Fireplace Tools

If you own a woodburning fireplace, or even a ventless or gel fireplace, you will need some tools to make your fireplace more enjoyable.  There are many different tools that you can buy for your fireplace, but mostly when someone mentions fireplace tools, often we think of the stand at the corner of the hearth that has the poker, little shovel for ashes and a log tongs.

However, what are some of the best fireplace tools that you can own?  What about items for maintenance issues, such as soot removers or hearth repairs?

One of the basic and most versatile items used for your fireplace is the plain fireplace tools set. You can find all of the basic needs in this one kit, your log tongs, shovel, brush and poker.

There are many different types of fireplace tool sets that you can buy, and even a wider selection of styles on the market these days to satisfy your home decor needs. You can find everything from brass to stainless steel and even wrought iron and cast iron.

Even though the tools will all be similar in appearance, the holder for these tools can really set a room and hearth apart. There are many different approaches in the appearance and manufacturing of the tool holders that offer a wide selection of visual appeal. You can find basic black standing hook holders for your tools, or if you want lots of loops and swirls, you can also find them as well.

Another new trend with fireplace tools is the whimsical look that incorporates items into the tool handles and rack. You can find custom fireplace tools that have animals or other tokens on the handles that can really complement your themed fireplace room.

Sometimes you can match your fireplace tool set to go along with your mantel or fireplace screen and really incorporate a look that you are wanting with the heart and fireplace being the focal point of your whole room.  It can take a little looking around or finding the right fireplace specialty store that offers all of these items, however depending upon your budget you can easily find the "whole package" that you want.

While most tool sets have at a minimum a shovel, brush, poker and tongs, you need to be sure to check the specifications on each set that you are considering in order to make sure you are getting what you really need. Some sets don't come with all 4 items or offer a mix of different tools, so double check what you are purchasing.

While over time the use of your fireplace can lead to maintenance and cleaning needs, most of these can be accomplished by yourself. However, an annual chimney cleaning and inspection is the most valuable investment that you can make.

Many homes are damaged or destroyed by creosote buildup causing fires. Also the flue pipes can crack or become damaged to the point that they can allow heat and flame to penetrate into walls or attic spaces. An annual chimney cleaning and inspection is not very expensive and should be considered as a basic maintenance item for your fireplace.

So, what about those creosote cleaning logs that you can burn? Do they really work? Well, yes and no. While creosote is normal in a wood burning fireplace over time, the normal maintenance of a chimney sweep will take care of cleaning your flue out. The creosote removal logs do work to a certain degree by drying out and allowing creosote buildup to loosen and break away from the flue wall.

You can often times avoid having extensive creosote buildup by being cautious with what type of wood you burn in your fireplace. You want to make sure that you are burning dry hardwoods, such as oak. If you burn pine or other green woods that contain higher amounts of sap, you will have a larger creosote buildup.

Sometimes you will notice that you will begin to get cracks in the bricks of your fireplace. Overtime the heating and cooling will cause the mortar in the joints to being coming out. You can often take care of replacing the mortar in these joints, if it isn't excessive, by using a fireplace rated mortar caulk. This is a great item, however it shouldn't be used as a "cure all" if your fireplace has lots of cracks or is loosing a lot of mortar in the joints. Have a qualified chimney sweep or brick layer service your hearth at this point.

There are several different items that you can use to clean the soot out of the heart and restore the bricks to a more natural look. One item is almost like a brick itself, but you could consider it to be a sanding brick. It just cleans the soot from the walls of the firebox like sandpaper and works quite well. Although nothing will fully clean and restore the bricks to like new, this works pretty good.

You can also learn more about how to clean fireplace glass, including the different types of fireplace glass doors and replacement glass panels.

One thing that can occur is after you have a fire in your fireplace.  People don't think about this, however it is a common problem seen across America, if not the world.  How you dispose of your fireplace ashes can affect your future.

When you are cleaning out your fireplace, it might not seem like the ashes are hot or even warm anymore.  Don't let this fool you into thinking that you can dispose of them into your trash can in the garage or put them into a paper bag on your deck for disposal later.

Many fire departments have reported homes being burned down or heavily damaged because the ashes were improperly disposed of.  Sometimes ashes can maintain heat for up to 7 days or more!

The best method for proper disposal of fireplace ashes is to put them into a metal bucket and soak them with water.  Let them sit for several days and stir them to make sure they are out. 

So, you might wonder why fireplace ashes seem cool when they really aren't?  When wood burns, if there is not complete combustion it can smolder.  While it doesn't seem like it is hot or holding enough heat to cause a problem, if given the proper circumstances, you could be met with devastating results.

When you pack fireplace ashes into a paper bag, for example, the heat that is still in the wood remnants can feed off of the other ashes and self generate enough heat to ignite.  Just as you can easily restart your fire the next morning by stirring the ashes in your fireplace around and adding more wood, so the ashes in a trash can or paper bag that have been improperly disposed of ignite.