The thought of cleaning your fireplace does not have to leave you in tears! Neither do you need to shell out a whole lot of money to hire a professional cleaning service to come and clean your fireplace. All you need is determination, and a free afternoon. Cleaning your fireplace once every winter is an absolute must. You need to clean it more often if you use your fireplace more regularly. An excess buildup of creosote – a harmful byproduct of wood combustion which mainly consists of tar – is the leading cause of fireplace insert blaze. In order to protect your home or office from a dangerous chimney fire it is very important that you clean your fireplace insert regularly. Cleaning a fireplace is a time-consuming job. So, make sure you carve out a couple of hours of from your schedule when you decide to clean your fireplace. It may seem like a daunting task at first, but once you master the technique then it will not seem so cumbersome. Here are the steps you need to follow in order to clean your insert.
  • 1. Prepare the Area Around the Fireplace to Limit the MessIt is important to keep the area around your fireplace clean. To do this you can use one of the following. Either lay down a plastic tarp around the area before you start cleaning. Or put down several layers of newspapers around the fireplace front.Now make sure you clear out all your fireplace accessories such as your grates, tools, and wood etc. before you proceed any further.
  • 2. Scoop Out the AshIf you are someone who maintains their fireplace and gets it cleaned or cleans it regularly then this should you an easy-to-follow step for you. All you need to do is simply vacuum the area in an around the fireplace.If you have large piles of ash and dirt and dust accumulated in and around your fireplace, then you will need a small shovel to clear out all the debris. The goal of this step is to remove all the debris from around your fireplace that you can.
  • 3. Scrub the Inside of the Fireplace InsertFor this step, you will need a heavy-duty brush. You will need to brush out all the creosote and debris stuck on the inside regions of your fireplace.Then you’ll need a small wire brush, or a baby bottle brush, or even a toothbrush with a firm grip will do the trick. You’ll use this to remove the dirt and debris from the grate of the insert and the hinges. You can even use a Q-tip to remove the dirt from the tricky parts around the hinges. Use a vacuum to clean up any remaining dirt from around the fireplace.
  • 4. Clean The Fireplace InsertIf you don’t want to invest in a cleaning solution, or don’t have one handy, then you can easily make one in your house.DIY Cleaning Solution – You’ll need one gallon of water in a container to begin with. Then add a spoon of dishwashing liquid to this solution. Now mix in half a cup of baking powder to this solution. And you have your own home-made cleaning solution ready! To clean the fireplace all you now need is a few rags. We say few because depending on how dirty your insert actually is, you might need more than one rag. Take the rag and submerge it in our cleaning solution. Now use this rag to methodically clean all around the vents and grates. Use another rag if the first one doesn’t do the trick. Keep a tub of clean water and a few clean rags handy. After you’ve cleaned the insert with the cleaning solution, then use the clean water to clean off the remnants of the cleaning solution. Pro tip: Keep multiple dry and clean rags handy. The dry rags will help you thoroughly clean out all the moisture from the fireplace. Pro tip: To clean the glass parts of your fireplace, either use a glass cleaning solution or spray some white vinegar on the glass features to get them sparkling clean!!
  • 5. Put your Fireplace Back TogetherOnce you are done cleaning your entire fireplace, make sure you put everything back in the same place you found it. If you find yourself with more parts than you started with, then just quickly look up on Google to figure out what that might be.Be sure to wipe off all the moisture from the fireplace parts before you put it all back in.

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