Sunday, October 18, 2009

Such A Mess!

Where do I start?...When cooler weather hits we use our fireplace constantly. I just love using the fireplace. But every Fall I burn one of those log things in the fireplace that is supposed to clean out your chimney and Richard cleans the vent in the top of the chimney. Anyway, this is the first time that we have ever had a problem with it. On the package of that chimney cleaner log it says that it basically loosens the crud in the chimney and then when you start burning fires in it, that it comes out a little at a time......hmmmm....not the case here!!! It all came loose at ONCE. Had a fire going all day today, the boys and Richard went to bed at 9pm, then I noticed that I could see and smell smoke coming out of the fireplace. I closed the glass doors on it and turn the blower off, still smoking, actually it got worse....

I got Richard up, and by that time the smoke alarm was going off! The kids were scared, they opened their bedroom door and all they could see was smoke! I sent them out of the house, told Andrew to take Hunter to the car, start it up and turn the heater on! Richard and I were trying to control the smoke. Opened doors and windows, couldn't breathe at all. We were having to run outside, catch our breath, and run back in. Finally, threw water on it, put the fire out in the fireplace, but of course, it was still smoking.

Richard we went outside, Richard got the ladder, climbed up on the roof.......and the screen in the chimney was stopped up!!! He had cleaned it a few days ago when we started using it, but I guess, when I burned that chimney cleaning log that it broke all of that crud loose at once and stopped it up! So the smoke had nowhere to go but out in the house!!

I do thank the Lord, that it was not worse and there was no fire!

Anyway, all is back to normal now, sorta! Richard and the kids are safely in the bed, but now we are left with a major mess! Everything is smoked! The house stinks, everything in the living room, kitchen and hallway is smoked! The bedrooms and bathroom doors were closed so they are fine. Even my dishes in the cabinets are covered.


Here is the wild boar that Andrew killed a few years ago, see all of the crud on it...
This is my fireplace surround...
This is my coffee table....giggle...it is actually wood.

So now you know what I will be doing for the next several days....scrubbing!!! I am just thankful that it was just smoke and no one was hurt, the Lord was really looking out for us. The boys are fine and Richard and I just have raw throats and dry eyes.

Now on to happier things...the rest of the day was fine. Got up fixed breakfast, got ready went to church. After church, I put on supper (Cornish hens) and took a nap!
Now I will leave you with some cute photos of Jazz...
Here is his favorite place to sleep....right on Richard's neck!
By the way, during this whole smoke mess tonight, Donkey, Smokey, and Jazz were in the car with the boys!

17 comments:

Hazel said...

Oh my what a scare you must have had .Thank God you are all ok .Good luck with the cleaning ,I can only imagine what a job that is going to be .

Michelle said...

Will your homeowner's insurance cover cleanup of our home? 39 years ago, when my youngest sister was just 9 months old, she started crying very early one morning in February. My mom woke up, and couldn't find her bed, which was in the same room, because something went wrong with the fuel oil furnace. The entire downstairs was covered in soot, and the insurance company let mom clean it up, paid her for cleaning supplies, and paid her hourly to do it. You might think about calling your insurance company before you start your cleanup.

A blower motor started smoking in the night and filled our apartment with smoke on time. The smoke detectors went off, and woke me up. I doubt they would have woke Louie up, as I had trouble waking Louie up, but the girl who lived upstairs ran a beauty shop uptown, and one of the adjoining stores was a restaurant. The restaurant had a fire, and her shop had smoke smell. I don't know how she found out, but she went to the pharmacy, and bought a product called NIL-ODOR. It is a medical product used to control the odors in colostomy bags, I think. She told us to get some of that, get a bunch of cotton balls, like for removing makeup, put a drop on each cotton ball (MANY), and just drop them all the house. The NIL-ODOR absorbs the source of the smell, so as you are cleaning, open the windows, drop the cotton balls, and hopefully, your house will be free of the smoke smell quickly.

I'm go glad everyone is ok, and that you were still up, and stopped the problem before it became much worse.

You will be in my prayers. Be blessed, and take care, my friend!
Michelle

Amelia said...

The Lord was certainly on your side with this happening. It could have been much worse.

I had a similar experience one year...was using a wood stove vented out thru the fireplace. Chimney caught on fire...called the fire dept and they haul the hot stove out of the house into the yard...was no damage. I was single at the time...so not lots of money - but decided it was time to put in central heat...so I did...paid it out over the course of several years.

Again, so glad none of your were hurt.

Unknown said...

Wow, I am glad you are all ok, you sure will have a lot of do the next days.

Becky said...

Jeepers, that was scary just reading about it. Happy scrubbing....just whistle while you work!!

Darling Jill Quilts said...

Oh man! I'm glad that everyone is OK! Good luck with the cleaning and don't work too hard! I agree with Michelle that there are some products that would help with the smell.

BlueRidge Boomer said...

Glad to hear everything is AOK....what a night!!

We once had a wiener dog that laid on my Mom's neck!! LOL

Enjoy(?)....LindaMay

Gina said...

I'm glad that you are all ok and that there is no real damage.
Bicarbonate of Soda is another product that will absorb odours. Just leave dishes of that around the house for a day or so.

Love and husg Gina xxx

Rhonda said...

Wow, Kristie, I so glad that you caught this before it got really out of hand. Clean up...oh boy! Bless your heart!!!!!

Saska said...

I smoked our house once and it and it took me forever to get it all cleaned up. The washer didn't stop for days! Luckily we had some decent weather and I could hang out a lot of the bedding. The boys were all home and everything in their closets had to be washed. It was a good time to sort and clean tho.

QuiltedSimple said...

So glad you all are OK! We've never used one of those in our woodburner - Todd just cleans the chimmeny every fall before we light it. My parents cleaned their chimney last week and must've packed everything down in there - they had smoke all through their house. Have fun cleaning!
Kris

Babs said...

OMG! I'm glad everything's OK. My Dad did that to my Mom one year...cleaned out the chimney the day before she was having a big PTA Christmas party at the house and he accidentally closed up the flue and when she lit the fire for the party the whole house filled with smoke. My baby brother was home and managed to climb the roof and chimney and some how get it open from the other side so it didn't totally ruin her party.

Were your fabrics affected? You might need to air them out or wash them.

Libby said...

WOW!! That had to have been scary for all of ya'll! Glad everything turned out o.k. p.s. your little boy looks so sweet cuddled up in his quilt with his Daddy!

Texan said...

Wow there is some excitment you didn't need!! Glad your home wasn't on fire but sorry you did get all that smoke mess to clean up... but again whew glad your home wasn't on fire!

KyQuiltlady said...

Sure glad you were up, probably quilting. Quilting might have save all your lives. I hate you have such a mess to clean up. We use to have coal heat and I know it can be a mess at times. Missed you at Guild meeting yesterday. We cut all morning for the Mystery Quilt. It has a tree in it cause the instructions says on on the tan is the tree trunk.

Winona said...

Kristie,
I am sure glad you all are ok, but I know you have a mess to clean up. We have had our wood stove let out lots of smoke several times. It is a smelly and grimy mess to clean up. Winona

Vesuviusmama said...

How scary! I'm glad everything worked out fine. But all that cleaning - ugh!