Old fireplace restoration in Palm Valley

Local experts restore fireplaces in Palm Valley 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

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

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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

Fireplace restoration experts for Palm Valley homes

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

Family owned and local, we put the sequence and every waiting period into your Palm Valley estimate.

Family owned and operatedA family business plans your Palm Valley 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

Crumbling joints on the face

Mortar falling out of the joints on the room side of a fireplace is a face repair, and it needs a different mortar from the firebox. Face mortar should be softer than the brick around it, so that any future movement cracks the mortar, which is easy to renew, rather than the brick, which is not.

Joints are cut back to sound mortar by hand, filled in thin layers and tooled to match the old profile, with the color coming mostly from the sand. Loose mortar on the face of your Palm Valley fireplace? Have it checked free at (904) 920-5495.

The 2020 Census counted 21,827 residents in Palm Valley. Palm Valley is near the coast without touching it.

Clean, repair, repoint, protect

Open firebox joints and cracked firebrick redone on the heat side
Face joints repointed to match the original
Efflorescence identified and its water source found
Drying times and the first fire date for your Palm Valley home

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From first cleaning to first fire in Palm Valley

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.

Storm rain in an unused flue near Palm Valley

Rain driven by storms between June and November can go straight down an open flue near the coast. In an unused fireplace that water sits unnoticed.

We look for water marks and trace them during restoration.

10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection

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

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Cleaning before judging

Soot and loose debris hide the condition of an old fireplace. Cracks in firebrick, open joints and missing parging in the smoke chamber can sit under a dark coat and look sound from a step away.

We clean all three areas, flue, chamber and firebox, then go back with a light and a probe and write down what is actually there. It is slower than quoting from the doorway, but it keeps the estimate from growing halfway through the work. Anything found that falls outside restoration, such as a problem at the top of the chimney, is listed separately.

Old bricks with rounded edges

Old brick that has worn round at the edges makes a joint look wider if the mortar is brought flush to the face. The National Park Service guidance suggests recessing the final mortar slightly behind the face in that case.

The recess keeps the joint looking the width it was built, and it avoids a thin featheredge of mortar that breaks off easily and lets water in. We look at how the surviving joints sit against worn brick and set the new ones the same way, so the repair reads as part of the old work rather than a patch laid over it.

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.

Safety work and face work on one page

Condition of each part, hearth to flue top, written up after cleaning
Safety repairs listed apart from appearance work
Smoke chamber parged smooth where parging is missing
Deep joints filled in thin layers and tooled at thumbprint hardness

Fireplace restoration questions from Palm Valley

Can you restore an old fireplace in Palm Valley without changing how it looks?

Yes. Restoration keeps the original brick or stone, the size of the opening and the joint pattern. Changing the facing or surround is remodeling, which we do not do.

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.