Careful fireplace restoration for Christmas homes
Our pros tell you what your Christmas fireplace needs for safe use and what is only about looks, before any work starts.
- Licensed & insured
- Locally run
- Family owned and operated
- Same-day service available
Before any restoration work starts in Christmas
Book within 72 hours after the inspection and the same Christmas estimate shows 10% off.
- Hearth and hearth extension condition
- Test area before full face cleaning
- Old paint and the lead question first
- Floor protection and dust control
What goes into restoring a fireplace in Christmas
Worth reading before you approve restoration work in Christmas.
The ash dump and cleanout door
Many masonry fireplaces have an ash dump, a small metal door in the firebox floor that drops ashes into a pit below, emptied through a cleanout door lower down. These doors rust, stick open or go missing, and an open ash dump lets air and embers into the pit.
We check that the ash dump door closes and that the cleanout door below is in place and shut. Rusted doors are replaced with frames sized to the opening. On restorations in Christmas, these small parts are easy to forget and easy to put right.
Raised hearths and low openings
When the firebox opening is 8 inches or more above the hearth extension, the code accepts a thinner extension made of approved noncombustible material. Raised hearths bring repairs of their own, such as loose cap pieces, cracked top slabs and open joints along the front edge.
We check a raised hearth as carefully as the firebox. Crumbling edges are repointed and loose cap pieces are reset. Your Christmas proposal names the pieces involved, so the work stays small and exact.
Why we never pressure wash fireplace brick
High-pressure water and abrasive blasting clean by wearing away the surface. Brick Industry Association guidance warns that both can etch mortar joints and strip the outer face of the brick, and that damage is permanent.
Indoors, water under pressure also soaks the wall and the floor. We clean fireplace faces by hand, starting with the gentlest method that works. If a stain will not come out without harming the brick, you hear that before we scar the face chasing it.
Repointing the brick face
Mortar joints on the room side of a fireplace crack and loosen after years of heat and cleaning. Open joints around the opening look worn and let heat and soot into the wall.
We rake out failed joints and repoint them by hand. National Park Service guidance on repointing calls for mortar softer than the brick, so the joint takes the wear instead of the brick edges. Your Christmas estimate lists the joints included and how the new mortar will be matched.
Other work in Christmas
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Fireplace restoration questions from Christmas
What Christmas homeowners want to know before they book.
What does fireplace restoration include?
It depends on the fireplace. A typical restoration covers cleaning, the firebox lining, the damper, the smoke chamber, the hearth and the brick or stone face, each listed separately in your estimate. Work on the chimney above appears on its own lines.
Can you replace just a few cracked firebricks?
Yes. Individual firebricks can be cut out and replaced with brick that meets the code and fits the existing lining, laid in refractory mortar. Only the bricks that need it are replaced.
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- Free inspection
- No hidden fees
- Family owned and operated
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