Your Local Prime Real EstateYour Local Prime Real Estate

Your Family Broker

203-984-8228
info@agprimerealty.com
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Buy
  • Sell
  • Our Cities
    • Stamford
    • Greenwich
    • Darien
    • New Canaan
    • Wilton
    • Westport
    • Norwalk
  • HUD Homes
    • How to Buy a HUD-Owned Home
    • HUD FAQs for Consumers and the General Public
    • HUD FAQs for Real Estate Agents
    • HUD Home Financing Codes
    • HUD Blog Postings
  • REO
  • About
  • Client Reviews
  • Contact
  • Blog

Maintaining the Beauty of Your Natural Stone Fireplace

In your home or in your vacation cabin, a handsome stone hearth is often the gathering
place for comfy family evenings. But accumulations of dirt, soot and ash can make your
fireplace less efficient and ruin the lovely patina of natural stone.

You can help maintain its beauty and safety with this once-yearly facelift routine:

Clean the firebox. At least 12 hours after extinguishing the last fire, or preferably
before lighting the first fire of the year, lay drop cloths around the fireplace area to
protect against airborne particles. Put on gloves and a dust mask and use a small
shovel to scoop any remaining ash from the firebox. Place the ashes in a metal
container with a tight-fitting lid and store it outside, away from flammable materials,
until youre ready to discard it. Run a small vacuum cleaner in and around the firebox
and surrounding area.

Scrub the stone. Dilute a quarter cup of dish soap with hot water in a bucket and
use a small scrub brush dipped in the solution to clean the stone surface from
top to bottom. You may be surprised at how much trapped dirt and grit you can scrub out.

Gauge the need for deeper cleaning. If the fireplace has not been used for a long
time, you may find that soapy water is not enough to remove old smoke stains. In that
case, dissolve a half-cup of TSP cleaning powder in three-quarts of hot water and try again
with a stiff brush. TSP is both a de-greaser and a heavy-duty cleaner, making it more
effective than soap alone for eliminating stubborn stains and creosote.

Rinse it down. Empty the soapy water and refill the bucket with cold water. Use a
clean rag to make one or two passes over the entire stone surface, wiping away any
soap suds and loosened dirt. Go over it again with a dry rag, then let the surface air-
dry before lighting a fire.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Source: RIS

Posted in: Uncategorized Tagged: Blockquotes

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post navigation

« 5 Improvements That Can Increase Your Home's Value
Keeping Your Child's Credit History Clean »
Search for:

Featured Homes

Resources

  • Blog
  • Buying Home
  • Financing
  • First Home Buyers
  • First Time Home Buyers
  • For Buyers
  • For Sellers
  • Housing Market Updates
  • HUD
  • Infographics
  • Interest Rates
  • Millennials
  • Move-Up Buyers
  • Pricing
  • Real Estate
  • Resources
  • Selling Home
  • Uncategorized

Search Tools

  • Basic Search
  • Address Search
  • Advanced Search
  • Home Valuation
  • Map Search
  • My Account
  • MLS Number
  • Contact

Our Neighborhood

Stamford

Westport

Wilton

Norwalk

Greenwich

Darien

New Canaan

REAL ESTATE IN FOCUS

Trust… Care… Expertise… = Real Results! - Whether you buy or sell we make it hassle free. - We love what we do. - We love people. - A different approach with exceptional results!

Our Neighborhood

  • Stamford
  • Greenwich
  • Darien
  • New Canaan
  • Wilton
  • Westport
  • Norwalk

Contact Us

AG Prime Realty
Stamford, CT 06903

203-984-8228
info@agprimerealty.com
© 2023 · AG Prime Realty LLC, Licensed Real Estate Broker, Stamford, CT 06903
Sage

hud-logo2

Log in