Restoring an old fireplace in Keystone Heights

Brick stays brick in Keystone Heights: 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

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Get Your Free Inspection

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

Quicker by phone? Call (904) 920-5495

Call our chimney crew

(904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Local restoration pros who keep the original look

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

The damper is freed or replaced and checked open and shut before any fire.

Family owned and operatedA family business plans your Keystone Heights 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.

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

When part of the fireplace is past saving

Now and then a restoration finds a section that cannot be repaired, such as a firebox back wall that has moved or a course of face brick that has come loose from the wall behind. Restoration does not mean keeping every piece at any cost.

That section is rebuilt in matching material and the rest of the fireplace is kept, and the estimate explains why that part could not stay. Worried that an old fireplace in Keystone Heights is too far gone? Let us look first, free, at (904) 920-5495.

Keystone Heights falls within Clay County. The 2020 Census count for Keystone Heights was 1,446 people.

What fireplace restoration covers in Keystone Heights

Flue, smoke chamber and firebox cleaned before assessment
Soot-stained faces cleaned after a trial patch
Worn or damaged face brick replaced with matched units
Drying times and the first fire date for your Keystone Heights home

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

How our restoration pros bring back a fireplace in Keystone Heights

Clean and assess
Everything from the hearth to the flue top is cleaned, then checked and written up part by part.
Heat side first
Firebox, parging and damper repairs are made in refractory materials and left to dry.
Trial, then the face
A trial patch is cleaned and a mortar sample made for your approval before the face work.
Repoint, cure, clean
Face joints are repointed in layers, left to harden, then the face gets its final cleaning.

Rain down an unused flue in Keystone Heights

Storms of the hurricane season, June through November, reach well inland. In a fireplace left unused, rain down the flue can stain the face and wet the firebox without anyone noticing.

We trace water marks to their source during restoration.

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.

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Taking smoke stains off brick

Smoke staining is its own category in the Brick Industry Association's cleaning guidance, which notes that scrubbing with a scouring powder, particularly one containing bleach, and a stiff bristle brush is often effective.

That is mild compared with what people reach for, and it is where we start, after a trial patch. How much comes off depends on how deep the stain has worked into the brick; some faces come up close to new and others only lighten. We tell you after the trial which to expect, rather than pushing harder chemistry at a stain that will not come out.

Why the face is not blasted

Abrasive blasting takes stains off by taking off the surface of the brick with them. The Brick Industry Association's guidance says not to use it except in narrow cases, and warns that abrasive methods and high-pressure water can etch mortar joints and damage the brick face.

Once the fired surface of an old brick is gone, the softer body underneath is exposed and takes up water and dirt faster. Restoration cleans with water, brushes and mild cleaners, tested first, so the face that is left is the original one. Where a stain resists all of that, we say so plainly.

The hearth extension on an old fireplace

For a masonry fireplace, today's code wants the hearth extension to run 16 inches into the room and 8 inches past both sides of the opening, rising to 20 and 12 inches once the opening reaches 6 square feet.

Older fireplaces were not all built to those figures. Restoration measures the hearth against them and notes any shortfall, along with cracks or loose edges. Hearth work is priced as its own line, in material matched to the original where it can be found, so you decide on it separately from the rest of the fireplace.

Cleaned and checked in Keystone Heights before a plan is priced

Condition of each part, hearth to flue top, written up after cleaning
Firebox joints and firebrick in C199 refractory mortar
Damper freed and rehung, or replaced where rusted through
Mantel and trim distances from the opening measured

Before an old fireplace is brought back

Is a restored fireplace inspected at the end?

Yes. We check the firebox, smoke chamber and damper after the work and run through the first fire with you once the materials have dried.

Is the restoration inspection free?

Yes. The inspection and the written estimate cost nothing, with upfront pricing and no hidden fees. Booked within 72 hours of that inspection, the restoration is 10% off.