Your smoke chamber, repaired and parged smooth in Audubon Park

The code asks for a smooth refractory surface

In the Florida Building Code, Residential, section R1001.8 requires the chamber's inside surface to be parged smooth, using refractory mortar that meets ASTM C199. Where the chamber is formed by corbelled masonry, the parging is how that rough surface is brought into line.

A chamber built without that finish is not unusual in older fireplaces. We tell you plainly whether yours has it, whether an earlier coat is still sound and what bringing it up to that standard would involve.

Cleaning comes before any coating

A chamber coating bonds to clean masonry. One maker's data sheet states that before its coating goes in, the smoke chamber must be thoroughly cleaned to remove all tar glazed creosote and soot from the internal walls.

We follow that order on every chamber. The walls are brushed, the shelf is cleared and the surface is checked by hand before any mixing starts. If cleaning uncovers more damage than the first look showed, we stop and talk it through with you before going further.

Working through the damper opening

The simplest route into a smoke chamber is up through the damper opening from inside the firebox. Our crew works overhead in a tight space, reaching past the damper frame with the tools and material the job needs.

The damper size and position decide how much of the chamber can be reached this way. We check the opening during the free inspection and tell you whether the whole chamber can be done from below or whether part of it needs access from above.

Protecting the room before chamber work

Chamber repair brings soot, mortar dust and wet material close to your living space. Before any tool comes out, we lay covers from the entry to the hearth and seal the fireplace opening around our work area.

Furniture near the fireplace is moved or covered with your permission. At the end of each day, the covers come up clean and the room is ready to use, even while the chamber is still curing.

• Floor covered from entry to hearth
• Fireplace opening sealed around the work
• Room left usable at day's end

Family-owned chamber repair, start to finish

Our business is family owned and locally owned. The people who inspect your chamber are the same kind of people who repair it, and they answer to a family name instead of a distant office.

That shows up in small ways, such as the room protected before work, the product named in writing, the cure steps explained and a phone call answered when you have a question weeks later.