Our Process
The details behind fixing your Crystal Point fireplace
Refractory mortar for firebox joint repair
Ordinary masonry mortar is made for walls, and the inside of a firebox is a different place. The code names medium-duty refractory mortar conforming to ASTM C199 for laying firebrick (R1001.5), and the same kind of mortar for parging the smoke chamber (R1001.8). A patch in general-purpose mortar or caulk may not hold up once the fireplace is used again.
When our specialists relay or replace firebrick, the old mortar is cleared out, the bricks are set in refractory mortar and the joints are kept thin. The product and its curing instructions go on your written record, so you know when your Crystal Point fireplace can be lit again.
Repairing a shallow or Rumford-style fireplace
The residential code sets a masonry firebox at least 20 inches deep (R1001.6). Rumford fireplaces are the named exception: shallower and taller, at least 12 inches deep and at least one-third as deep as the opening is wide, with a throat set higher and sized to the opening.
That shape is deliberate, so a repair keeps it. Our pros measure the firebox before relaying brick or reshaping a damaged back wall, and they do not deepen or narrow a fireplace to suit a stock part. If your Crystal Point fireplace was altered in the past, we explain what that change means for the way it draws.
Factory-built chimney parts found during a fireplace repair
The metal chimney above a factory-built fireplace belongs to the same listing. The code allows a decorative shroud at the top only when it is listed for that fireplace system (R1004.3), and factory-built chimneys are installed and terminated under the maker's instructions (R1005.1).
Loose pipe sections, a missing spacer or an unlisted shroud can come to light while a fireplace repair is investigated. Our pros record what they find above the fireplace and quote any chimney work as its own line, so your Crystal Point estimate separates the fireplace from the chimney that serves it.
Fireplace repair around a gas log set
Some fireplaces burn wood, some have a gas log set where the wood used to go and some are sealed gas units behind glass. Under R1004.4, an unvented gas log heater cannot go into a factory-built fireplace unless the fireplace itself is tested, listed and labeled for that use.
Our fireplace repair covers the firebox, damper, hearth and surround around a gas log set. Faults in the gas appliance itself, such as a burner, control or ignition problem, go to our gas fireplace repair service, which works from the appliance manual. We tell you which service applies before the visit to your Crystal Point home is booked.
