Your fireplace repair team in Airport North

Clues that a fireplace was built in a factory

A factory-built fireplace is a metal firebox with its own chimney pipe, made and tested as one system. From the room it can pass for masonry, especially behind a stone or tile face. A few details usually give it away.

None of these settles the question alone, and some masonry fireplaces have metal parts too. At the start of each visit in Airport North, our technician confirms the type and writes it on the estimate. It matters because a factory-built unit is repaired with its listed parts, while a masonry firebox is repaired with firebrick and heat-rated refractory mortar. The type is settled before any repair line is written.

• Panels inside the firebox with a molded brick pattern
• Metal edges showing at the top or sides of the opening
• Slotted grilles above or below the opening
• A round metal pipe where a brick flue would be

Glass door frames on a masonry fireplace

Glass doors on a masonry fireplace are held to the face or inside the opening by clamps, brackets or masonry anchors. Over time the frame can loosen, brackets can bend in the heat and the doors can sit crooked, leaving gaps at the sides.

A loose frame rattles and can come away from the opening when the doors are pulled. Frames forced into an opening of the wrong size also put stress on the face around them.

Our technicians check the frame fit, the fixings and the face behind them. We tighten or replace mounting hardware, reset a frame that has shifted and tell you if the opening needs a different frame altogether. Replacement doors are sized to the opening and installed to the door maker's instructions. The estimate names the parts and the fixing method, so a later owner knows how the doors are held.

Cooling ashes and a covered metal can

Ashes need time to cool. NFPA advises cooling them first, then moving them to a metal container that sits well away from the house. EPA wood-burning guidance adds that the container should be covered and stored outdoors on a nonflammable surface.

A paper bag, a cardboard box or a plastic bin is the wrong place for ashes, and so is a spot on a wooden deck or beside the garage door.

Our technicians leave the fireplace clean at the end of each repair and carry ashes out in a metal container we bring. If ash has been piling up because the ash dump is jammed or the grate sits too low, we fix the cause and note it in your written record. A shallow ash bed also makes the firebox floor easier to check on the next visit.

Same-day fireplace visits when the schedule allows

Some fireplace problems cannot wait for a slot next week. A damper stuck closed before a planned gathering, a door that has come off its track or a hearth tile that has broken loose can make the fireplace unusable at a bad moment.

When the schedule allows, we offer same-day visits for those calls. Small faults, such as a slipped handle pin, a loose knob or a door off its track, can sometimes be put right on that first visit rather than on a return trip.

Anything that needs a model part is ordered once you approve it. The free inspection, the written estimate and 10% off work booked within 72 hours apply the same way on a same-day visit in Airport North, and nothing is rushed because the visit was quick to arrange.