Dear Just Be: I used my fireplace a lot this winter and need to clean it out but don’t know how. Help!

It is important to clean out your fireplace at the end of every winter season. Not cleaning your fireplace can become a fire hazard – causing chimney fires. Cleaning your fireplace is done in less than 10 steps.

1. Lay tarp on carpeting near and around the fireplace.

2. Remove large pieces of wood from the fireplace. Put all large pieces in the trash.

3. Vacuum soot and ashes out of the fireplace. (For the best results, use a shop vac.)

4. Put newspaper on top of the tarp at the hearth and inside the fireplace.

5. Make a solution of one gallon warm water and one cup bleach. Use a scrub brush and the water to scrub soot off the interior of the fireplace.

6. Throw the newspapers in the trash. Wipe up any remaining water with old rags.

7. Clean the floor of the fireplace. Use the same solution of water. Mop up the water with paper towels afterward and throw them away.

8. Clean fireplace grates outside. Lay down several layers of newspaper and lay the grate on top. Use oven cleaner or bleach water to clean the grate.

9. If you have a glass door with your fireplace, use glass cleaner and newspapers, not paper towels to clean the fireplace doors.