practicing proper loading and cleaning out processes, homeowners usually trust the professionals to make sure their fireplace is working safely. An annual inspection is the perfect time to get that assurance.
Once a trained technician has thoroughly inspected your fireplace and performed all of the scheduled maintenance, you will be informed of any issues or dangers that may have cropped up. Then, with the support of professional hearth technicians, any repairs will be handled quickly and efficiently.
That annual service will also involve chimney cleaning and sweeping, which removes potentially dangerous creosote build up. Avoid the risk of chimney fire with the periodic removal of this hardened soot. Contact the professional staff at Fireplace Village today to book your annual fireplace inspection and service. Your family will be safer for it.
September 18, 2010
When you enjoy the comfortable warmth from a wood burning fire, it’s also nice to know that your fireplace is burning as clean as possible. For the environment, for your family and for your wallet, it’s necessary to have a clean burning fireplace.
1) Burn Seasoned, Dry Hardwood – burning new wood or other combustibles will create more dirt and soot build up, a mess you’ll have to clean up later.
2) Clean Out the Ashes Regularly – for the safest and cleanest method, store them in a non-combustible container like a metal ash bucket.
3) Use Approved Firestarters – buy reputable named firestarters from your hearth retailer and don’t settle for balled up newspaper.
4) Use Creosote Destroying Logs – these aren’t a replacement for a chimney sweeping service, but they will help to loosen the build up.
5) Book Your Annual Fireplace Maintenance and Stick To It – this is probably the most important step and will contribute to healthy, safe use of your fireplace.
Fireplace Village provides complete fireplace, stove and chimney cleaning, repair and maintenance service. Contact Fireplace Village today to schedule your annual fire safety maintenance or stop by one of our New Hampshire locations to buy fireplace and chimney safety products.
June 26, 2010
Having an efficient home is important. It not only cuts down on emissions and other environmental hazards, but being efficient also saves you money and time. The fireplace is one of the most important areas for homeowners to strive for that level of efficiency. And in Nashua, New Hampshire annual fireplace maintenance plays a vital role in that.
Whether your fireplace is a well loved element of your home or has been installed only recently, you should be thinking about fireplace maintenance. Having annual visits by a trained technician will ensure that the unit is running at top performance and not experiencing any problems with fuel, venting and air flow.
Your fireplace is a fine tuned machine that requires all of the elements to work together well. When there is something wrong, such as a worn or broken part, the entire machine will suffer. And your home may suffer as well from high heating bills, dangerous emissions or hazardous conditions. With fireplace maintenance your home in Nashua, NH will be much safer and enjoy better, more dependable heat.
There are some things that homeowners can do for themselves to help maintain their fireplace. Cleaning out ashes on a regular basis using a non-combustible ash bucket is important. Burning dried, seasoned hardwood is another good practice that will cut down on creosote build up and reduce emissions. Homeowners can also use creosote destroying logs in their fireplace to battle this natural, but dangerous result of burning wood.
Other elements of fireplace maintenance for Nashua, NH homes should be left to qualified professionals. Inspecting the flue, the firebox and all of the operational parts of your fireplace is part of an annual maintenance visit. The technician will make sure everything is in good working order, answer any questions you may have and advise you about any necessary repairs.
Taking care of those repairs right away can vastly improve the efficiency of your fireplace, making certain there is a complete burn, low emissions and well distributed heat in your home. The relatively low cost of an annual maintenance visit is a wise investment and a good way to limit the costs of potential repairs by catching them early.
Look for local technicians who have plenty of experience and a large base of satisfied customers. Fireplace Village is an established New Hampshire hearth retailer that offers full fireplace maintenance service to Nashua, NH homes. You can rely on their knowledgeable and trained staff to ensure your fireplace is running well and efficiently every year.
For the highest comfort and best performance, schedule annual fireplace maintenance and practice good wood burning techniques yourself. Your home will thank you for it.
Fireplace Village provides complete chimney cleaning and maintenance service. Contact Fireplace Village today for a quote or to schedule an appointment for your annual chimney service.
June 20, 2010
Making sure your family is safe within your home is an important responsibility. And taking care of the regular maintenance involved in owning a fireplace, pellet or wood stove is a big part of that responsibility. For very little financial investment your family can rest easy knowing that your home and hearth are operating safely.
The best way to approach regular fireplace and stove maintenance is by hiring a professional chimney sweep. Not only will this individual inspect the condition of your chimney and venting system, but they will remove any potentially dangerous build up and ensure your fireplace or stove is running at peak efficiency.
A Professional Chimney Sweep Has Industry Knowledge
Trying to inspect the chimney system on the fireplace yourself is a difficult proposition. An industry professional will know all of the elements in your particular model, as well as have up to date information from that manufacturer.
If they’re local, they will also know any common problems that occur due to the climate or conditions in your area. Experience and a working relationship with hearth manufacturers give professionals an edge that’s difficult to compete with.
A Professional Chimney Sweep Has the Latest Technology
Chimney sweeping involves dirt and dust. With the latest equipment designed to prevent your home from becoming an unhealthy mess during a cleaning and inspection, professional chimney sweeps make it look easy.
Ask your sweep about the best way to remove the specific build up from your chimney. Both chemical and manual treatments will be used based on the level of creosote in your chimney.
When climbing up on your roof for inspections and repairs, a professional will be trained in safety procedures and do the job quickly and efficiently using the proper equipment. Keep safely on the ground and let the pros tackle any risks.
A Professional Chimney Sweep Has an Eye for Detail
Because a qualified and experienced chimney sweep will have seen any number of hearths and homes, he or she will know exactly what they are looking at. There won’t be any guesswork involved and the sweep will know exactly when cleaning and repairs need to be done.
Small things that can become big problems later and minimal build up that can escalate to maximum danger will be spotted by a professional. Day to day cleaning and tidying of your hearth can certainly be done well by homeowners, but the trained eye of a professional chimney sweep is essential for full maintenance appointments and inspections.
Ask at your fireplace retailer and get referrals from friends and neighbors. Hire a professional chimney sweep to look after your routine maintenance and enjoy your fireplace or wood stove worry free.
Fireplace Village is the only full service stove shop in New England. Fireplace Village sells all hearth appliances and provides installation, repair, cleaning and maintenance services. In addition, we provide gas line connection and hook up service as well as chimney sweeping and cleaning services.
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