Repointing Fireplace

NoNameNoNumber

NoNameNoNumber

NoNameNoNumber

Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2009
Posts
5,392
We're going to have a log burner fitted, the returns have always been boarded over, back wall bare brick. I have exposed it all with a view to making it presentable enough to be left bare. The plan is to smash the hearth up and replace with a larger slate hearth to allow the 225mm in front of the stove.
I've never repointed before, I also need to replace a couple of blown bricks.

All doable? Reasonably handy, I have a grinder so thinking of getting a mortar disc, also a mortar rake for the drill looks handy. Cut around the damaged bricks, knock them out and replace with a spare, mortar gun all the gaps.

Bed the new hearth on mortar and square up.
I have spoken with a local fitter who will be lining the flue and fitting the stove as per regs.

Is there some kind of non combustible trim that will tidy up the plasterboard/wallpapered edge? Or any other wisdom you guys can impart?

Many thanks :)

CTiaDUzh.jpg

GTPIfgIh.jpg

t9cA23wh.jpg
 
Last edited:
Did a bit this afternoon, sheeted off and the draw of the chimney cleared the dust nicely. The disc is quite brutal lol, works really well but gets too dusty, can't see a thing where as like you say, the rake is far more precise and less aggressive.
Hopefully get it all ground out tomorrow. imFeU1Ih.jpg


I've gone quite deep with the rake so I can hopefully knock this brick out to replace it.
x11zj9fh.jpg
 
NoNameNoNumber said:
It'll all be repointed, so colour match is a little less important I think?
Yeah, bought a mortar gun. Never repointed before but it looks like it should be quicker and cleaner.
Click to expand...
I think people take the mortar colour a bit more serious when exposed - I'm no expert, I just recall seeing some exposed fireplaces with quite bright cement and mine is quite dark. Led me to believe you may want to consider it!
 
If you haven’t already tried it put some plasticiser in your mortar , it’ll make it easier to pump out the gun

oh and maybe check if you need a certain mix of mortar for a fireplace as standard stuff may not be great in hot places
 
NoNameNoNumber said:
It'll all be repointed, so colour match is a little less important I think?
Yeah, bought a mortar gun. Never repointed before but it looks like it should be quicker and cleaner.
Click to expand...

Re-pointing trowel is easy. Just make sure you have completely cleaned off all the dust to ensure it sticks. Make sure what you use is fireproof.
 
I know you have got a bit for your grinder, but I have one of these for doings small bits of mortar removal. Much less mess than the grinder. https://moorcut.co.uk/product/mortar-raking-brick-removing-chisel-stub-length-design/

I have a very thin trowel for doing re-pointing then I use a bit of old hose pipe to go over the joints. Make sure to get all the dust out of the joints before starting and then use a fairly dry mix of mortar to avoid staining the bricks. Much easier to use a dryer mix and take your time, than to clean of mortar stains from brickwork afterwards.

Dave
 
Cheers guys for the input.
The company fitting the stove have been really helpful when I said I'll do all the brickwork, but they said they use regular mortar with plenty of plasticiser in it.
Will that not be good enough?
Is there an additive I can use with regular mortar or do I need to do all the pointing with fire cement?


That's sds mortar chaser looks way better in terms of dust... Luckily, the draw from the chimney has prevented the whole room from looking a bomb site but still not great.
 
I used lime and ash mix with sand and cement. Fingers crossed...
Slate is here, just making a ply template before cutting it... Expensive mistake to get that wrong! Will bed it on the same mortar mix as I pointed with. Log burner should arrive today too :)
GdA4K2Bh.jpg
 
So the slate came, was going to go slow and steady with the diamond disc on a 4 1/2" grinder... 1) I didn't have a diamond slitting disc, 2) would be dusty as hell and 3) I own a Stihl saw :D
Made a plywood template, just because it'd be pretty wild to assume anything is square.
MKSGWLVh.jpg
Uve2lVkh.jpg

Next up was to offer it up and mark the floorboards for cutting, circular saw made light work of them and the multi tool just to clean up the corners.

WOuKda5h.jpg

Then I made a reasonably stiff mix, tamped it level then dropped on the slate :)
e64JM72h.jpg
 
Hmm you've got me stumped on that one too.

My dad laid the hearth for my fire place about 10 years ago (before I could do anything practical myself). I went with some slate tiles (or maybe slate effect?) that were about 10mm thick which worked out perfectly level with my carpet! I had the installer lime render mine as it wouldn't have looked neat like your brick work due to where he had to use a kango to smash the bricks out to go back as far as possible to get the stove to fit inside the recess (the wall was the adjoining wall to my neighbor).

Pic was pre skirting board being sorted out.

u4UTaS0h.jpg
 
NoNameNoNumber said:
I used lime and ash mix with sand and cement. Fingers crossed...
Slate is here, just making a ply template before cutting it... Expensive mistake to get that wrong! Will bed it on the same mortar mix as I pointed with. Log burner should arrive today too :)
Click to expand...
That pointing looks really tidy. Thats a really good job especialy if you havent done that sort of thing before.
 
Cheers for the input guys, I agree, a piece of metal angle trim should do it. I have a 1100mm long 100mm x 100mm oak mantel coming, and I'll use some 18mm quadrant for where the edge of the slate meets the flooring.

The stove arrived today... Looks a little bigger than we expected :D Dimensionally fine as far as regs go though so no issues as far as we can tell. Let the installer know we're practically ready to go too, just waiting for him to call and book us in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom