The holiday season is filled with holiday tradition and, if you own a fireplace, many of your holiday traditions were probably observed around the warm glow of a fire. Whether it’s roasting marshmallows or opening presents, a fireplace adds a perfect ambiance to your Christmas backdrop. With family and friends around, your fireplace probably gets used more during the holidays than it does at any other time of the year. Because of this, we here at Northeastern Masonry & Chimney think it is important to know what you should do to maintain your fireplace once the holiday season is over.
Inspection
First and foremost, if you haven’t had your annual chimney inspection yet, now is the perfect time to do that. The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) suggests getting your chimney inspected annually. Annual inspections help you make sure that there isn’t any dangerous resin or creosote building up on the inside of your chimney. Also, make sure that your chimney is inspected by a CSIA-certified chimney technician, like the ones at Northeastern Masonry & Chimney.
We believe that right after Christmas is a perfect time for scheduling a chimney inspection. First of all, clear off your mantel. Since you will probably be moving holiday decorations from your fireplace and fireplace mantle anyways, you won’t have to do any extra clearing of the inspection workplace. After we finish our inspection and cleaning, you can move your regular decorations back.
Cleaning
If you have recently had an inspection, we still suggest that you clean out your fireplace about once a week when it is being used a lot. The first thing you will want to do is cover your carpet and furniture with some old sheets or a drop cloth, if you have one. Once you have done that, you can clean the ashes from your firebox. Remove the andirons and grate and use a fireplace shovel to shovel loose ash into your trash. Once your ash is gone, create a mixture of warm water and baking soda and use a stiff bristled brush to clean soot off of your brickwork.
Sweeping in the New Year
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a nice clean fireplace to ring in the New Year? If you are looking to have your chimney cleaned or inspected, now is a wonderful time to do it. Call Northeastern Masonry & Chimney today or contact us online today to set up an appointment with one of out CSIA-certified technicians today!