Smoke chamber parging for Arlington fireplaces

From a smoke shelf full of debris to a full rebuild, Arlington smoke chamber work is scoped at a free inspection.

Fully licensed and insured
Locally owned
Family owned and operated
Same-day service

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(904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Smoke chamber specialists for Arlington fireplaces

Locally owned in Jacksonville
Family owned and operated
100% satisfaction guaranteed
Free inspection and estimate
Same-day service available
10% off any service

Chamber findings for your home in Arlington are written wall by wall.

Free inspection and estimateWe look above the damper in your Arlington fireplace, measure the chamber and write down what we find at no cost.
Upfront pricing, no hidden feesCleaning, resets, parging and cure time are priced line by line before the first trowel goes in.
Family owned and operatedA family-owned local crew does the reaching and troweling through the throat, and cleans up after itself.

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

A nest resting on the smoke shelf

The smoke shelf, the flat ledge behind the damper, catches whatever falls down the flue, including nesting material. A nest there blocks the path smoke needs when the damper opens, and it is fuel sitting where fire gases pass. Nest material also carries dust and droppings that should be removed with care.

We clear the shelf at your fireplace in Arlington, check for a way in at the top, and look at the shelf surface once it is clean. If the shelf needs repair or the top needs a screened cap, both go on the estimate.

The county for Arlington is Duval County. Arlington sits away from the coastline.

What our masons fix above the damper in Arlington

Smoke shelf cleared and repaired
Transition to the flue liner smoothed
Glaze removed before any new coat
Chamber findings in Arlington written wall by wall

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From the first look above the damper to the first fire in Arlington

Tell us what the fireplace does
Spilling smoke, a stale smell or grit on the damper plate tells us what to bring to the free visit.
Chamber measured and mapped
Height, width and wall slopes are measured, and each wall, the shelf and the flue transition are checked.
Cleaned, reset, parged
Soot and glaze come off, loose units are reset, joints filled, then refractory mortar goes on in layers.
Cured and draft tested
The product cures as its data sheet directs, then a small fire shows how the fireplace draws.

The code does not change inland in Arlington

Distance from the coast has nothing to do with the rules for the chamber. In Arlington, as anywhere under the Florida code, the walls are 8 inches of masonry, or 6 with a lining, and the parge coat is refractory mortar.

We measure against those rules on every chamber we repair in Arlington.

10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection

For your Arlington fireplace, the chamber repair and the discount sit on separate estimate lines.

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The 30 and 45 degree limits

The code sets two slope limits for chamber walls. Corbeled brick, stepped in course by course, may lean no more than 30 degrees from vertical. Rolled or sloped walls, and prefabricated chamber linings, may lean up to 45 degrees.

We check each wall with an angle gauge held on a straightedge. A corbeled wall steeper than 30 degrees, or a sloped wall past 45, is outside R1001.8.1, and parging over it smooths the surface without fixing the shape. That difference is written on the estimate in plain words. Steep corbeling matters beyond the code book, because every step it creates is a ledge where deposits settle.

Glazed deposits come off before parging

Glazed creosote is a hard, shiny layer that bonds tightly to masonry. Refractory mortar will not hold on it, so it has to come off the chamber walls before parging. That may take chemical treatment and repeat visits, or mechanical removal, depending on its thickness.

We price glaze removal in the chamber as its own step, with the method named. If the flue above is glazed as well, that is a separate creosote removal job, and the estimate keeps the two apart so you can see each. Once the glaze is off, the brick beneath it is checked for damage the glaze had been hiding.

The throat and the lintel below the chamber

R1001.7 carries the masonry over a fireplace opening on a noncombustible lintel with 4 inches or more of bearing at each end, and sets how far above it the throat must start. The damper rule, R1001.7.1, asks for at least 8 inches between the top of the opening and the damper. The chamber sits on top of that arrangement.

A sagging or rusting lintel shows as cracks above the opening and gaps at the base of the chamber. We check it from below while we are looking up, since chamber work on a moving base will not last. A rusting steel lintel is written up on its own line, since repairing it affects the face of the fireplace.

Shape, walls, shelf and product, in writing

Area parged, with the refractory product named on the ticket
Smoke shelf cleared, repaired and shaped to drain to the firebox
Transition to the first flue tile built up smooth
Rebuild option priced where the chamber shape is out of limits

Smoke chamber questions from Arlington

Is the smoke chamber inspection in Arlington really free?

Yes. We look into the chamber and the shelf, measure what matters and leave a written estimate with no charge and no obligation.

Does a factory-built fireplace have a smoke chamber to repair?

Those units have no masonry smoke chamber, so this service does not apply to them. Their internal parts are repaired with the maker's listed pieces, which is a different job we also handle.