15 Steps – Make It a Clean Sweep for Your Fireplace

In the movie Mary Poppins, which is set in London, England in the early 1900s, Dick Van Dyke plays Bert, a chimney sweep. For those of you who have not seen the movie, a chimney sweep is a person who cleans chimneys. In that era, most buildings were heated by one, or more fireplaces. England is not known for its warm weather, so the fireplaces were used almost daily.

Whether burning wood or coal, fires make a mess. In the fireplace itself there is ash. In the chimney, the gases that are created by the fires accumulate on the inside of the flue, leaving a black coating. Over time this debris gets in the way and may get into the room where the fireplace is located. The debris can blow out of the fireplace and stain flooring and furniture.