Cleaning your fireplace or wood-burning stove always seems like a chore. However, the collection of wood ash, a dusty residue naturally occurring when wood is burned, can be used creatively around the home.
As a premier solid fuel supplier, HouseFuel wants to provide helpful advice on using wood ash productively rather than disposing of it. Here are our top ten tips.
Soil Vitality
Did you know that wood ash can be used as a compost for your garden soil? That's right - ash contains several nutrients that can benefit your soil, making plant growth more likely.
Grass Health
Wood ash can benefit more than just the soil. Sprinkling a generous amount of ash from kiln-dried logs across your garden grass can rebalance the pH levels, making it a great fertiliser for better vitality.
Helps Cleaning
Stubborn stains on some materials, like porcelain or metal, are hard to remove. However, with the assistance of ash, you are more likely to thoroughly clean your garden furniture than otherwise.
Hygiene Products
Although it might sound bizarre, ash has traditionally been used as a soap component. Although it might be rare to see soap products containing ash these days, it's not impossible to find soap that still uses ash.
Driveway Grit
On those frosty mornings, you want to ensure your driveway isn't too slippery for your car or too dangerous to walk on. Pouring a generous amount of ash across your driveway acts as grit for better traction.
Pest Repellent
Insects and little bugs don't find the presence of ash appealing. For this reason, using wood ash can help deter critters, like slugs and snails, from invading your home's immediate outdoor space.
An Absorbent
Nasty spills on the driveway can be hard to clean up. For example, if you're conducting car maintenance and oil spills on the driveway, how would you clean it up? Ash is an absorbent material that soaks up any spillage remarkably well.
Fire Extinguisher
Yes, ash even helps put out fires despite being the product of a log fire. If you're looking to put your fire pit out quickly or an unwanted fire has appeared, heaping wood ash from a previous fire onto the flames will do the job.
Beauty Products
You shouldn't create beauty products at home using ash. However, you might notice certain products advertise the range of benefits ash can have for your skin as an exfoliant.
Odour Removal
Cats and dogs can sometimes leave unpleasant smells in the home. That's why you should consider sprinkling a small amount of wood ash onto areas they frequent, like their bedding, so the ash can absorb some of the smell and be vacuumed away afterwards.
