Best and worse disposal idea for fireplace ash

[beowulf]

We use our fireplace a lot in the colder months and so have ash to dispose of. Should we just dispose of it somewhere on the property or is there a more useful way to dispose of the ash. Note - we also burn old lumber we seem to always collect somehow and some of that has nails and screws, so for that we would have to dispose of differently.

Anyway, just wondering.

 

[dodge man]

I’ve got a hill side out my back door I dump it on. After a few rains it mostly disappears.

 

[KennyG]

Clean fire wood - compost pile. Junk wood - garbage dumpster.

 

[RSR]

Best use I've found for ash is spreading on my steep driveway in the winter to make it easier to drive up.

 

[bunyip]

We sieve it (for nails and screws etc) then it goes on the garden and gets hosed in if it is dry, lumps of charcoal go back in the fire.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I put it on the fence lines. I alo try and keep a bunch in the winter (free of screws and nails) because it makes excellent traction aid on ice. And won't totally rot out your equipment.

 

[Jstpssng]

Now for the absolute worst method; put it in a cardboard box and set it outside on a windy night, without checking to ensure that the coals are out. Some may remember, an entire family was killed in a house fire a few years back because somebody did this.
Another morbid thought; if the old lumber you're burning is old construction debris you may be burning lead paint. That means you also are breathing some degree of that same lead.

In winter while driving down the road I often see where somebody has simply spread ashes on the snowbank on the public road in front of their house. After a couple of storms with the plow going past, the ashes disappear.

 

[4570Man]

I leave them in a metal bucket on my concrete porch until they’re cooled and dump them on the yard. If they’ve got nails I dump them in the woods. Burned nails rust away pretty quick.

 

[LouNY]

I burn coal, when I take the ashes out I dump them in a couple of 35 gallon metal trash cans,
when one gets full the next time I sand my driveway I dump the can of ash in my bucket then into the sander.

 

[RichZ]

I used to heat my house completely with wood. I always kept a few buckets for traction when the driveway got icy. I also added it to my compost pile.