DIY: How to Refurbish a Fireplace

Keeping a fireplace clean helps to prevent house fires.

A fireplace adds both ambience and visual interest to a room. As soothing and mesmerizing as fires are by night, during the day soot and ash are far from inviting. Refurbishing a fireplace restores its beauty no matter which light you view the fireplace by. Care and constant upkeep after refurbishing keeps the fireplace in top shape.

Things You'll Need

• Tarps
• Safety goggles
• Gloves
• Dust mask
• Metal shovel
• Metal ash can
• Broom
• Buckets
• Liquid dish detergent
• Scrub brush
• Rags
• 000 steel wool
• Mineral oil
• Wire brush
• High-temperature paint
• Flue brush
• Laundry detergent
• Ground pumice
• Wet-dry vacuum
• Masonry cold chisel
• Hammer
• Fireplace mortar

Instructions

1. Lay tarps over the floor around the fireplace. Put on safety goggles, gloves and a dust mask.

2. Remove the ashes from the base of the fireplace with a metal shovel. Deposit the ash in a metal ash can. Remove the grate and set it on a tarp. Open the ash pit, which is a door-covered area on the bottom of the fireplace, pick up the ashes with the metal shovel and place them in the ash can. Sweep the bottom, sides and back of the firebox with a broom. Pick up the ashes with the metal shovel and place them in the ash can. Cover the ash can tightly with a metal lid. Put the ashes outdoors, away from the house.

3. Bring the fireplace screen, grate, poker, tongs and other tools outdoors. Fill a bucket with water and 2 to 3 tbsp. of liquid dish detergent. Agitate the water to blend the detergent. Dip a stiff nylon scrub brush into the water. Scrub the screen, grate and tools with the soapy water to remove the soot and dirt. Rinse the tools with plain water and dry them with a rag.

4. Examine the fireplace tools for signs of rust. Scrub the rust off the tools with 000 steel wool and wipe the tools with a damp rag to remove small particles of rust or dirt. Dip a rag into mineral oil and wipe the tools. Wipe the tools with a clean rag to remove excess mineral oil. If the screen, grate or tools are overly rusty, brush the rust off with a wire brush, wipe away small particles of rust and apply one to two coats of high-temperature paint to protect them from further rusting.

5. Remove the fireplace damper plate's cotter pin to remove the damper. Insert a specialized flue brush into the opening and move the brush up and down inside the flue until no debris falls from the flue. Add extension rods to the handle of the flue brush as you move up the flue. Sweep up the debris with a broom.

6. Fill a bucket with water and 1 cup of laundry detergent. Fill a small bucket with ground pumice. Submerge a rag into the detergent and water. Squeeze the rag over the fireplace bricks. Dip a stiff-bristled scrub brush into the ground pumice. Scrub the bricks with the pumice-covered scrub brush to leave a 1/8 to 1/4 inch layer of pumice over the bricks. Dip the scrub brush into the pumice often. Work in small wall-by-wall sections, beginning inside the firebox. After the inside walls have a coating of pumice scrub the base of the firebox and then scrub the brick facing.

7. Fill a bucket with clear water. Submerge a rag into the water and squeeze the excess water off the rag onto the pumice-covered brick. Continue to wet the rag and rinse the brick until no pumice remains on the brick. Soak up excess water with a rag or a wet-dry vacuum.

8. Examine the mortar joints and bricks for signs of loose bricks or mortar. Remove the loose pieces of mortar by hand or chip them out with a masonry cold chisel and a hammer.

9. Mix specialized fireplace mortar with water according to the mortar manufacturer's directions. Pick up the mortar with a small trowel and pack the mortar into gaps and areas that have missing mortar. Let the fireplace mortar cure for 72 hours before lighting a fire in the fireplace.

Tips & Warnings

• Clean the fireplace every month or more if you use the fireplace every day.

• Do not vacuum fireplace ash or sweep it and dispose of in a plastic container because ash can remain hot for two days or longer.

References

• "Fireplaces and Wood Stoves"; Time Life Editors; 1981
• "2,001 Amazing Cleaning Secrets"; Jeff Bredenberg; 2004