Restoring an old fireplace in Middleburg

One written plan for your Middleburg fireplace, safety work first and appearance work second, every line priced upfront.

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

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 face is cleaned only after a trial patch you have seen dry.

Family owned and operatedA family business plans your Middleburg 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 Middleburg is too far gone? Let us look first, free, at (904) 920-5495.

Middleburg lies inland. Middleburg falls within Clay County.

What fireplace restoration covers in Middleburg

Flue, smoke chamber and firebox cleaned before assessment
Soot-stained faces cleaned after a trial patch
Face joints repointed to match the original
A written order of work for your Middleburg fireplace

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

How fireplace restoration runs

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.

Earlier patches in Middleburg homes

Many old fireplaces in Middleburg have been patched over the years with whatever mortar was at hand. Those patches can be harder than the brick and a different color.

Restoration cuts them out and repoints to match.

10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection

The restoration comes 10% off and carries our 100% satisfaction guarantee like any job.

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Face mortar softer than the brick

On the face of an old fireplace, the mortar should give way before the brick does. Preservation Brief 2 from the National Park Service calls for repointing mortar to be softer than the masonry units, measured in compressive strength, and no harder than the historic mortar it joins.

Harder mortar forces movement and water into the brick, which then cracks or loses its face. So restoration mortar for the face is picked to suit the brick on that particular fireplace, not for convenience, and its type is named on the estimate. The firebox, on the heat side, follows its own refractory rule.

Wetting the brick before any cleaner

Saturating the brick comes first in the association's bucket-and-brush method: the area to be cleaned, and the brick below it, is soaked with water before a cleaning solution goes on and kept wet until the final rinse. The cleaner is not allowed to dry on the brick.

Saturated brick absorbs less of the cleaner, so it works on the surface instead of soaking into the masonry, and the rinse carries it away. On a fireplace face that means working in small sections, with the hearth and floor protected and the rinse water caught as we go, not flooding the whole face at once.

Protecting the room around the fireplace

Brick cleaning guidance starts with protecting the materials next to the masonry, and a fireplace sits in a finished room with floors, rugs and a mantel close by. Cleaning solutions and rinse water have to be kept where they belong.

Before any water goes on the face, we cover the floor and the hearth, mask the mantel and the walls on either side, and set containers to catch runoff. Work is done in small sections so nothing runs down unseen. When the job is done, the coverings come up and the room is swept and wiped before the crew goes.

Cleaned and checked in Middleburg before a plan is priced

Condition of each part, hearth to flue top, written up after cleaning
Safety repairs listed apart from appearance work
Face joints raked out by hand to a depth set by their width
Lintel checked for rust, sag and bearing

Before an old fireplace is brought back

Why not use acid on the brick?

Brick industry guidance advises against unbuffered muriatic acid, which can etch mortar, discolor brick and cause new stains on light-colored brick. We use the gentlest method that works in a trial.

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.