Removing black stains from fireplace brick?
leafy02
11 years ago
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neetsiepie
11 years agojakefield
11 years agoRelated Discussions
removing brick from fireplace / replacing fireplace
Comments (5)db3512 - I have just recently (last 12 months) finished removing my fireplace. It was a double sided version of yours. 6 feet wide and 5 feet thick. It was not an easy task! First, this is a best guess. The brick from about the top of the flue on up the ceiling will likely be backed by framing and a header; no drywall. Below that it will likely be part of the firebox structure. You could conceivably remove it with a lot of work and mess. A 5-7lb sledge works best to just splinter the brick. Get the one with a wedge shaped end. It breaks the brick better. The brick breaks easier than the mortar so don't waste your time trying to chip at the motar. Once the upper brick is out, the mortar generally comes out pretty easily. I would also wait until spring as your heat will go right out the new hole you have created. If you can, get into your attic and look down along the chimney to validate. I could see the entire back side of the brick walls down to the firebox. About widening your firebox, in short sure if you have enough money you can do anything. Not to be flip but if you want to enlarge your firebox, you are looking at tearing out your fireplace and rebuilding it. Again that assumes it is a real fireplace and not a brick façade of some sort. Good Luck!!...See Moreremoving paint drops from brick fireplace
Comments (1)Unfortunately, because brick is so porous, it's very difficult to remove paint from it effectively as the paint absorbs into the brick. The best way is to hire someone to sand blast it (which will also clean the entire brick front), however, this method is pretty messy when done indoors. If it's just small drops you can try scraping them off with a wire brush. But be careful not to brush too hard as brick is relatively soft and the brush can leave marks and/or discolorations (try it on a small area first). Paint remover can also work although it may not be effective in getting the paint out of the pits and recesses in the brick. As far as cleaining it goes, it depends what you are trying to clean off. If it has whitish deposits you can acid wash with muriatic acid (pool acid) but be sure to follow the directions carefully and wear gloves and eye gear. If it's soot, some household cleaners may work. If you decide to have it sand blasted, that will clean everything off. Hope this is helful....See MoreRemoving brick, moving mantle on fireplace - cost? big deal?
Comments (2)Like stated above, you need to be sure this is just one layer of decorative brick with just drywall behind it. If it is one of those fireplaces that the chimney is brick and all, you have a bigger issue. If just decorative, you will need something like we used to remove our faux rock. We got a little pneumatic attachment for our aircompressor. It lookes like a large screwdriver or mini jackhammer. Starting at top, you chizzle away. This is very time consuming but can easily be done. There will be lots of dust and debris. When all you have left is the studs, you simply put in new drywall. Again, this is all easy, but since this is a fireplace I am not sure what safety issues are involved like if you need specific materials on wall because it is a fireplace. My regular firebox just had drywall and so does my zero clearance. Also as stated above, there may be issues with what kind of mantle material you can safely use and at what distance from firebox. 12" is pretty standard but depends on mantle material. We lowered our mantle but we also brought firebox down to floor level. Rebuilding it was not that difficult. We simply built the legs, built the mantle and hooked them all up. The cost of redoing the brick is up to you. If you do the work it is just materials. But obviously hiring someone to do this will cost you. I would imagine mortaring brick is very time consuming because they are so little. But a seasoned professional can go pretty fast. But again, it will cost you. Sounds like what you want to do is doable and can vary in price depending on who does the work....See MoreRemoving brick, moving mantle on fireplace - cost? big deal?
Comments (6)I actually just went through this. My family room had a floor to ceiling brick veneer wall with fireplace and a hearth spanning the length of the wall which extended out about 18" x 18". B/c the wall was a veneer (i.e. a single layer of brick butting up against studs and insulation) I was leary of framing over it with 2" x 4" to hang drywall, shelves, TV's etc. It was also huge (20' x 10' wall), took up too much space and made the room look a lot darker. I believe alot of home owners did this back in the 70's, but the wife and I just weren't into it. In any event, for removal, I thought about using an angle grinder with a diamond wheel, but then I thought of the incredible amount of dust which would be generated and went after it instead with a cold pick chisel (or brick chisel) and a small sledgehammer (otherwise known as a "drilling" hammer). I'd basically go at it with the chisel in the mortar seams. Once I got the top row out (it butted right up to the ceiling drywall) the rest of the wall came down relatively easily. It took about 3 days (30 hours) and once completed I counted over 500 bricks and about 20 bags of broken mortar. I decided to save the whole bricks I was able to harvest from the wall and clean them with the chisel to remove excess mortar in case I'd like to use it for a future project (which probably added 2-4 hours to the job). As others have noted in this forum, the veneer is "held" to the studs and/or back wall using small thin strips of metal. The center of the strip is nailed to the stud and the ends of the strip were stuck into the morter between the bricks. The 18" extruding hearth was a little more difficult as the inside center (once I removed the outside bricks) contained large cement blocks. To "frame" out the fireplace and hearth to the size that we wanted I used the chisel and cut bricks where necessary. This by no means gives you a smooth cut, and I will need to tack a frame back around the fireplace edge and fill in the gaps with mortar to complete the job. Above the fireplace underneath the veneer was either brick, cement or a wooden header (at the top). When attaching studs to this I used both tapcons and masonery nails. Luckily I had a large wooden header at the top of the wall which I screwed into with 3" nails to hold the top of my stud frame. I first screwed/nailed in two by fours and then build it up further with 1" x 4" studs. Extending the depth of the frame was necessary so that I'd have enough space in the wall above the fireplace to contain electrical boxes, electical/video/audio cables and in-wall speakers. I also used this new frame to fasten the HDTV to. Other's have noted concerns about fireplace heat in regards to hanging HDTV above it and installing framing ontop of the brick. Our fireplace holds a wood pellet stove that is a closed system to increase efficiency. In this way, little heat actually goes up and out the chimney as a blower motor forces it all out into the room. I have little heat above the fireplace b/c of the way the stove is engineered, so I wasn't too concerned about damaging the TV or excessive heating of the chimney material above the fireplace creating a fire hazard with the wood frame that was added. I'll admit, it was alot of work and alot of material to remove, but then again, demo-ing a room (especially a room built back in the 60's) is always a messy job. Hope this info helps anyone interested in tackling the same job. smithmal...See MoreOlychick
11 years agoannie1971
11 years agochibimimi
11 years agoleafy02
11 years agoElraes Miller
11 years ago4boys2
11 years ago
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