People tend to use their fireplace the most during the cold days of winter and vacuuming or sweeping it at least once a week is a must if you want to keep your fireplace clean. And if you are one of those people who clean the fireplace only once every year, chances are you will have to follow all the steps mentioned below to clean up the fireplace on your own.
- Safety measures
Cleaning up a fireplace can be a hard task at hand considering the amount of debris and soot you will find in there. To save yourself from a Halloween makeover and to protect your clothes and hands from getting dirty, you should wear an apron and a pair of gloves before you get started. Also, it is a good idea to wear old clothes so that you don’t have to worry about getting new ones dirty.
Apart from getting yourself prepared for hours of cleaning and scrubbing, you can also place a sheet or an old rag covering the floor so that the floor remains clean while you are working.
- Cleaning the debris
Before you start scrubbing the fireplace, it is important to get rid of all the debris that you can with your hands. If you see any remains of wood that can still be used, store it for later use. After you have removed most of the debris, use your vacuum to get rid of the rest of the remains as much as possible.
- Sweeping the fireplace
A small broom or a brush is all you need to sweep up the fireplace clean. If you don’t have either of these at home, head to the store and grab yourself a small broom and a dustpan. Once you’ve gathered both of these tools, hold the brush and start sweeping away all the dust and dirt from every corner of the chimney.
Since you’ll mostly be sweeping through numerous dust particles, it is better if you pour in a few grounds of coffee to add a little weight to the dirt. This will make sweeping easier for you without having to suffocate due to the dust particles.
- All-purpose cleaner
Spray a thin layer of your all-purpose cleaner inside the chimney from top to bottom to ensure that the fireplace is damp before you start scrubbing it.
- Scrubbing & Cleaning
You can either buy a fireplace cleaner from the store or make your own at home. If you want to make a home-made cleaner, you’ll be needing 2 tablespoons of tartar cream and water combined in a container. You can also use a mixture of vinegar and water instead of tartar cream and water. Either way, you will have to soak an abrasive brush in your cleaner and scrub through the surfaces of your chimney.
Wait for about 30 minutes after scrubbing to let the cleaner work on stains.
- Removing buildups
For the last step, you will have to scrub away the buildups since they will have loosened up after half an hour. Once you’re done scrubbing, use a piece of clean cloth soaked in warm water to wipe the chimney from top to bottom without missing any corner
Note that you may have to wipe up the fireplace several times or even repeat the entire process if the stains still remain. You can use different sized brushes, or even a toothbrush if you can’t reach out to certain corners of the fireplace while scrubbing it clean.
