We’ve put our winter coats away (we hope!), the sun is shining and although there are still some cooler evenings, for the most part you are probably thinking you are done using the fireplace until next fall.  So you don’t need to replenish your woodpile until August or September,

Reason # 1 Spring is in the air and the critters are on the move.  Mama raccoon is looking for a good, safe place to birth her “kits” and if you have a masonry chimney without a flue cap, you may be chosen for her new home.  A good quality flue cap installed correctly wi

Just like chamging the oil in your car prolongs its life, the same is true for fireplaces and woodstoves. The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) recommends all wood burning systems (fireplaces and woodstoves) be structurally checked annually, and have their chimneys swept as neces

Greeting cards abound with sentiments of love, television commercials focus on gleaming diamonds and your inbox is flooded with offers from florists.  Ah yes, it’s that time of year again, the time when we are urged to show our love and affection for that special someone in our liv

Your favorite Christmas present is the big screen TV you got.  The installation guys have finally come and hung it over the fireplace.  You settle in on the couch to watch the latest game, and all of a sudden you hear a scratching noise.  THAT’S not part of the announcers instant

  It was a peaceful scene if you looked outside.  Snow fell with a whisper, gently covering the large fir trees surrounding the clearing.  In the soft light of the night, you could just barely see the lights of the barn, where the reindeer were snuggled up warm in the hay.  If

On October 12th, NBC’s Today Show did a hidden camera report on chimney sweeps.  With the weather getting colder it is important to make sure that your fireplace and chimney are in good working order, and that your chimney is clean, before you touch a match to that first fire of th

  Sometimes there is nothing better than a warm fire in the fireplace.  When the beauty of the changing Aspens is offset by the chill in the air, or the sparkle of the snow is outdone by the cold, or even if you just want to add a little romance to your evening, flames flickerin

As summer turns into fall, we tend to look for ways to make our homes cozier for the upcoming winter months.  Throws and blankets come out of the closet.  Shorts and T-shirts are replaced with jeans and sweaters. Now is the time to think about other ways to warm up your house.  If

It’s fall and time to make sure that you  have your needed wood supply for this winter.  I often get asked, “Is it all right to burn pine?  I hear that it is not a good wood.”  Needless to say, there are lots of different kinds of wood – pine, birch, cedar,