Fireplaces make a wonderful addition to any home or room. In addition to providing warmth and heat, they also create a beautiful focal point and a place for family and friends to gather.
Unfortunately, many fireplaces in older homes – and even some in newer homes that have not been properly maintained – have smoke stained bricks around the fireplace opening. This turns your fireplace focal point into an unsightly eyesore.
Rather than resorting to painting over the brick, trust the experts at New Buck Chimney Services to remove the ugly smoke stains are restore your fireplace to its former glory!
What causes smoke stains?
Smoke and soot are the natural byproducts of wood burning fires. Unfortunately, they tend to stain any material they come into contact with. This can include the brick, mortar, and masonry surrounding the opening of your fireplace. With an older fireplace, the staining is most likely the result of an accumulation of soot over a long period of time.
If a newer fireplace has stained bricks, this may indicate that the chimney is not properly venting. This sometimes occurs if the fireplace opening is too large for the flue, which may be the result of an insert being incorrectly added or removed or other modifications to the fireplace system. Staining directly above the firebox of a newer fireplace may have been caused by a single event, such as an out of control fire lapping out of the firebox or unsuitable burning materials creating an excess of smoke.
How to remove fireplace stains
Many homeowners falsely believe that there are only two options for fixing fireplace stains: painting over the stained brick or spending hours scrubbing the masonry with harsh chemicals. Thankfully, New Buck Chimney Services has a third option that doesn’t involve permanently changing the look of your fireplace with paint or an entire weekend with gloves, a bucket, and a scrub brush.
Thanks in part to the recent safety improvements in the fireplace industry, it is now possible to remove smoke stains from masonry without the use of harsh or toxic chemicals. New Buck Chimney Services used the SaverSystems Chimney Rx smoke removal products. These products are ecofriendly and safe for both indoor and outdoor use. In addition, they do not create any harmful odors, allowing you to normally move about your home while they are in use.
The SaverSystems Paint ‘N’ Peel fireplace cleaner is a fast, easy, and effective way to remove fireplace stains. It is unique in that it can be used on a wide variety of materials, including brick, stone, slate, marble, tile, mortar, and concrete. The product is painted on to the stained surface, allowed to dry for 6-12 hours, then peeled off, removing creosote, soot, and stains and restoring the fireplace to its original glory.
How to prevent future smoke stains
The best way to prevent future problems with smoke stains is to figure out what the root cause of the problem is. Without finding the cause of the staining, the smoke stains will only continue to return. New Buck Chimney Services can both pinpoint and repair the cause of your smoke problems.
If you’re tired of your unsightly, smoke stained fireplace, contact New Buck Chimney Services today. Our expert technicians will find the source of the smoke, stop it from returning, and completely remove any smoke stains, making your fireplace look and work as good as it did the day it was built.