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Restoring an old fireplace in Clay Hill

Brick stays brick in Clay Hill: the original opening, hearth and pattern kept, with joints matched in color and profile.

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

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Get a quote for chimney and fireplace repair and installation in Jacksonville.

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(904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Fireplace restoration experts for Clay Hill homes

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

Nothing on the estimate changes the look; every line restores what is already there.

  • Family owned and operatedA family business plans your Clay Hill fireplace as one job, so each step happens once and in the right order.
  • 100% satisfaction guaranteedYou approve the trial patch and the mortar sample before the face is touched, and our guarantee covers the result.

Keeping the look you already have

Some owners want the fireplace working again and looking the way it was built, not updated. Restoration does that: the masonry stays as it is, the opening stays the same size, the hearth keeps its stone or brick, and new joints follow the pattern and color of the old ones around them.

Changing the facing, the surround or the mantel is remodeling, and the estimate keeps restoration inside what the fireplace already is. Want your Clay Hill fireplace brought back rather than replaced? Call a restoration specialist at (904) 920-5495.

Clay Hill falls within Clay County. The coastline lies beyond Clay Hill.

What fireplace restoration covers in Clay Hill

  • Unused fireplaces brought back to working order
  • Soot-stained faces cleaned after a trial patch
  • Stone fireplace faces cleaned and repointed
  • A written order of work for your Clay Hill fireplace

How our restoration pros bring back a fireplace in Clay Hill

  1. Clean and assess

    Everything from the hearth to the flue top is cleaned, then checked and written up part by part.

  2. Heat side first

    Firebox, parging and damper repairs are made in refractory materials and left to dry.

  3. Trial, then the face

    A trial patch is cleaned and a mortar sample made for your approval before the face work.

  4. Repoint, cure, clean

    Face joints are repointed in layers, left to harden, then the face gets its final cleaning.

Heat-side wear on an old fireplace

Far from the coast, the firebox of an old fireplace in Clay Hill wears from years of fires: open joints, cracked firebrick and missing parging above.

Those repairs come first in the restoration order.

10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection

Bringing an old fireplace back? Work you commit to inside 72 hours of our look is 10% off.

The inspection scope a restoration starts from

Under NFPA 211, a chimney, its fireplace and any vents get inspected for soundness, for being free of deposits and for correct clearances, and a fireplace left unused has often missed years of that. Restoration begins with the same scope, applied from the hearth up through the flue.

The difference is what follows. A plain inspection reports; a restoration turns each finding into a repair, a material and a place in the order of work. We keep the inspection findings on the estimate so you can see which repair answers which problem, and which findings needed no repair at all.

Freeing or replacing an old damper

Florida's code wants the damper of a masonry fireplace made of ferrous metal and set no less than 8 inches over the top of the opening. In an old fireplace the plate may be rusted at its pivots, bent, or rusted thin.

A plate that is sound but stuck is freed, cleaned and rehung so it opens fully and closes flat. One that has rusted through is replaced with a unit sized to the existing throat. Either way, the damper is worked open and shut several times before the first fire, and its condition before and after is written down on the ticket.

Old bricks with rounded edges

Old brick that has worn round at the edges makes a joint look wider if the mortar is brought flush to the face. The National Park Service guidance suggests recessing the final mortar slightly behind the face in that case.

The recess keeps the joint looking the width it was built, and it avoids a thin featheredge of mortar that breaks off easily and lets water in. We look at how the surviving joints sit against worn brick and set the new ones the same way, so the repair reads as part of the old work rather than a patch laid over it.

Cleaned and checked in Clay Hill before a plan is priced

  1. Safety repairs listed apart from appearance work
  2. Face mortar matched in sand, color and profile, softer than the brick
  3. Deep joints filled in thin layers and tooled at thumbprint hardness
  4. Smoke stains and efflorescence identified before cleaning

Before an old fireplace is brought back

Will all the soot come off?

That depends on the brick and how long the stain has been there. We clean a small trial patch first and show you the result once it is dry.

Can you restore a stone fireplace too?

Yes. Stone joints and cleaning take their own methods, and we identify the stone before choosing any cleaner or mortar.

An old fireplace, working again in Clay Hill

Describe the fireplace when you ring (904) 920-5495, and our restoration experts plan the first visit in Clay Hill.

Free Inspection

Call the chimney and fireplace experts

(904) 920-5495

Free inspection and written estimate

Call (904) 920-5495