How To Properly Use A Fireplace (Step-By-Step)

When the weather gets colder, there isn’t any bigger comfort than laying on the couch and watching the sparks inside of your fireplace.

However, you deserve to know the best way to use a fireplace to ensure long-lasting fire without compromising your safety.

Just follow all the steps carefully and you should have the best fire in no time.

6 IMPORTANT Steps To Follow When Using A Fireplace

Step 1: Pile up the kindling

Place a pile of kindling into a fireplace, grabbing different sizes including small and large kindling.

Before you even gather it, you must make sure the wood is seasoned or kiln-dried. The last thing you want is wet wood which won’t heat up your home, it will only produce more smoke. EPA says wood burns best at a moisture content below 20 percent and should season for at least six months.

Seasoned wood is easier to find as kiln-dried wood can be expensive and not the best budget-friendly option.

You can easily spot a perfectly dried wood:

• The bark peels off easily
• It’s light brown color instead of looking “fresh” and green
• It has cracks at the ends

Another thing to pay attention to is to use softwood or hardwood logs. I’m personally a fan of softwood, but you can go with either option.

Step 2: Open The Damper

The damper is responsible for transferring ash and smoke outside of your home.

When it’s not opened and positioned properly, it will circulate the smoke back to your home.

There should be a small handle inside of your chimney that you need to adjust to fully open the damper.

If you’re not sure the damper is open, look up into the fireplace with a flashlight. Don’t put your head into the flue.

Step 3: Preheat the flue

You need to preheat the flue before starting a fire.

You’re doing this because you don’t want the smoke to go all over your house.

Grab some old newspaper (not glossy magazines, whose colored ink EPA says not to burn) and light it up. Hold it while the damper is open to spread the warm air up the flue.

After a couple of minutes, your wood-burning fireplace should be ready to spark the kindling.

Step 4: Build the fire

There are a ton of different methods of building a fire, but the two most popular are the traditional method and the top-down method.

The traditional method requires newspaper at the base of the fireplace and then adding kindling and logs on top of it.

If you’re using a grate inside of your fireplace, I recommend putting newspaper underneath it.

Now, position the kindlings first, and then add logs at the top of it. Make sure everything is stable.

The top-down method is popular for a long, steady burn. It has become so popular nowadays, that all of my friends (including me) are using it.

Grab your logs and put them in a linear row at the bottom.

Place more logs (smaller ones) on top of the previous logs and make sure they are in the opposite direction – horizontal.

Then you place kindling and newspaper on the top while making sure that the newspaper won’t fall off as soon as the fire starts.

Keep your chimney clean too: creosote build-up increases the danger of a house fire, so have it inspected every year (see the brick fireplace cleaning guide for the firebox itself).

Step 5: Start The Fire

When lighting a fire, you need to light the “fire-starter” first – that’s always newspapers.

So, depending on the method you choose, you might start the fire from the top or from the bottom.

My recommendation is to use long-neck lighters as they’re much safer and you can reach the front and back of the newspaper to start the fire immediately. Never start a fire with gasoline, kerosene or charcoal starter.

After you start the fire, it still isn’t enough. You must make sure that the fire doesn’t stop.

Step 6: Keep The Fire

You should add more logs so the fire can spread properly and continue to heat your home.

Don’t worry if the log is “too big” as the temperature rises and it’s easy for those logs to start burning.

My advice is to use hardwood logs for keeping the fire as it’s more durable.

Also, an often mistake is that people start adding “wet” wood thinking it won’t do any harm. In fact, you will decrease your burn effectiveness and have a shorter burning fire.

Safety Tips When Using A Fireplace

Fireplaces can do a lot of damage to your home if not used properly. Don’t forget to complete the annual chimney inspection to always make sure everything goes smooth.

Here are additional safety tips to apply:

• Place smoke detectors in all bedrooms to keep the home healthy and safe
• Check that your carbon monoxide alarms are working, on every level of the home and outside sleeping areas
• Keep a working fire extinguisher where you can reach it quickly in case of unexpected fire
• Clean the ashes regularly, using an ash vacuum cleaner only once they are completely cold, and keep them in a covered metal container outdoors on a nonflammable surface.
• Use a fireplace screen to not allow anything to fall out of the fireplace
• Never put anything flammable near the fireplace

All in all, using a fireplace isn’t a complicated process. I laid out the steps to properly use it and to maximize your burning time.

If you found the article helpful, please share it with your friends who also own a fireplace and let them enjoy a better fire.