How to Fire Up a Fireplace

Having a fire in the fireplace can reduce home gas bills.

Lighting a fire seems like a simple enough task. Light a match and throw it in, right? But building a good fire is more than applying a flame to a dry log. Building a fire by using the right wood and stacking that wood properly keeps the wood burning evenly. Proper stacking increases energy efficiency in the fireplace and prevents smoky fires that may fill the room, ruining furniture, drapes and your romantic evening by the fire.

Things You'll Need

• Kindling
• Softwood
• Hardwood

Instructions

1. Place kindling in the middle of the fireplace. Use dried brush or newspaper.

2. Place two pieces of spit softwood such as pine over the kindling to hold it down. Set the pieces so the back ends touch the back of the fireplace.

3. Lay two pieces of softwood over the first two pieces of softwood. Push these two pieces all the way to the back of the fireplace. This is an open firebox that increases the heat that enters your room.

4. Open the damper of the fireplace and light the kindling. Let the kindling burn until the softwood ignites.

5. Feed the fire with a hardwood such as cherry or cedar once the softwood logs fall into the center. This keeps the fire going without restarting. Continue feeding the fire, one or two logs at a time, to keep the fire going.

References

• BBC; Build a Blazing Hearth Fire; Dec. 12, 2002
• Hearth: How to Start a Good Fire
• Mother Earth News; The Right Way to Build a Fireplace Fire; November/December 1978