Fired up: Taking care of your fireplace

CEDAR RAPIDS - When the weather outside is frightful, homeowners with a fireplace can curl up in front of crackling logs and warm flames.

Just make sure you're taking care of that fireplace properly, cautions Glen Mangold, owner of Cedar Rapids-based Sonshine Chimney Service.

'In the fall when you check your smoke alarms, that's a good time to get your fireplace cleaned,” he says. 'A lot of people don't think about it until they're ready to start burning a fire.”

The National Fire Protection Association recommends people have their fireplaces cleaned annually. That can help prevent chimney fires.

'Creosote is the solid particulates of smoke - and it's combustible,” Mangold says. 'When it builds up, in the event of a chimney fire that would be fuel for the fire.”

Different fireplaces accumulate creosote at different rates, but homeowners can do a few things to reduce the rate of buildup in their chimney.

The first is to burn dry wood - wood that has cured for at least a year. Damp wood creates more smoke as it burns, leading to more creosote buildup.

The other is to use the brush that comes in any fireplace tool set.

'It's very important to clean down low as needed,” he says. 'Ninety-five percent of chimney fires start at the bottom and spread up to the top. Keeping the creosote dusted off at the bottom regularly is a good idea.”

If you'd rather skip yearly cleanings and dealing with dusting off ash, you should consider adapting your fireplace to gas.

A gas fireplace might take as long as 20 years to build up the same amount of particles that a wood-burning fireplace does, Mangold says.

Gas fireplaces can be installed right into existing wood burning fireplaces, says Ar-Jay Center fireplace manager Heath Wetjen.

Many of the homeowners he works want the quick, no fuss start a gas fireplace offers, he says.

Two options for adding gas to your fireplace are gas logs or gas fireplace inserts.

Inserts involve two metal liners running through the chimney. One acts as the exhaust vent, while the other pulls in outside air to feed the fire.

That saves energy and lowers heating bills, Wetjen says, because traditional fireplaces pull in air from the living room. With inserts, the fire box is sealed off the room, so warm air can't escape up the chimney.

However, a gas insert upgrade won't come cheap - most of the installations Ar-Jay does run $3,500 to $4,500.

Want to spend a bit less?

You might try gas logs. They also offer the quick start and low fuss, but without the liners of an insert, warm air will still escape from the room. Ar-Jay's installations typically run $800-$1,200, though prices can rise depending on size and style.

'The nice thing is, you flip the switch and have heat in 20 minutes,” Wetjen says. 'With wood fireplaces, you have to get it going, and it still takes a long time to give you enough heat.”