The Simple Trick To Help Remove Burn Marks From Your Fireplace Glass
Cozying up by the fireplace on a cold night with a hot drink and a good movie is one of the best feelings — until you have to deal with the cleanup the next morning, which for many homeowners, may include cleaning the fireplace glass. Many people today choose to have a glass door on their fireplace as opposed to a traditional screen, since it more safely allows you to enjoy your fire. Plus, you don't have to worry about ash spilling out onto the hearth.
What you gain in safety, though, you often sacrifice in cleaning time. If you have a glass fireplace door, you know all too well how annoying it can be to deal with burn marks. Cleaning up ash and the inside of your fireplace is straightforward enough, but the actual door can pose a problem. However, as one popular TikTok shows off, the secret to a clean glass fireplace door is something you already have on hand: fireplace ash.
Fireplace ash and water
That's right — the very thing you need to clean the burn marks off your glass fireplace door is the ash accumulated inside the fireplace itself. That, and a little bit of water. When you combine ashes with water, you create a chemical known as lye. This trick is actually a common way of creating lye for soap-making at home, but it works just as well on your fireplace.
Before cleaning your fireplace, there are a few safety measures you need to consider. One, make sure your fireplace is completely cool to the touch so you don't burn yourself. Two, lye is a very caustic chemical, meaning it can burn right through organic tissue like skin. Wear long sleeves, thick rubber gloves, and ideally glasses or goggles. You should also wear a respirator face mask, both to protect your face, as well as to prevent yourself from inhaling both ash and lye.
Cleaning the door
Now that you're geared up with protective wear, it's time to clean. When using ash to make lye for soap-making, there are a lot more standards for resin content, fat reactivity, and so on. For this situation, though, you don't need to be as precise. In fact, all you need to do is scoop the ash into a bowl, and fill another bowl with water.
To apply the ash and water to your glass fireplace door, dip a microfiber cloth, kitchen towel, or even a newspaper, into the water first, wring it out, and then dip it in the bowl of ash. Rub the lye onto the fireplace door in circular motions, using a firm amount of pressure. It may take a while, and you may need to dip your cloth in more water and ash as you go. Clean off the lye with a clean towel and water, and you should have a clean and scorch-free fireplace door.