Restoring an old fireplace in Penney Farms
Face mortar softer than the brick, refractory mortar where the fire is: Penney Farms restoration done with the right material in each place.
- Fully licensed and insured
- Locally owned
- Family owned and operated
- Same-day service
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Fireplace restoration experts for Penney Farms homes
- Locally owned in Jacksonville
- Family owned and operated
- 100% satisfaction guaranteed
- Free inspection and estimate
- Same-day service available
- 10% off any service
Nothing on the estimate changes the look; every line restores what is already there.
- Family owned and operatedA family business plans your Penney Farms 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.
A house bought with an old fireplace
A fireplace that came with a house often comes with no history: no record of the last inspection, the last cleaning or what was patched and when. The home inspection may have noted it only as needing further evaluation, which leaves the new owner holding a question rather than an answer.
Restoration starts with that evaluation, done properly, and ends with a record on paper of each repair and its materials, the fireplace's history from here on. Just bought a house in Penney Farms with a fireplace you know nothing about? Book a free look at (904) 920-5495.
Penney Farms is in Clay County. Penney Farms had 821 residents at the 2020 Census.
What fireplace restoration covers in Penney Farms
- Flue, smoke chamber and firebox cleaned before assessment
- Seized dampers freed or replaced
- Mismatched old patches cut out and redone
- Worn or damaged face brick replaced with matched units
How our restoration pros bring back a fireplace in Penney Farms
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Clean and assess
Everything from the hearth to the flue top is cleaned, then checked and written up part by part.
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Heat side first
Firebox, parging and damper repairs are made in refractory materials and left to dry.
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Trial, then the face
A trial patch is cleaned and a mortar sample made for your approval before the face work.
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Repoint, cure, clean
Face joints are repointed in layers, left to harden, then the face gets its final cleaning.
Smoke from an old fireplace inland
Inland in Penney Farms, a smoky old fireplace is about the damper, the smoke chamber and the air in the house, not the weather.
Restoration fixes the fireplace causes and names the rest.
10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection
The restoration comes 10% off and carries our 100% satisfaction guarantee like any job.
Freeing or replacing an old damper
Florida's code wants the damper of a masonry fireplace made of ferrous metal and set no less than 8 inches over the top of the opening. In an old fireplace the plate may be rusted at its pivots, bent, or rusted thin.
A plate that is sound but stuck is freed, cleaned and rehung so it opens fully and closes flat. One that has rusted through is replaced with a unit sized to the existing throat. Either way, the damper is worked open and shut several times before the first fire, and its condition before and after is written down on the ticket.
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.
How deep old face mortar comes out
Before repointing, old mortar is removed to sound material. The National Park Service guidance sets a minimum depth of 2 to 2 1/2 times the width of the joint, which for most brick joints means about half an inch to an inch, and any loose mortar beyond that also comes out.
A shallow cut leaves the new mortar clinging to a thin ledge, and it pops out. We measure joint widths first and cut to the depth they call for, leaving square corners at the back of the cut giving the new mortar a solid back to hold. The depth is checked along each joint before filling starts.
Cleaned and checked in Penney Farms before a plan is priced
- Trial cleaning patch on the face, judged dry
- Deep joints filled in thin layers and tooled at thumbprint hardness
- Smoke stains and efflorescence identified before cleaning
- Lintel checked for rust, sag and bearing
Before an old fireplace is brought back
Is a restored fireplace inspected at the end?
Yes. We check the firebox, smoke chamber and damper after the work and run through the first fire with you once the materials have dried.
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.
More services in Penney Farms
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Old fireplace, free look
Unused fireplace in Penney Farms? One free visit and one written plan for bringing it back.
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