The end of summer is approaching and now is a good time to look at maintenance of your open fire place and slow combustion heaters. So what maintenance needs to be done to your fireplace? Here are a few things to consider:

  • having your chimney and flue cleaned.
  • Check for loose fire bricks and replace where necessary.
  • Remove last years ash and give the heater a good clean out.
  • The glass can be cleaned with a damp cloth dipped in ash – yes ash, it acts as an abrasive to remove the tar build up.
  • If the outside of your heater is looking a bit faded why not give it a coat of  ‘pot belly black’ to spruce it up.

Fire side tools can make the chore of feeding and maintaining a fire a pleasure or a chore. It’s important to use sturdy and well made equipment as the last thing you want is to have a log roll across your floor or embers dropping onto your carpet or wooden floors. Here are a few items we’ve made – the heavy duty fire tongs are my favourite and most used item.