Preparing your Fireplace for its First Fire

Your fireplace may have been out of work over the past few months, but as it gets colder and you start craving having a crackling fire in your fireplace again, there are a few steps you should take before doing so. First, you need to make sure that your chimney is working properly. It's a good idea to have a professional chimney sweep with experience in NYC chimney repair take a look at your fireplace and chimney once a year, so have this done before anything else. The professionals will also check for cracks or missing mortar that could be signs of deterioration.

When selecting the wood to burn your fire with, choose a dense wood. Oak logs that have been split and stored somewhere high and dry produce the most ideal flames. You don't want to have too high of flames, because a fire that's too hot or large can crack the chimney. This would be a nightmare to fix and could be very dangerous to your home.