Firebrick and joint repair in Sawgrass
Firebox rebuild or a single brick? Local experts in Sawgrass tell you which after a free inspection, and we stand behind the work.
- Fully licensed and insured
- Locally owned
- Family owned and operated
- Same-day service
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Firebox specialists who test every brick in Sawgrass
- Locally owned in Jacksonville
- Family owned and operated
- 100% satisfaction guaranteed
- Free inspection and estimate
- Same-day service available
- 10% off any service
Cracks left in place are written down too, so you can watch them against our note.
- Free inspection and estimateEvery wall of the firebox in Sawgrass 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.
Planning around a gathering
A family event with a fire in the fireplace needs the repair finished well ahead of the day. One medium-duty refractory mortar maker asks for at least a week, and up to ten days, of drying before heat, and warns that mortar heated while still wet can crack as the water inside turns to steam.
Give us the date on the phone, and the firebox repair is scheduled so its cure time ends first. If the date is too close for the repair to cure, we say so plainly. Hosting in Sawgrass and hoping for a fire? Share the date with us at (904) 920-5495.
Sawgrass borders the coast. Sawgrass lies within St. Johns County.
What firebox repair covers in Sawgrass
- Cracked firebrick replaced to size, one brick at a time
- Hollow-sounding bricks reset in a full mortar bed
- Rumford fireboxes relined to their original angles
- A written cure date for your Sawgrass fireplace
From a cold firebox to the first fire in Sawgrass
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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.
Rust stains inside a coastal firebox
Orange streaks on firebrick come from iron above them, a rusting damper or cap parts dripping water down the flue. In a coastal town such as Sawgrass, salt air speeds that rust on exposed steel.
The stain is cleaned off the firebrick where we repair, and the rusting part goes on the estimate.
10% off any service booked within 72 hours of inspection
Book firebox repointing or rebricking in Sawgrass within 72 hours of the inspection and 10% comes off.
The eight-inch and ten-inch firebox walls
Section R1001.5 sets the firebox walls by thickness. Where the firebrick lining is 2 inches thick or more, the back and side walls must be at least 8 inches of solid masonry counting the lining. Without a lining, the walls need 10 inches of solid masonry.
A lining worn thin is therefore more than a cosmetic problem, because the credit for the lining depends on its thickness. When we assess a worn wall, we compare what remains with those figures and write down whether new firebrick restores the wall or whether the backing masonry needs attention as well. That comparison is on the estimate in plain numbers.
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.
Why a regular mortar patch fails
A patch of ordinary bag mortar in a firebox can look sound for a season and then crumble. Portland cement mortar is made for walls, not flame, and one refractory mortar maker puts the limit of regular mortars at around 600 degrees Fahrenheit, far below the heat a firebox face sees.
The fix is to remove every trace of the old patch from the joint, back to the brick edges, before the refractory mortar goes in. Leaving some of the patch behind puts a weak layer inside the new joint, and that layer fails first. The estimate notes where old patches were found so you know why those joints took longer.
Walls, joints and cure time in writing
- Open joints raked to firm mortar and repointed in C199 refractory mortar
- Floor firebricks lifted, rebedded and reset flat
- Hairline cracks left in place and noted for later checks
- Smoke chamber, damper and hearth items kept on their own lines
Firebox repair questions from Sawgrass
Why not fill the cracks and paint over them?
Paint does nothing for the lining and keeps new mortar from bonding. Open joints need raking and refilling, and cracked bricks need replacing, so the repair lasts.
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.
More services in Sawgrass
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A sound firebox for your Sawgrass fireplace
Book a free firebox inspection in Sawgrass at (904) 920-5495; a repair you approve inside three days of it is 10% off.
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