Light your fire

KAREN WIGHT

October is the perfect time to tune up your fireplace before colder

weather settles in. When that first rain comes and you want to start

a fire, you’ll be ready to heat things up.

A wood-burning fireplace gets a buildup of sap and soot. If you’ve

ever had a fire literally backfire, you won’t want to repeat the

incident. And yes, there are such things as chimney sweeps, and a few

of them even wear costumes right out of “Mary Poppins.” Years ago, we

had a chimney sweep find a little red piece of fabric, obviously a

leftover from Santa’s suit. Nice touch for the “littles” in the

house.

Aside from a good cleaning, sweeping the chimney helps draw the

smoke up and out of the house. One year, I forgot to open the flue

before I started the first fire of the season. The results weren’t

good.

Gas logs don’t get the buildup that wood-burning fires make, but

they still need to be cleaned. Chimney sweeps check for cracks in the

flu, and if you don’t have a fire cap installed over your exterior

fire stack, they can take care of that. If you have gas logs, check

the connection from the gas line to the burner. If you don’t have a

fire cap, the rain can rust your burners. Then, you just get one

large fire in the corner instead of a balanced flame throughout your

logs.

Every few years, it’s a good idea to replace the little lava rocks

and fiberglass embers, if for no other reason that the old setup gets

dusty over the course of a few years. And I’m fairly sure your list

of things to do doesn’t include “dust the stuff in the fireplace.”

Be sure that the fire screen fits the opening so embers don’t jump

out and cause little burn marks on your rugs. If you need fire tools

for a wood burning fire, check out the closest fireplace store. And

while you’re there, peruse the selection of fireplace accessories.

You can shoot a wad buying andirons, bumpers, grates, tools and gas

keys.

Personally, I have a thing for unusual andirons. If you know the

lingo, andirons are a pair of metal stands that hold the logs or fire

grate in place. Some people call them firedogs, but I think andirons

sounds more decorative.

I do have a pair of owl (not dog) andirons in the family room

fireplace. The owls’ eyes are yellow marbles and glow when the fire

is burning. C-o-o-l.

Find a place to tuck a log lighter near your fireplace(s),

preferably one with a long neck if you have gas logs. Last winter, I

singed the hair off the arm that was lighting the fire. Trust me,

burning hair smells really bad.

If you have a wood-burning fireplace and are tired of dragging

logs into the house (I always wait until it rains to ask Ben to get

firewood ... or so he says), a conversion to gas logs is easy. They

even have remote-control fire logs. Sounds like a good idea, but

we’ve got so many remotes in the house, one more might send me over

the edge. There’s no button for “fire” on the universal remote, so

you might actually have to keep track of it.

So, the checklist is: install fire cap outside over the chimney

stack, clean flu, check gas connections, clean or replace lava rock

and fiberglass, dress up the fireplace with great andirons, and get a

long fire lighter.

When the weather outside turns frightful, your fire will be so

delightful.