Cracked firebox repair in Murray Hill
The back wall, the side walls and the floor of your Murray Hill firebox, each checked free and quoted separately.
- Fully licensed and insured
- Locally owned
- Family owned and operated
- Same-day service
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Firebox experts for Murray Hill fireplaces
- 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 Murray Hill is priced.
- Free inspection and estimateEvery wall of the firebox in Murray Hill 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.
Selling a house with a working fireplace
A buyer's inspector looks into the firebox with a light, and open joints or cracked brick show up in the report. Repairing the firebox before listing puts a finished item in front of them instead of an open question and a request for credit.
We write the repair up in plain terms, with the materials named, so the record can go into the listing file, with the date of the work. The repair carries our workmanship warranty. Getting a house in Murray Hill ready to list? A free firebox check can be booked at (904) 920-5495.
Murray Hill is one of the named neighborhoods of Jacksonville. Murray Hill is part of Duval County.
Joints, firebrick, walls and floor
- Firebox floor bricks lifted and reset flat
- Cast refractory pieces assessed before any repair
- A written cure date for your Murray Hill fireplace
- Firebox rebuilds that keep the throat and depth to code
How firebox repair runs
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Keep the firebox cold
Let the fireplace go unused for several hours ahead of our visit, so each wall is cool to the touch.
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Tap, probe and mark
Each brick is sounded, each joint probed, and the failed ones marked and written up by wall.
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Rake, rebrick or reline
Joints are raked and repointed, failed bricks replaced and worn walls relined in C199 mortar.
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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 Murray Hill
Some Murray Hill 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
Open firebox joints? The repair you book before three days are out is 10% off.
Reading the label on a tub of fireplace cement
Tubs of premixed fireplace cement are sold for firebrick repair, and their labels are worth a close look. One widely sold premixed refractory cement is rated to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and lists ASTM E136, a test of whether a material burns, rather than the C199 pier test. It is also made for joints of a quarter inch or less, with a sixteenth of an inch as its minimum.
A product like that has its place, but it is not automatically the medium-duty mortar R1001.5 calls for between firebricks. We compare each product's stated standard with the code before choosing it for a joint.
Paint, sealers and new mortar
Fresh refractory mortar has to bond to clean masonry. One medium-duty maker states that its product cannot go onto a painted surface and that all paint must be removed for proper adhesion.
Painted or coated firebrick is therefore cleaned back to bare material wherever new mortar will touch it: the joint faces, the edges of a replaced brick and the opening a brick is set into. Paint on the rest of the lining can stay if you want it to, and the estimate states how much surface the cleanup covers. A coating on firebrick does not protect the lining from heat, so it is not a reason to skip a repair.
Room for the firebox to expand
Masonry grows slightly as it heats and shrinks as it cools. The Brick Industry Association recommends a 1-inch space between the combustion chamber wall and the backup masonry, held open with a compressible noncombustible fibrous insulation, to give that movement room. The building code does not require it.
When we rebuild a firebox wall from the backing out, we raise that option with you before the work starts. On a lining repair the existing construction stays as built, and we note it when a lining mortared hard to its backing is cracking in a pattern that points to movement rather than wear.
Checked in Murray Hill before any brick comes out
- Cracked or hollow firebrick cut out and replaced one at a time
- Old patches and bag mortar removed from repaired joints
- Back wall slope and throat height kept on any rebuild
- Smoke chamber, damper and hearth items kept on their own lines
Before the first fire after a repair
Can you repair the firebox in a metal fireplace?
A factory-built fireplace uses molded refractory panels from its maker, not laid firebrick. That work is prefab fireplace repair, and the rating plate tells us which parts fit.
Should I stop using the fireplace until the repair?
If bricks are loose, joints are open deep into the wall or the back wall bows, yes. Hairline cracks in sound brick can wait for the visit, and we tell you which you have. Call (904) 920-5495 to book a free inspection in Murray Hill.
More services in Murray Hill
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Firebox trouble, free check
Describe the joints and bricks when you call (904) 920-5495, and the right firebrick comes with our experts to Murray Hill.
Free Inspection