For safety, fireplaces are designed to route smoke out of the house through the chimney. If there's a problem, however, you could end up with a smoky home.

Dear Jim: We use our wood-burning fireplace for heat. It has not been cleaned out for years and we noticed bad spots on the outdoor chimney brick. What maintenance steps can we do ourselves? -- ...

Lexie is a former Staff Writer at Forbes Home and has over 6 years of professional experience as a writer and editor in the home improvement space. She's previously worked at sites such as HomeAdvisor ...