This year, don\u2019t take your comfort and safety for granted. Starting a fire in the fireplace can come with a cost, and you need to be sure your home is as safe as possible before you can enjoy the cozy glow of a fire on a quiet evening with your loved ones.<\/p>\n
This year, be sure your home is prepared. Do these three things BEFORE you use your fireplace this year.<\/p>\n
We cannot emphasize this one enough. It may seem as though your chimney is tough and would not suffer much damage over the course of a year. But we\u2019ve seen a lot of accidents occur as a result of this.<\/p>\n
Damage to the masonry, problems with the chimney flue, leaks, grime, and debris are all things that can allow for a chimney fire to ignite and potentially spread to the outside of your home.<\/p>\n
Call professional chimney sweeps and make sure that your home is safe with a complete inspection and chimney cleaning (to get flammable creosote out of there).<\/p>\n
The smoke alarms in your house MUST be tested each month. It\u2019s such a simple task, and doing this once each month is well worth knowing that your family will be safe and sound. Hold down the button on the detector unit. If you don\u2019t hear a loud, obnoxious beep, something is wrong!<\/p>\n
Just a reminder: you can\u2019t use your fireplace if the damper is closed! Some people forget this simple step when they\u2019re first starting up the fireplace in the winter, and we just want to make sure you do not make the same mistake.<\/p>\n
Open up the damper before you use your fireplace each time\u2014and close it afterwards. That way, you won\u2019t have to worry about heat escaping when you run your furnace.<\/p>\n