Fireplace restoration for San Jose homes

Soot, open joints and a stuck damper in San Jose sorted in the right order, with a test patch before any face cleaning.

Fully licensed and insured
Locally owned
Family owned and operated
Same-day service

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(904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

Fireplace restoration experts for San Jose homes

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

The room is protected and the rinse water caught, so only the fireplace changes.

Family owned and operatedA family business plans your San Jose 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

One contractor for the whole fireplace

Restoration pulls several repairs into one job: cleaning, firebox, smoke chamber, damper and face. Split between different people at different times, they can be done in the wrong order, and the face gets cleaned before the joints behind it are sound.

Our family-owned crew takes the fireplace as a single job with a single sequence, and one ticket records every repair and product. Want one plan for an old fireplace in San Jose? Start with a free inspection at (904) 920-5495.

San Jose lies within Duval County. San Jose does not reach the coast.

Clean, repair, repoint, protect

Unused fireplaces brought back to working order
Mantel and trim distances checked against the code
A written order of work for your San Jose fireplace
Drying times and the first fire date for your San Jose home

Call (904) 920-5495 Free Inspection

From first cleaning to first fire in San Jose

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.

Mantels added over the years in San Jose

Old fireplaces in San Jose can carry mantels and trim added long after they were built, sometimes too close to the opening.

Restoration measures every piece against the code's distances.

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

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.

Deep stains and a poultice

Some stains sit deep in one spot, such as an oil mark or a dark ring where something rested against the brick. The Brick Industry Association describes a poultice for these: a paste of a solvent or reagent in an inert powder that draws the stain out as it dries.

A poultice is for localized stains, not for cleaning a whole face, and it can take more than one application. We use it only where the general cleaning has left a mark behind, and the estimate lists it separately so you can decide whether the spot is worth the extra work and the extra visit.

The hearth extension on an old fireplace

For a masonry fireplace, today's code wants the hearth extension to run 16 inches into the room and 8 inches past both sides of the opening, rising to 20 and 12 inches once the opening reaches 6 square feet.

Older fireplaces were not all built to those figures. Restoration measures the hearth against them and notes any shortfall, along with cracks or loose edges. Hearth work is priced as its own line, in material matched to the original where it can be found, so you decide on it separately from the rest of the fireplace.

Safety work and face work on one page

Face joints raked out by hand to a depth set by their width
Face mortar matched in sand, color and profile, softer than the brick
Hearth extension size and condition noted separately
Lintel checked for rust, sag and bearing

Fireplace restoration questions from San Jose

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.

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.