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Advice on cleaning soot from stone fireplace surround (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by Rambler@lemm.ee to c/diy

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We've got a small log burner with a light grey stone surround.

Every time I open the door to poke the logs, bits of soot fall out and mark the stone when I brush them up.

I'm getting a little worried as the house is rented, so I want to leave it in good condition.

I've tried washing liquid and cream cleaner but they just don't shift the stains.

Does anyone have any good tips that might help. I'm in UK, so products I can get my hands on here would help.

Many thanks.

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[–] Rambler@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Hi, apologies for the delay in replying and thanks for the advice - I've been following it this weekend after getting some more logs.

So far it's working well - I'm on top-down (Scandinavian) method - gets a really nice fire going quick and heats up the flue pretty quickly too. Your tip on getting a moisture tester: I'm gonna follow up soon when I get paid. I get that it's going to be pretty useful.

I got the two controls mixed up: left being main air vent (which I now keep open until the fire gets red hot) and the right (which I used to keep closed all the time) and now leave open. So, it's running pretty nice now, my next challenge is keeping it going! I got some complaints that the room was going cold so I'm not sure if leaving the logs to go to embers was leaving it too late before putting more logs on.

Again, thanks for the heads up, this is a learning curve for us, but I really appreciate the help.