A fireplace in your living room makes it look as homely as possible. The beautiful setting and ambience you can create is unrivalled. However, there are some practical elements to consider before lighting your fire.
Here, Homefire wants to explain what a hearth is and help you understand the best ways to keep your fireplace hearth clean so the area looks stunning.
What is a Fireplace Hearth?
A fireplace hearth is the raised floor area within a fireplace and directly in front of it, usually formed with bricks or stone. The aesthetics will usually match the design surrounding the fireplace's sides.
The purpose of a hearth is to protect the immediate flooring from heat or ember damage that the fire could cause. When a fire is burning without a hearth, ash and other dangerous remnants could ruin the carpet, tiling, or wooden floorboards you have laid down, with potentially hazardous consequences.
Hearth and Fireplace Maintenance
Always let your fire cool down completely before cleaning the hearth or any area connected to the fireplace.
Now, you can grab a dustpan (with a closable cover so no debris escapes) and brush to sweep all the debris into the dustpan, then close the lid. You can now safely remove all the debris and place it in the appropriate outdoor bin so it can be disposed of correctly.
Once all the easy-to-remove dirt has been collected and removed, grab a mop, bucket, and a small amount of gentle soap to mix in with the water. Wash every inch of the hearth so it becomes noticeably cleaner and more of the deeper dirt is removed than sweeping alone achieves.
Dry the area with an old but relatively clean towel to prepare for your next fire assembly. Fireplace hearth cleaning after every use will result in less ash and soot build-up so that the job will be much more straightforward each time.
Using Solid Fuel to Reduce Hearth Dirt
Traditional house coal tends to leave too much ash and soot in your fireplace and hearth, making the clean-up job much more challenging than it needs to be. Instead, choosing Homefire Smokeless Coal means your fire will burn more efficiently and, therefore, more cleanly. Increased efficiency means not only will there be less to clean afterwards, but because the briquettes are energy-dense, you'll get more heat from your fire.
Kiln-Dried Hardwood Logs are the perfect choice if you prefer a log fire. With its very low ash content, these seasoned firewood logs are long-lasting and heat your home brilliantly, providing you with gorgeous flames.
These options limit the ash your fireplace, chimney, and hearth will face, reducing how much time or money you spend cleaning these areas.
