Winter has passed and now it’s time to start thinking about summer days. But first you need to take care of some spring cleaning. One of those things is cleaning out your fireplace in prep for your annual chimney inspection and cleaning. When you clean out those ashes, there are several things that you can do with those ashes. In fact, once you read these good ideas, you’ll want to start saving up your ashes throughout the winter!
Indoor Uses
Since you’re doing that spring cleaning, why not go ahead and use those ashes to help out. First off, while you’re cleaning your fireplace, use those ashes to clean your glass fireplace doors. If you dip a damp sponge into your ashes and then rub them onto the glass doors, you can scrub the soot right away. And when you’re done cleaning those doors, go ahead and polish your silver. A paste of water and soot makes a great silver cleaner.
Ashes also make a great odor absorber. Put some ashes in a small bowl and place that bowl in a smelly room or in your refrigerator and it’ll soon be smelling fresh. Just keep replacing the ashes every few days to keep those odors away.
Did you know that you can also make soap with ashes? Lye is a key ingredient in soap, and when you soak ashes in water you get lye. Mix this with animal fat and boil it. It’ll harden as it cools. You have soap!
Outdoor Uses
After you’ve got the inside of your house all clean and sparkling, you can move outdoors. You can start by beefing up your garden! Everyone knows that using compost is a great way to make your garden grow. You can add wood ash to your compost pile to make it even better – but remember, it needs to be added in moderation. Sprinkle on a layer of ashes for about every six inches of compost.
You can also use ashes to make a tea that can be used to help correct potassium deficiencies in some plants that tend to be deficient, like tomatoes, apples, sugar beets, and raspberries. Just put five pounds of ash in an old pillowcase and tie it shut. Put the bag into a 50-gallon garbage bin of water and let it steep a couple days. Once it’s brewed, you can use it to water your plants – use about a cup around your plants weekly. And if it’s your tomatoes that you’re worried about, you can put a ¼ cup of ashes right in the hole when you’re planting them. One more thing – if you sprinkle ashes around the perimeter of your garden, it can help keep slugs and snails away.
You can also use ashes to make your lawn look great – sprinkle some on the lawn and then give it a good watering to make it nice and green.
Call Chim Cheroo
There are many great ways to use those old wood ashes from your fireplace. And while you’re doing that spring cleaning, make sure that you call Chim Cheroo Chimney Service and schedule your annual inspection and chimney sweeping.