Stone fireplace fuels
The heating season is definately nearly here, so the daunting prospect of large heating bills is with us. So anything you can do to keep your heating cheaper, and perhaps help the environment, is worth pursuing. The easiest way to do that is to have an open fire, or a wood stove. Assuming you have a chimney already, you can normally have a wood fire without any difficulty. Just get a dog grate or firebasket of some sort and away you go. Hopefully you have a lovely stone fireplace to sit in front of, but you can always buy one later if you haven’t got one already.
If you haven’t used your stone fireplaces for a while, then it’s probably best to have the chimney swept, or at least have it checked to make sure it’s not obstructed in any way. Birds have a habit of nesting in chimneys, and if you haven’t used it for a while there can be a big accumulation of twigs and other horrible stuff.
If you haven’t used the chimney for even longer, or perhaps it’s in a house you’ve recently moved to, then it could sometimes have been capped to stop rain coming in or draughts. You’ll usually be able to see that from the ground, but if in doubt, a chimney sweep will soon establish if it’s blocked off.
In the end, it’s all worth doing, as there really is no substitute for a log fire roaring away in a lovely stone fireplace. It’s also cheaper than mains gas or oil, and always ‘feels’ warmer than a white steel radiator!