Looking for a fireplace expert ...

[Robin Garr]

I'm not talking about just a chimney sweep here. We've got a non-working fireplace in our Crescent Hill manse, and we've been told that it's non-working because the '74 tornado dumped most of the bricks down the chimney, leaving it essentially irreparable.

That's second-hand info from a not-necessarily reliable source, though, and it occurs to us that it would be worth while to have a qualified, reliable fireplace/bricks-and-mortar expert have a look and tell us whether that's true, and whether it would be feasible to restore it to working order.

Have any of you had good experience with people like this who you could recommend? (Or for that matter, bad experiences with people who we really should avoid?)

John Thornberry worked on ours (and my Mom's) and does great work at reasonable prices. I assume he is still "in the business" The number I have for him is 581-9251. Tell him Michele & Bob Cull suggested you call.


MissChele

[Robin Garr]

John Thornberry worked on ours (and my Mom's) and does great work at reasonable prices. I assume he is still "in the business" The number I have for him is 581-9251. Tell him Michele & Bob Cull suggested you call.

Thanks, Michelle! John sounds like a real winner!

Anybody else with contacts, please pass them along, too, but we'll definitely give John a call.

Robin, you are a mind reader!!!

I was just going to post this myself!!! We have tons o'bricks in 4 of our fireplaces and have called tons of chimney sweeps asking for any help in finding someone to clear them out. Are yours coal burning? Because that seems to be a factor in finding anyone to work on them.

I will definitey be calling Michele's recommendation as well!!

We have 6 fireplaces and he has also done a small brick patio and tuckpointing on the foundation. Hope he is still in business!



MissChele

DM Masonry modified several coal-burning fireplaces to accept fireplace inserts in our early-1900s house. They also worked on the brick exterior of my SIL's late-1800s home in Old Louisville. We were pleased with their work. This has been about 10 years ago, but I believe they're still around. Ask for Frank (one of the owners, as I recall). He did the work for us, so I can't speak for the work of others with them.

(502) 776-1516

[Robin Garr]

Are yours coal burning?

I don't know!

We just have the one, and it's apparently been non-functional since 1974, at least. It looks too shallow for wood, though. We speculated that it was intended for a gas grate, but of course you still have to have a flue.

[Robin Garr]

DM Masonry modified several coal-burning fireplaces to accept fireplace inserts in our early-1900s house.

Same generation as ours exactly, Jay. We think this house was built in 1913 or possibly 1907 - there's some conflicting information, but it was definitely built in that era.

As I said in another post, we're not sure if this was originally coal-burning or maybe a gas grate, but it does not appear to be designed for wood - it's more shallow than most wood-burning fireplaces. It's lined with what appears to be fire brick, but it's only about 15 inches deep.

The two obvious questions are (1) whether the chimney is in fact permanently unusable, then, if it can be made usable, (2) whether it can be modified for either a gas grate or a fireplace insert. It would sure be nice to have it working.

Same generation as ours exactly, Jay. We think this house was built in 1913 or possibly 1907 - there's some conflicting information, but it was definitely built in that era.

As I said in another post, we're not sure if this was originally coal-burning or maybe a gas grate, but it does not appear to be designed for wood - it's more shallow than most wood-burning fireplaces. It's lined with what appears to be fire brick, but it's only about 15 inches deep.

The two obvious questions are (1) whether the chimney is in fact permanently unusable, then, if it can be made usable, (2) whether it can be modified for either a gas grate or a fireplace insert. It would sure be nice to have it working.

Ours is 1911 (we think). We had exactly what you describe - very shallow firebox, which we were told was coal-buring (and we had coal dust to prove it!). DM Masonry was able to deepen the firebox by chiseling out some brick and then relined it with new firebrick, which I later painted black. Then, we had a plumber run gas to the fireplace and install an insert. I don't know about your chimney, though, the tornado missed us (barely, I understand).

Our house was built in 1867 and has 6 coal burning fireplaces in it, they share three chimneys, most of which are piled up with bricks due to storm damage and the tearing down and the rebuilding of them when we bought the place 3 years ago.

Someone told me you could burn those little packaged "logs" they sell at Kroger in coal burning fireplaces...anyone know if this is true???

Robin, if your actual fireplace is really shallow with a small slit of a flue it is probably coal burning.

We have coal dust as well and the coal chutes in the stone foundation that have been converted to windows to the basement.

I am so happy to have some contacts to try to get our fireplaces cleaned out and ready to go!!! converting them to gas would be cool but on the backlist of a LOOONG line of restorations and renovations.

Robin,

Have you thought about the ventless gas option? We have three fireplaces. We kept one wood-burning because we love sitting in front of a real fire and roasting marshmallows with the kids. For the two others, we installed ventless gas logs. You wouldn't need to do anything to your chimney, but you'd have to have a gas line brought over to the fireplace. Ventless gas is not as pretty as vented or wood-burning, but the heat actually stays in your house, so you aren't just wasting energy. For the sake of the planet, we keep our house very cool. We love just pushing a button and having our rooms warm within moments.

Also, I'd avoid Old Towne sweeps. They told us that our chimneys were in need of 8000 in work or we'd all be poised by CO. We had a home inspector as well as two other sweeps tell us that that was nonsense, and we needed only minor cleaning. Our CO monitors have, since we've used the fireplace, always measured 0, so I believe everyone else.

- Liz