– Do you really know how to make a fire?”
Two things I didn’t know I wanted but got when moving into this apartment a couple of years ago was 1. A really big and nice bathroom 2. A fire place. But now in deep winter there is pretty nothing nicer than to take 1. a bath in a roomy bathroom preferable with locked door and a new eisode of let’s say Greys Anatomy. 2. Making a fire and snuggle in the sofa.
But the first months every time we made a fire we had a lot of problems with the room (s) getting smoked filled and everything in the apartment smelling like a BBQ. The previous owners told us al little about this and that there was some sort of costly mechanic fan that could help. It is always harder to light a fire when you really want to – like those days when it’s pouring outside or when the weather is full on English.
I had a chimney sweeping company over. They looked at the chimney and everything and there was talks back and forth for a couple of months. I was kind of sad we couldn’t really use the fire place because of all the smoke. But then one day I called the company again and a girl answered. Sha asked me a really simple question. – Do you know how to start a proper fire?
I kinda laughed. -EEH what do you mean? Of course I do. You take some logs and a match and you light it up – no?
Turned out I needed to learn a couple of things. And ever since it works like magic here at home. And I met a lot of people telling me they had the same problem so here comes a fire starter lesson!
- Close all doors and windows to the room with the fire place. But leave one window a little bit open (In the beginning or when the fire need to get a boost – you can open the window a bit more to let more air in). That will give the room/air circulation but only from one direction.
- In the fire place it’s good to have something to put the logs on so the air can move underneath. We have this Fire dog but since we learned that the chimney isn’t that long we also help the logs to come closer to the chimney by using a fire basket. That’s the iron net thing underneath the wood. (Actually it’s a bit unnecessary to use both the dog and the net but I got the dog already and it looks nice.
- Always light the fire with some specially bought fire starters. Like this white little package in this image. Paper will give more smoke so that’s a no no.
- Best for the chimney is to have a proper fire at once so that the chimeny get hot. Small “cold” fires will only fill the chimney with ash.
My other fire at home. Sometimes I go by the standard – What would a heavy metal band use for image in their soft ballad videos? A room filled with candles and probably a tub in the middle…
Well I have a tub next to the living room. It will do. This image is whats going on when I’m starting a fire in the room next door.
Try it – I hope it works out for you as good as it has done for me!
Time to light it up once again!
xx
Isabelle
4 Comments
Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.
Om man inte har en korg eller hund funkar en pagod jättebra. Stapla veden som ett litet timmerhus.
yes, smart!
THANK YOU!!!!
thank you!