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Making A Home Your Family Will Love

When it comes to creating a gorgeous interior space, your home will only be as beautiful as your family allows it to be. If your children don't respect the space, your home will quickly fall back into disrepair, which is why I started focusing more and more on home and garden a few years ago. I was committed to creating a great space that was just as clean and gorgeous as it was functional, and I was really surprised to see how much of a difference my efforts made. Within a few short years, my place really seemed a lot more open, airy, and inviting. Check out this blog for great ideas on making a family-oriented home.

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Making A Home Your Family Will Love

Bought A New Home With A Wood Burning Fireplace? 2 Tips To Keep The Fireplace Maintained

by Alice Howard

If you purchased a new home and it has a fireplace you need to learn how to keep the fireplace maintained. This is because a fireplace can be dangerous if not taken care of in the right way. Keep reading for two tips so your fireplace will stay in great condition. 

Keep it Clean

One of the most important things you can do is to keep the fireplace clean. Each time you use your fireplace, remove the ashes when you take the fire out. Make sure the ashes are cold before you remove them. If you do not keep the ashes cleaned up, they will pile up inside the fireplace. If this happens, the airflow will be blocked, and you will have a lot of excess smoke that may get inside your home. 

There are fireplace shovels that you can use to remove ashes. You can also purchase an ash vacuum that is made specifically for this purpose. You can find these online and at some home improvement stores. The vacuum bags used with this type of vacuum has filters inside of them that prevents ash particles from getting out of the bag. The vacuum cleaner will also handle hot coals that you may have in the fireplace that you are not aware of. These hot coals would damage a traditional vacuum and could even cause a fire. 

Hire a Chimney Sweep

You should have a chimney sweep clean your fireplace for you regularly. If you use your fireplace a lot, then doing this one time each year is likely enough. The chimney sweep will clean the walls inside the chimney using a special scraper and brush on a long pole. The chimney sweep will also make sure there are no problems with your fireplace. For example, there may be damaged brick that you are not aware of, or the chimney cap may have damage. 

This is also important as creosote can build up inside a chimney over time. Creosote is black and feels much like sticky tar, which makes it difficult to clean on your own. This is dangerous as creosote can easily catch on fire. The chimney sweep can give you tips on what you can do to keep your fireplace clean throughout the year. 

Fireplaces can be enjoyable sitting in front of them during the winter months. If you follow these tips, you and your family won't have to worry about problems with your fireplace throughout the winter months. Contact a fireplace maintenance specialist for more information.

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