I finally got around to having our first fire of the winter. The first thing I do each year is clean all of the ashes out the fire place and make sure the chimney, flue and fire place are all in good working order. I always do this before the first fire, and this year has been fairly hectic so it has taken longer than usual. The thing I noticed this year was that the fire place doors were filthy. The last fire we had last year must have been pretty smoky because the glass doors were almost opaque. In my thirst for cleaning knowledge I tried three different cleaning methods to find out which one worked the best. Here are my results:
- Dryer Sheet - I had this listed in my notebook as working on glass candle jars. I have a really nice glass oil lamp I have used this on before with success, so I tried it on the fireplace doors. Needless to say, the grime was too tough for the dryer sheet and it just ripped apart.
- My Homemade Brick Fireplace Cleaner - This worked pretty well but, the way the doors fold it was pretty hard to get a brush into the tight areas. It also made a pretty big mess because the doors are vertical the water just runs down them onto the hearth.
- The Magic Eraser - This was the best of the three. It got into the hard to reach places and didn't take too much physical effort.
The Magic Eraser won this challenge. Luckily I have started to find these fairly cheaply. The dollar store had a package of two with half sponge half Magic Eraser for $1 and Target had a package of 4 all Erasers for $2. If you haven't tried the Magic Eraser, pick one up at the store. They really are magic.
I finally got around to having our first fire of the winter. The first thing I do each year is clean all of the ashes out the fire place and make sure the chimney, flue and fire place are all in good working order. I always do this before the first fire, and this year has been fairly hectic so it has taken longer than usual. The thing I noticed this year was that the fire place doors were filthy. The last fire we had last year must have been pretty smoky because the glass doors were almost opaque. In my thirst for cleaning knowledge I tried three different cleaning methods to find out which one worked the best. Here are my results:
