# Cleaning soot off of fireplace



## drewdin (Aug 30, 2013)

my fireplace is pretty dirty, what can i use to clean the soot off, ant recommendations? Thanks


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## nealtw (Sep 17, 2013)

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Soot-from-Brick


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## drewdin (Sep 18, 2013)

Heres a pic of the fireplace, it needs some tlc. I googled and found the same article, Ill follow the instructions and see how it comes out. Should I avoid chemicals? Thoughts on painting fireplaces? Thanks


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## nealtw (Sep 18, 2013)

Getting soot on the front sometimes indicates a poor design, you may want to check that.
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/fireplaces-a-construction-primer.shtml


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## BridgeMan (Sep 25, 2013)

It should be considered a crime to paint over anything made of brick.  Doing so will instantly lessen the value of your property.  And paint won't stick to soot, so why bother?


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## drewdin (Oct 5, 2013)

i followed the instructions in that link and it worked like a charm, here is the after.


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## nealtw (Oct 5, 2013)

You couldn't ask for more than that, good job.


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## drewdin (Oct 6, 2013)

Thanks and thanks for the tip!


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## nealtw (Oct 6, 2013)

I hope you are not going to paint it now. But either way you need to look at why the soot got there in the first place. With older houses that leaked air like mad, there was lot,s of replacement air to feed the fire, of coarse that was all those drafts that we didn't like. After years of trying to tighten up houses even older houses have tightened up and now we have close dryers, bathroom and hood fans and maybe furnace all looking for replacement air. And sometimes just poor fireplace design and sometimes a decritive sheet metal flashing across the top of the opening will help.
Sometimes it's just how the fire is started and insuring the draft before droping the flame on the kindling.


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