The Handy Homeowner Girl

When I was looking at houses, a fireplace was never on my “must have” list, but I was very excited when my eventual home ended up having one.  During the inspection, the home inspector pointed out a small crack at the back of the fireplace, and suggested that I have a cleaner come to inspect it further before lighting a fire.  I finally got around to doing that last week and learned that because the fireplace is a pre-fabricated one, that’s common.  Unfortunately, the company that makes them is out of business, so it would be difficult to replace that back panel, which is where most of the heat during a fire resides.  He reassured me that it’s not a danger at this point and that I could still have a fire without burning my house down (phew!), but in the future, I’ll need to consider having him come back to seal up the crack and put in a heat reflector/shield, which will protect that back panel from further damage.  I certainly plan to do that, but not for a few months at least.

In the meantime, I can still enjoy a nice, cozy, crackling fire!

So in my weekend travels, I picked up a couple of small bundles of wood (not the most economical way of doing it, but I plan to only have a few fires).  I already had fatwood at home, which is a natural fire starter, so I didn’t pick up any of those lighter logs.  I called my parents to double-check the process and then got started.  I also made sure to have fireplace tools on hand, in case the logs shifted and I needed to move one.

When I had my fireplace cleaned, I learned that my grate was slightly too big (making it a bit of a jiggle to get the doors closed).  I did use the big grate for my first fire, but plan to measure the space and replace it soon.  My dad suggested that I start with four logs, the first two placed horizontally, with a little bit of space between them:

The next two logs should be place at an angle, to allow for some room between them all:

Once the logs were set up, I checked to make sure the flue was open – this is key, because that’s how the smoke escapes your house.  Before you light the fire, check to make sure the flue is open!

Then, I lit my first piece of fatwood and got ready for my fire!

I inserted it towards the back of the fireplace, between the top and bottom rows of logs, to help it set them afire.  I then lit another piece of fatwood and repeated the process on the other side so that it would burn evenly.

It's starting to smoke!

Finally, the fire started to get going.

Then it caught on a little more.

Finally, it was a beautiful fire!  I made sure to pull the metal curtains closed so that a certain curious basset hound of mine wouldn’t be tempted to check it out, though it turned out he wasn’t interested in the fire at all!

I was very excited to have my first fire, and look forward to many more successful cozy ones this winter!