Your fireplace repair team in Engelwood Park

Questions worth asking a fireplace repair company

Before anyone works on your fireplace, a few plain questions separate a careful fireplace repair company from a guess.

Clear answers should come without pressure. A company that cannot say what kind of fireplace you have cannot say which rules the repair has to follow, and one that cannot name the failed part is quoting for luck.

Our technicians expect these questions and answer them on site in Engelwood Park. The same answers then appear in the written estimate, so you can set it beside any other quote and compare like with like. If we think a repair is not worth doing, we tell you that too, in writing.

• Which fireplace type is this, and how can you tell?
• Which part failed, and how did you confirm it?
• Are the parts listed for this model, or generic?
• What is included, and what is left out?

Handles and linkage you work from the room

A masonry fireplace needs a ferrous metal damper, set in the fireplace or the chimney above it, that can be operated from the room with the fireplace, according to the Florida Building Code. A broken handle, a slipped chain or a linkage rod that has come off its pin takes that control away.

Without it, homeowners end up reaching into the throat or lighting fires with the damper wherever it happened to stop. Neither is a good idea. Keep hands out of the throat and leave the fireplace unused until the control works again.

The repair replaces the handle, rod, chain or pins with parts that suit the damper you have, then checks that open and closed are easy to tell apart. If the damper itself has failed, a replacement is written up as its own job. Whenever the damper body is still sound, you keep the damper you have.

Smoke drifting out of the opening

EPA wood-burning guidance says a properly installed, correctly used wood-burning appliance should make very little smoke, and that if you regularly see or smell smoke, you may have a problem. A fireplace that puffs smoke past the screen deserves a look.

If smoke starts filling the room, take everyone outside and dial 911 from there, without staying to fan the smoke or tend the fire.

Once the room is clear and the fireplace is cold, the causes are checked in order. The damper may not open fully, the passage above the firebox may be smaller than the flue, the wood may be wet, or a change to the opening, such as new doors or a narrowed opening, may have altered how air moves. Our technicians go through each one and write down which it is, with the repair that fixes it.

Corner and see-through fireplaces

Corner fireplaces and see-through units open to more than one side. A see-through fireplace has two openings, often facing two rooms, and a corner unit has an open side as well as a front. Each open side brings its own hearth, screen or doors and trim to check.

More openings can make smoke harder to control, because air can move across the fireplace from one side to the other. Doors or screens on each side, a damper that opens fully and a passage sized for the flue all count for more.

Factory-built corner and see-through units follow their own manuals for doors, hearth extensions and screens. Our technicians read the label, check each side and write the findings side by side, so repairs on one opening do not leave the other behind. Both sides appear on one estimate, priced line by line.