24 Sep 2018 Prepare now before the winter rush

The summer isn’t quite over yet and if you’re like us, you’ll be clinging on to it with both hands and making the most of the final rays of warm sunshine. But we’re also realists and we like to be prepared so that when the winter and cold do hit it’s not as much of a shock to the system as it could have been. Which is why we decided to share our secrets with you this month to help you prepare for the winter with us.

Checks and maintenance

If you haven’t taken advantage of our maintenance service yet (perhaps you stashed that reminder that came out in April/May somewhere and forgot all about it?) then now is the time to get in touch about having your fireplace or stove checked and serviced. Another thing to have checked is your chimney if you have one. You don’t want a living room full of smoke when you try to light your first fire only to find that your chimney is dirty or blocked. If you don’t have a chimney cap you may even find that a bird or small animal has settled in and made its home in your chimney. If you have a gas fire you want to make sure that it has had its annual service so that you are sure there are no problems or leaks that could spell trouble.

Run a few basic safety checks on whatever type of fireplace or stove you have so that you have complete peace of mind. For a reminder on what those are have a look at our previous article as your starting point.

Replace

If anything is cracked, broken, or loose, now is the time to fix it. This includes any stove doors or seals as well as things such as your fire guards, carbon monoxide alarms, and tools for stoking and keeping your fire going or cleaning up the next day. Get your pokers, brushes, buckets, baskets, or whole tool sets now to avoid that last-minute dash to the shops at the same time as everyone else.

Stock up

Once you are sure that all the critical checks and maintenance have been done it’s time to look ahead to having everything you need for that first fire of the season. The key things to stock up on now are:

• Seasoned logs, preferably sustainably sourced and from a supplier that you know stores them in the right environment that will keep them free from moisture.
• Kindling and smaller logs to get that fire started. The same applies here – they should be seasoned and stored appropriately.
• Matches.

If you have done all that, then you are way ahead of the game. If you have not got that far yet and want some advice or are looking for any of the above, we can help! Get in touch with our Fiveways Fires & Stoves team today and we can make sure you are sorted from servicing to stocking up on logs and matches. Find us online, drop us a line at , or call us on 020 8127 4747 and we’ll get you sorted with whatever it is you need.