cant get fire lit!!!!!!

[breaghsmum]

im trying to get my fire to light. i have no coal so am using newspaper, firelighters, sticks and logs. it wont bloody light. any suggestions!!! im freezing!!!!!!

have you got any cotton wool?

and are you drawing it up at all? Make sure you have pull from the bottom and cover the front so it draws it up

The cotton wool was to add extra easy burny.... not to draw it up with

Build a little fire with loosely scrunched newspaper, small twigs/dry kindling and small log parts around a dry larger log. Make sure there is adequate air supply, air grate is partly open and chimney flue is open. Light srunched paper (or firelighter) near the base. Once well established carefully add extra log. (Wilkinson have 'firelogs' on special at present if all else fails and you have one handy - makes starting a fire when freezing quick and easy!) Hope you get warm soon!

thanks all, i tried all that but it seems i'm just to be cold today. extra jumpers all round!!

Big double sheet of newspaper held over the whole open area if poss. Alsways gets it going here. Though very easy to catch it alight and nearly burn house down.

candle wax is great for gettign fires going if you have one. drip lots of wax over everythign and then try lighting.

I remember DH and I filling house with smoke but not getting a fire going when we first attempted to light one. Turned out that the fireplace had a 'hood' thing that had to be pulled outwards (hinged at the top iyswim) in order to unblock the chimney... it was a kind of built in draught excluder device Just mentioning in case yours has a similar system?

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Get your newspaper and roll it up-get the corner of paper and roll so its like a tight sausage-when you've done that twist and tie like a knot ,due lots of these so they fill the grate like a blanket.Place your sticks (kindling) on the paper like a little teepee-add some smaller logs around the kindling and then light the paper in several places.Works for me.

cooking oil my dh uses a tiny dribble and lights every time be careful but

Once you have set the fire the way other posters have described above, light a piece of loosely scrunched up paper and hold just below the flue so the flames get drawn up the chimney. You can actually let go and it will shoot up drawing the flames from the fire with it. ALso make sure their is an adequate air vent in the room as the circulation of fresh air is necessary to help the fire burn well.

Do you have an empty plastic milk bottle/jug - especially the 6 pint ones?

Magical in their fire-lighting ability, they drip molten plastic onto whatever's underneath, and it keeps burning for ages.

We can't recycle them here, so I keep all mine for just that purpose.

Just light the corner of it with a match, making sure it's well over your fuel, not overhanging onto a precious rug or anything!

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Would explain some of DH's behaviour, right enough.....

I don't know one way or the other, but we've been using them for a couple of years since we moved out here and there's no plastic recycling.

got any BBq lighter fluid in the garage? this is our last resort when the wood just will not light- but it works.Wood needs to be chopped small- that's what i keep dh for--but it can be a pain in the arse if the wood is damp.

Sugar in a small wrap, always helps.

An alternative way of setting a fire -
put a med sized log on each side of the grate. Fill the area between the logs with plenty of loosely scrunched paper. Lay kindling over paper, propped up at each end by the med sized logs. Plenty of kindling, pref dry. Set fire to paper - I've never known it to fail unless wood is very damp / cold, in which case you keep poking paper under the kindling so that it dries, heats and then burns.
You're not using shiny magazine paper are you?

Obviously lolling about in front of a real coal fire.

I have been known to use a hairdryer as a bellows.
v effective

I've been successful putting layer of kindling 3 or 4 large fire lighters...lighting them ....then adding layers of criss crossing kindling once that properly going i put on a log let it burn for 20 mions or so then put coal on any hotspot gradually till it grows....

those are all great suggestions and if i hadnt used every scrap of paper and kindling in the house trying to light the bloody thing then i would definitely try them all, and yes i did the open newspaper over front of fire, and yes it did catch fire, ds (3) saw and gave me a very stern lecture on fire safety. thankfully working tomorrow and friday so shall get OH to get coal on fri evening, (i cant lift them - Preg - he shouts at me when i try)and try again at weekend. will also stock up on firelogs just incase ive developed the inability to light a fire. ive done them hundreds of times before but never without coal.thanks all for tips

has your chimney been swept recently? If not there could be a birds nest blocking it and not allowing it to be drawn up. If thats the case, get it swept asap and don't use it til it has been swept because of risk of carbon monoxide. You should always have it swept once a year before winter use.

red santa!! i so didnt know it should be swept that often. ive been 3 years here and its never been done!!!