Cuddling up by the warm fireplace on cold winter nights are the best! The smell of the smoke, the warmth from the fire, and the sitting by the beautiful fireplace are pretty great reasons to love winter time. To keep your winter warmer, safe and cozy, follow these 12 safety tips.
1. Inspect Chimney
If you’ve never inspected a chimney before, bring in a professional to do it. If you want to learn how to inspect it yourself, ask them to show you what to look for and how to do it!
2. Provide Barriers If Children Are Around
Children get into everything. Make sure baby and kid proof your fireplace.
The easiest thing to do it to put up a baby gate around the entire fireplace. This completely stops them from getting into the fireplace, stops them from grabbing any fireplace tools, and keeps them from hurting themselves on the stone and brick edges.
You can also place rubber stoppers on the corners so they don’t hurt themselves on sharp edges of the fireplace.
3. Keep Time To A Minimum
Enjoy your fire for a couple hours then call it quits. HGTV suggests keeping your fire going for no longer than 5 hours.
4. Keep a Window Open
Don’t let your house get smoky, open a window! Opening a window let’s some of the smoke from the fire escape and not build up in your home.
5. Have a Nonflammable Rug
Have a nonflammable rug on the floor right outside of the fireplace. Sparks fly out of the fireplace without your control. Instead of burning your rug place a nonflammable rug on top of your flooring.
6. Wait To Remove Ashes
HGTV says to remove the ashes once a week during the months you use the fireplace. Wait till the ashes are completely cool before removing.
7. Have Fireplace Tools Handy
Some fireplace tools you will need are a fireplace poker, a spade, tongs, and a broom. They sell kits that have all the essential tools you will need!
Don’t ever think of using your hands, that’s what the tools are there for.
8. Keep The Firebox Clean
Clean out all the ashes from the firebox during the months that you don’t have fires. During the months you do use the fireplace, leave a layer of ashes. They act as insulation.
9. Have An Emergency Exit
Have a fireplace in your basement? Even if you don’t, make sure you have an emergency exit in your basement. Make sure you have a window well and a basement window that works properly in case the fire gets out of hand.
10. Remove Flammable Items
Anything that’s around the fireplace that’s flammable needs to be removed. Like I said above, sparks can fly out and burn anything that’s flammable. It could even catch the flammable item on fire potentially resulting in a house fire.
11. Never Leave Fire Unattended
You never know when something flammable can catch on fire from a spark. If your leave the fire unattended this can happen without you knowing. Prevent a house fire by always keeping an eye on the fire.
12. Safety Screens Are Important
Not only are fireplace screens decorative, they are an important safety feature for your fireplace. These screens will help with sparks flying out of the fire and keep them under control.
These metal or glass protectors will get extremely hot and stay hot for hours after. Use caution when dealing with the fireplace screens.
Stay Safe And Warm This Winter
Now that you have more knowledge about how to safely take care of your fireplace, enjoy the warmth it brings! Time to make some hot chocolate and sit by the gorgeous fireplace.
