By taking these safety measures you can continue to enjoy your fireplace while securing your furry friends and children from possible harm. At Burlington Fireplace & Heating we bring a wide range of fireplace accessories to assist make your fireplace baby-proof and pet-friendly.
When we aren’t seeing, animals and kids can still find creative ways to hinder our finest efforts to safeguard them. The curiosity of kids and family pets can get them into trouble around a fireplace. Even when a fireplace is not in use, the sharp fireplace tools and extreme edges of the hearth might hurt your little loved ones.
1. Soften the Hearth
For many parents, the first step in child-proofing a fireplace is addressing the hearth. A basic option is to soften the edges of the fireplace with hearth cushioning. Hearth padding is easy-to-install rubber edging that you can adhere to the sharp corners of the hearth.
2. Set Up Fireplace Doors
Fireplace doors prevent kids and pets from reaching into the fireplace to touch the flames and safeguard them from the hot ashes and triggers that can escape an open fireplace. You can find a choice of fireplace doors in a variety of styles and sizes at our local hearth and home store.
Fireplace doors are a potential pinch or cut hazard with or without an active fire. The doors can have sharp edges or crevices at the railings where it’s simple to get the skin pinched. Here is how you baby-proof your fireplace doors:
3. Setup a Fireplace Screen or Gate
You can utilize either a fireplace screen or a fireplace gate to prevent your kid or family pet from being burned by the hot glass of fireplace doors. A fireplace screen is freestanding and blocks off the area directly in front of the fireplace. Numerous property owners pick to use it since it is an attractive safety function that doesn’t take up much extra room. For families with extremely rowdy animals or little children, a fireplace gate might be more ideal because it totally encloses the fireplace and it is usually secured to the wall on both sides so that it can not be easily knocked down by a toppling young child or inquisitive pet.
You can constantly repurpose an existing fireplace screen to cover the fireplace glass if the style of the fireplace is simpler with fewer protrusions and edges. This will guarantee your kid will not have the ability to put their hands on the glass and burn their fingers. The edges can then be covered with hearth pads for extra safety from bumps and journeys.
4. Shop Fireplace Tools Out of Reach
In the hands of older kids, fireplace tools can quickly end up being weapons. For these factors, it is best to save the shovels, pokers, brooms, and other fireplace tools that are generally kept close to the hearth out of reach either behind the fireplace gate or in another safe location.
5. Purchase a Carbon Monoxide Detector & Maintain Your Fireplace
Kids are particularly vulnerable to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning since they have greater metabolic rates and their tissue needs more oxygen. If you enjoy using your fireplace throughout Wisconsin’s chilly winter months, you need to invest in a functioning carbon monoxide detector and have your fireplace annually cleaned up by a professional chimney sweep to safeguard your kids from being exposed to harmful levels of CO.
Carbon monoxide detectors come with some detection features as well, so they are great safety gadgets to make sure complete safety when your child is in the living space. If your alarm goes off, take your child outside and call 911.
A childproof fireplace should preferably stop your child from getting too close to the fireplace where he is exposed to the rough edges, corners, and raised surface areas. Child gates and screens are outstanding choices for childproofing most fireplaces together with hearth pads to increase security.
Even when a fireplace is not in usage, the sharp fireplace tools and harsh edges of the hearth might damage your little enjoyed ones.
In many cases, CO exposure is the result of damaged or improperly used fuel-burning appliances which includes wood and gas fireplaces.
Baby proofing your fireplace doesn’t only include keeping your little one away from the flames. Securing your child from the surrounding risks is likewise similarly crucial. You might think that getting a baby-proof fireplace screen is all you require to keep your little one away from danger, there are a couple of more precautions that must be taken to make it entirely baby-proof.
To start with, you have to check it at your child’s level. Believe like an infant and get on your hands and knee to check out and baby-proof all possible risky areas in the home. While this won’t protect your child entirely, it does minimize danger.
Make a list of all things that are possibly harmful to your baby at the fireplace. It’s easy to forget little but considerable information when you are hectic as a mother, so it’s best to document whatever in a diary. Address each issue and label them as safe, pending, or risky, depending on how much you have actually dealt with it. Whatever counts, right from the rigidity of the gate to how quickly your child can open it by seeing you. Watch out for raised surfaces that are tripping or a pinch danger and fix them with a sponge and tape. When you are out shopping, have this list with you to help you purchase the appropriate hardware.
Restrict access to the fireplace or area around it as much as possible
Prevention is your finest defense against a fireplace injury. You can utilize the gates to block the area around the fireplace to have your kid restricted to one end of the living space.
Can your infant push through the gates or are the gates protected enough to do their job or is the gate adequate? These are some of the things that must go on your checklist to be repaired straight away.
All fireplaces produce some amount of carbon monoxide gas. It is a poisonous gas that can trigger suffocation for the baby and the entire family. Here is how you can protect your child from this risk.
Foam tubing guards are your child’s best friend to keep them safe from sharp edges all over the house. You will likewise need tape to cane them to the edges of the hearth. Foam protectors that go specifically on corners are likewise an excellent alternative. The concept is to keep all exposed surface areas covered in something soft to reduce dangers.
6. Baby-Proofing Hearth
Childproofing a flat hearth is probably the most convenient as it nearly levels with your flooring and won’t need much cushioning. The most basic solution can be to cover it up with a soft mat so the rough edges aren’t exposed, and your kids can walk over it without difficulty. You will have to remove it when you use the fireplace, nevertheless, as it can become a fire hazard. Fireplace screens are likewise a fantastic option if you wish to conceal the whole area, consisting of the hearth. When using a screen, you will not need to utilize a mat as the hearth falls within the screen.
7. Baby Proofing Stepped Hearth
A stepped hearth is a bigger difficulty as there are numerous exposed edges, and your kid can quickly journey and fall over them. The foam protectors that are readily available for coffee tables and walls can be utilized as hearth pads to cushion the edges. Hearth pads, in particular, are also made from fire retardant material and are safe to use at all times.
The pads feature a double-sided tape that lets them adhere securely to the edges of the hearth. A drawback to these sticky pads is that they can be pulled away by kids with some effort and the ash can break down the glue. To baby-proof the top of the hearth, you can utilize a soft fireplace cushion and fire retardant. These give appropriate security in case they trip on it and can take coal without igniting.
8. Test Them Before Purchase
Fireplace doors need not be made to be safe for young kids as their primary function is to keep the fireplace closed. If you put in a little extra effort, you can discover door models that are additionally safe and child-friendly. If you currently have a risky fireplace door, think about getting it replaced, particularly if it can not be padded to protect its sharp edges.
9. Restrict Access
The perfect way to safeguard your kid from the fireplace door is to keep him away from it. Metal fireplace screens and child gates are outstanding fireplace protectors for babies as they keep the door entirely out of reach. Fireplace locks are a safety feature, they will not stop your child from touching the scorching door after usage.
10. Monitor Door Temperature
As soon as you are done utilizing the fireplace, pay attention to how long it takes for the doors to cool. If the doors are safe by themselves, you would still need to wait for them to cool off before removing the baby gates. Knowing the time will give you a good quote of when to remove the safety barriers.
11. Child Proofing 3-Sided Fireplace
Three-sided fireplaces throw up a special security difficulty from the baby-proofing viewpoint as they inhabit a larger place. Considering that there are so many styles around, there aren’t any basic security gadgets available. Nevertheless, it is a good opportunity for Do It Yourself baby-proof fireplace concepts.
12. Child Proofing With Gates
The most convenient method to babyproof a 3-sided fireplace is to link together a few panels of infant gates to surround the peninsular. This would require some additional length of gates so you can try buying an extremely long infant gate. The challenge would be to secure the gate to the wall so your child will not find out their method inside.
13. Make Sure Adequate Ventilation
Carbon monoxide gas forms quickly in the lack of proper ventilation in the space. Make sure there is a complimentary circulation of air through the smoke and the room gets totally carried out through the chimney. Preserve the chute and chimney clear to assist in the totally free flow of the scorched grasses. Always clear blockages in your chimney before you start the fire. To set up a clear airflow through the living room, you need to guarantee there’s fresh air coming through the ventilation ducts or there’s a window open in the room.
Fireplace doors avoid kids and animals from reaching into the fireplace to touch the flames and secure them from the hot ashes and triggers that can leave an open fireplace. You can utilize either a fireplace screen or a fireplace gate to avoid your kid or pet from being burned by the hot glass of fireplace doors. For these factors, it is best to keep the shovels, pokers, brooms, and other fireplace tools that are usually kept close to the hearth out of reach either behind the fireplace gate or in another safe and secure location.
If the design of the fireplace is simpler with fewer edges and protrusions, you can constantly repurpose an existing fireplace screen to cover the fireplace glass.