Old fireplace restoration in Murray Hill

Local experts restore fireplaces in Murray Hill to their original look, with a satisfaction guarantee on the finished work.

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

Heat-side repairs use refractory mortar; the face gets a softer mortar matched to the brick.

Family owned and operatedA family business plans your Murray Hill 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

Safety first, then the face

A restoration estimate has two halves. The first covers everything that has to be right before a fire is lit: firebox joints and brick, smoke chamber parging, the damper and the clearances around the opening. The second covers how the fireplace looks: face cleaning, face repointing and any matched replacement brick.

You can approve the safety half alone and schedule the rest when it suits you, though the face still comes last in the order. Want the fireplace in Murray Hill safe to use before anything cosmetic? Ask for a split estimate at (904) 920-5495.

Murray Hill is a neighborhood inside Jacksonville city limits. The county for Murray Hill is Duval County.

Clean, repair, repoint, protect

Open firebox joints and cracked firebrick redone on the heat side
Mantel and trim distances checked against the code
Stone fireplace faces cleaned and repointed
Drying times and the first fire date for your Murray Hill home

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From first cleaning to first fire in Murray Hill

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.

An old fireplace well inland

Murray Hill sits well inland, where an old fireplace ages from time, heat, water down the flue and earlier repairs rather than salt.

Restoration in Murray Hill finds and orders all of them.

10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection

Restoration earns the discount whether this is your first job with us or not.

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New mortar next to old

Even a well-matched mortar looks different at first. The National Park Service guidance expects a visible difference between new and old mortar when the work is fresh, and advises against staining new mortar to force a match in most cases.

The difference narrows as the new mortar cures and weathers, and indoors it also takes on some of the room's tone over time. We tell you this before the face work starts, so a fresh joint that looks a shade lighter on the first day is expected, not a surprise. The mortar sample you approved is the target it grows toward.

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.

Telling efflorescence from other white stains

Efflorescence is a white, powdery deposit left when water carries salts out of the masonry and evaporates. The Brick Industry Association describes it as normally harmless, and notes that other white marks, such as lime run and white scum, are sometimes mistaken for it.

Each needs a different treatment, so we identify the deposit before cleaning. Efflorescence also tells us water is moving through the brick, and restoration includes finding where it comes from, whether a leak above or water down the flue. Cleaning it off without stopping the water only brings it back within a season.

Safety work and face work on one page

Smoke chamber parged smooth where parging is missing
Damper freed and rehung, or replaced where rusted through
Smoke stains and efflorescence identified before cleaning
Order of work and drying times written on the estimate

Fireplace restoration questions from Murray Hill

Do we have to restore everything at once?

No. The estimate splits safety work from appearance work, so the fireplace can be made safe first and the face finished later. The order of work still applies.

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 Murray Hill fireplace behaves.