Cracked firebox repair in Fleming Island

From a few raked joints to a relined back wall, Fleming Island firebox repair sized to the damage, with a free inspection first.

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Firebox specialists who test every brick in Fleming Island

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

Every brick tapped and every joint probed, with the firebox cold, before a repair in Fleming Island is priced.

Free inspection and estimateEvery wall of the firebox in Fleming Island is tapped and probed cold, and the failed bricks and joints are marked at no charge.
Upfront pricing, no hidden feesEach wall is quoted for what it needs, a few joints, a few bricks or a full reline, so a small repair stays small.
100% satisfaction guaranteedIf a joint we repointed opens again after it has cured and been used as the ticket says, we come back and redo it.

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Planning around a gathering

A family event with a fire in the fireplace needs the repair finished well ahead of the day. One medium-duty refractory mortar maker asks for at least a week, and up to ten days, of drying before heat, and warns that mortar heated while still wet can crack as the water inside turns to steam.

Give us the date on the phone, and the firebox repair is scheduled so its cure time ends first. If the date is too close for the repair to cure, we say so plainly. Hosting in Fleming Island and hoping for a fire? Share the date with us at (904) 920-5495.

Fleming Island is in Clay County. The 2020 Census count for Fleming Island was 29,142 people.

What firebox repair covers in Fleming Island

Bowed walls checked against the masonry behind them
Cast refractory pieces assessed before any repair
Water-marked fireboxes dried before work begins
Each wall of your Fleming Island firebox priced on its own line

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How firebox repair runs

Keep the firebox cold
Let the fireplace go unused for several hours ahead of our visit, so each wall is cool to the touch.
Tap, probe and mark
Each brick is sounded, each joint probed, and the failed ones marked and written up by wall.
Rake, rebrick or reline
Joints are raked and repointed, failed bricks replaced and worn walls relined in C199 mortar.
Cure date on the ticket
The mortar maker's drying time sets the date of the first small fire, written down before we leave.

Doors, inlets and firebox heat in Fleming Island

Some Fleming Island fireplaces have doors or an outside air inlet. Run hard, either can raise the firebox temperature, which the Brick Industry Association links to early breakdown of mortar joints.

When joints wear fast, we look at how the fireplace is used as well as at the brick.

10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection

Cracked firebrick? Book the repair inside 72 hours of our visit and save 10%.

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Hydraulic and air-setting refractory mortars

Refractory mortars do not all harden the same way. A hydraulic refractory mortar sets and cures much like a portland cement mortar and, according to one maker, becomes water insoluble once cured. Premixed air-setting products harden as they dry, and some finish curing only when heat is applied.

Neither type is wrong in itself, but each follows its own data sheet for joint size, mixing, drying and first heat, and the two are not mixed in one joint. We choose by the joint width and the kind of repair, and the product name goes on the ticket so the next person to work on the firebox knows what is in the wall.

Full firebrick or thin splits

Firebrick comes in more than one thickness. A full-size brick is commonly 9 by 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches, while a split has the same face size at about 1 1/4 inches thick and is made to line stoves and inserts.

Inside a masonry firebox the difference matters. The code credits the lining toward an 8-inch wall only when the lining is at least 2 inches thick, and a split alone falls short of that. When a wall is relined, we choose the brick thickness against that figure and the space available in the firebox, and the estimate states which brick is used and why.

The firebox floor and the hearth under it

Under the firebrick floor of the firebox is the hearth, which the Florida code requires to be at least 4 inches thick and built of concrete or masonry on noncombustible support. A floor brick that sinks or rocks may point to a bed that has eroded or a hearth that has cracked beneath it.

We lift the failed floor bricks, check the bed and the hearth below, and reset the floor flat in refractory mortar. Cracks in the hearth slab, or in the extension that runs out in front of the opening, are written up as hearth work, which has rules and a price of its own.

Checked in Fleming Island before any brick comes out

Joint widths checked against the quarter-inch limit in R1001.5
Firebox depth measured before any relining is planned
Cure time from the mortar maker's data written on the ticket
Product name and standard of every mortar and brick used

Before the first fire after a repair

How long before we can use the fireplace after a firebox repair?

That depends on the mortar. One medium-duty refractory mortar needs at least 7 to 10 days before heat, and we write the exact date on the ticket. The first fire after that should be small.

Will new firebrick match the old color?

Close, though not exact. Firebrick color varies by maker and batch, and the old lining has darkened with use, so new bricks look lighter at first. We tell you before ordering.