Our Process

How fireplace restoration is done in Lock Arbor

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 Lock Arbor 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.

Matching mortar to softer old brick

Stronger is not better when it comes to mortar on old brick. The Park Service repointing brief shows a wall where hard portland cement mortar, less permeable than the soft brick, trapped moisture until water pressure popped the faces off the bricks. The mortar is meant to be the sacrificial part of the wall, protecting the brick.

Our crew therefore picks the repointing mortar for the brick in front of them and never reaches for the hardest mix available. The mortar type used on your Lock Arbor fireplace is named on your written record.

Ash dump doors in an old fireplace

An ash dump is a little metal trapdoor in the firebox floor, found in many masonry fireplaces, that drops ash into a pit below. In an old fireplace that door is often rusted shut, bent or missing, which can leave an open hole in the hearth of the firebox.

We clean out the old ash, check the chamber and its cleanout door outside or below, and replace a missing or seized ash door with one that fits the opening. It is a small part, and it is on your Lock Arbor estimate as a small line.

Your written fireplace restoration record

When the restoration is finished, you get a written record of the work: what was repaired, what was replaced, the materials used and the first-fire instructions. It is useful the next time someone services the fireplace, and useful if you sell the house.

Keep it with your Lock Arbor home's papers. If something changes later, such as a new crack or a damper that sticks, the record shows whether it involves a part we restored or another part of the fireplace. It also lists anything we noticed outside the restoration, so nothing found during the job is forgotten.