Old fireplace restoration in Lake Geneva

Local restoration pros bring an old fireplace in Lake Geneva back to safe use without changing how it looks. The inspection is free.

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

Restoration specialists who plan the whole fireplace in Lake Geneva

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

The room is protected and the rinse water caught, so only the fireplace changes.

Family owned and operatedA family business plans your Lake Geneva 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

The smoke chamber nobody sees

Above the damper, the smoke chamber funnels smoke into the flue. In an old fireplace its inside can be rough, open at the joints or missing its parging, and you cannot see any of it from the room, even with the damper open.

After cleaning, we shine a light up past the damper and look. Where the parging is missing, the code's answer is a smooth coat of refractory mortar, and that repair goes on the safety half of the estimate. Has anyone ever looked at the smoke chamber of your Lake Geneva fireplace? Book a free inspection at (904) 920-5495.

Lake Geneva sits in Clay County. Lake Geneva is inland.

What fireplace restoration covers in Lake Geneva

Open firebox joints and cracked firebrick redone on the heat side
Mismatched old patches cut out and redone
Worn or damaged face brick replaced with matched units
Hearth condition and size recorded

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Clean, repair, repoint, finish

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.

Drying times inland in Lake Geneva

Refractory repairs need days to dry and face mortar needs weeks before its final cleaning. In Lake Geneva, as anywhere, that sets the pace.

The estimate lays out each wait.

10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection

Restoration booked within 72 hours of the inspection in Lake Geneva comes 10% off.

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

A partly open damper and the flue

The code sets a floor for the passage over the firebox: its cross-section may not be smaller than the flue's. A damper plate stuck partway open shrinks exactly that passage, and the smoke has to squeeze through.

In an old fireplace, a smoky first fire is often traced to a plate that only opens halfway. Restoring full travel, or replacing the plate, gives the smoke its full path back. We measure the opening with the plate fully open and compare it with the flue before signing off the damper work, so the fix is confirmed rather than assumed.

Filling deep joints in layers

Deep joints are not filled in one go. The National Park Service guidance has areas deeper than an inch filled first, then the whole joint built up in layers of about a quarter inch, each pressed into the back corners and left to reach thumbprint hardness before the next goes on.

Most mortar shrinkage happens as it hardens, and thin layers keep that shrinkage from opening a crack at the edge of the joint. It takes longer than packing the joint full, but the finished joint stays tight to the brick on both sides. On a fireplace face, that is what keeps a repair tight for years.

Mantel and trim near an old opening

Florida's R1001.11 lets an exposed combustible mantel or trim sit on the fireplace front only if it stays 6 inches or more from the opening. Closer than 12 inches, it may project from the face no more than an eighth of an inch per inch of distance.

During restoration we measure every combustible piece near the opening against those figures. Trim that is too close is listed by itself, because it must change before the fireplace is used, and the estimate shows the measurement that put it on the list.

Safety work and face work on one page

Face joints raked out by hand to a depth set by their width
Mantel and trim distances from the opening measured
Floors, mantel and walls protected, rinse water contained
Order of work and drying times written on the estimate

Fireplace restoration questions from Lake Geneva

Will the new mortar match the old?

We match the sand, color and joint profile, and test a sample first. Fresh mortar looks slightly different at first and blends as it cures.

What if the damper cannot be saved?

A new damper sized to the throat is priced separately on the estimate. Call (904) 920-5495 and tell us how the damper in your Lake Geneva fireplace behaves.