Our Process

The work behind restoring your Indian Mound Village fireplace

Restoring or replacing an old fireplace damper

A masonry fireplace needs a metal damper worked from the room and set at least 8 inches above the top of the opening (R1001.7.1). In an old fireplace the damper has often rusted, warped or seized, and the handle may be missing altogether.

Where the metal is sound, our pros clean, free and adjust the original damper so it opens fully and closes properly. Where it is not, they fit a replacement sized to the throat and still worked from the room. Either way, your restored Indian Mound Village fireplace gets a damper you can rely on.

Painted fireplace brick and lead paint

Paint on an old fireplace can hide more than the brick. The EPA notes that lead-based paint was banned for homes in 1978 and that renovation, repair or painting in a pre-1978 home with lead paint can create dangerous lead dust. BIA guidance adds that scraping and abrasive methods are not recommended where lead paint may be present unless protective procedures are in place.

Any Indian Mound Village home old enough to have lead paint should have the paint tested before any stripping is planned. The result decides the method, and the restoration plan is written around it.

Repointing the joints on an old fireplace face

Open, crumbling joints on the face of a fireplace are repaired by repointing: cutting out the failed mortar and packing in new. National Park Service preservation guidance says the new mortar should be softer or more permeable than the brick and no harder than the historic mortar.

On your Indian Mound Village fireplace, joints are raked out by hand to sound mortar, the new mortar is chosen to suit the old brick, and the joints are tooled to match the existing profile. Only the joints that need it are repointed, and the estimate shows how much of the face that is.

Keeping a restored fireplace in good order

NFPA's recommendation is a yearly cleaning and inspection of heating equipment and chimneys by a qualified professional. For a restored fireplace, that yearly look catches a loose brick or a sticking damper while it is still a small repair.

Our fireplace maintenance visits cover the firebox, damper, hearth, doors and face, with a written record each time. Homeowners in Indian Mound Village can book them on the same terms as the restoration, and same-day visits are available when the schedule allows. Each visit adds to the written history of the fireplace.