Six Keys to Building a Proper Fireplace Fire

A closed damper keeps cold air from pouring down your chimney when there is no fire in the fireplace, but it also keeps smoke from escaping when you do have a fire. Make sure to open the damper all the way if you want to avoid smoke pouring into your house.

If your chimney is built on the outside of your house, the chimney flue is probably cold. When you open the damper, the cold air in the flue will sink and come into your warm house. If you try to light a fire during this air sink, you're going to end up with smoke coming into the house instead of up the chimney. To counteract the air sink, you need to prime the flue by warming it up. This is done by lighting a roll of newspaper and holding it up the damper opening for a few minutes. If you have a fireplace that has a gas pipe to supplement your wood burning, turn on the gas and light the pilot light without any wood in the fireplace. Your flue will warm up in a matter of minutes.

Choose dense wood such as oak. Make sure it is seasoned for at least six months. Green woods, such as pine, are not recommended for a wood burning fireplace since they can produce more creosote.

After you've opened the damper, crumble balls of newspaper and place them underneath the grate. Add some kindling at the bottom of the grate to get it going after you ignite the newspaper. You can lay the kindling length-wise or in a criss-cross pattern. Kindling should be dry, thin strips of wood. Arrange the logs by placing two logs at either end of the grate and then stacking two logs perpendicular to those base logs on top.

Fire requires a lot of air. All of the combustion will be drawing air from somewhere. If you are in a sealed room the fire will naturally draw air from the direction of least resistance, that being down the chimney, which will tend to carry smoke into the room. Having a window cracked will allow greater air pressure inside the room than up the chimney.

To prevent hot embers from getting out, use a metal-mesh screen or glass fireplace doors. It's dangerous to burn wood in your fireplace without a guard. While most fireplaces have a stone, tile or cement apron in front of them, embers can shoot several feet, landing on carpeting or other inflammable material.