Your smoke chamber, repaired and parged smooth in Whisper Lakes

Refractory mortar and ASTM C199

ASTM C199 is the test method the code names for refractory mortars, the heat-rated mortars used inside fireboxes and smoke chambers. The code calls for parging made from mortar that conforms to it, and for firebrick linings laid in medium duty refractory mortar.

In practice, that means the product in a bucket on our job has been made and rated for fireplace heat. Ordinary masonry mortar is made for walls and weather. We name the refractory product we plan to use in the written estimate, so there is no question about what goes on your chamber walls.

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

What we look at during a chamber inspection

We begin at the firebox, open the damper and look up into the chamber with a strong light. We check the shape of the walls, the joints, any earlier coat, the buildup and the smoke shelf. Where roof access is safe, we also look down the flue to the chamber top.

We measure the opening and note the damper type and condition. Nothing is taken apart at this stage. The purpose is a clear picture of the chamber, and the written estimate follows from it.

What the free inspection includes

The free chamber inspection covers the smoke chamber walls, any earlier coat, the joints, the deposits, the smoke shelf, the damper and the transition into the flue, along with a look at the cap and flue top where access allows.

You receive written findings and a written estimate, both at no cost. There is no obligation to book, and the estimate stays valid long enough for you to think it over.

Scheduling chamber work around cure time

A chamber job has two parts on the calendar, the working time and the curing time before normal fires. Planning both together avoids a finished chamber that sits unused on the evening you wanted a fire.

We book the work so the cure ends before the date you have in mind and write the first-fire date on your invoice. If the fireplace is your main heat source on cool evenings, tell us, and we plan around it.