Fireplaces and flues
Masonry fireplaces, the open brick hearths in Portland houses from the 1900s through the 1960s
We sweep, camera-inspect and repair open masonry fireplaces across the Portland metro, from firebrick to cap, with photos of the flue. The usual trouble is water through the crown and cap, cracked or missing flue tiles, and a rusted damper.
Updated
What a masonry fireplace is and how it vents
A masonry fireplace is built in place from brick, block or stone: a firebrick-lined firebox, a throat with a cast iron damper, a smoke shelf and chamber above it, and a brick chimney carrying the flue to a crown and cap.
It vents by draft alone: room air feeds the fire, and the flue, clay tiles in later chimneys or bare brick in the earliest, carries heat and smoke out above the roof.
Census figures put more than a quarter of Portland's housing before 1940 and nearly half before 1960, and many of the bungalows, foursquares, period revivals and ranches of those decades came with a brick fireplace on an outside wall.
How to tell what you have
Four tells separate a masonry fireplace from a factory-built metal box, none needing a ladder.
- Firebox walls of individual firebricks with mortar joints, not large flat panels with a seam in each corner.
- A cast iron damper plate behind the lintel, worked by a handle, lever or rotary knob, usually rusty.
- A chimney that is brick or stone all the way up, often with a clay tile standing above the crown.
- A brick, tile or stone hearth under a steel lintel or brick arch, sometimes with an ash dump door in the firebox floor.
What you will find in Portland homes
These are the masonry fireplaces we meet in Portland houses, by the decade the house went up.
| Type or model | Era | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bungalow and foursquare fireplace | 1900 to 1929 | Small brick firebox, often sharing a stack with the old furnace flue; many have no tile liner, so the camera goes up before the brushes. |
| Period revival and early postwar fireplace | 1930 to 1959 | Tudor and Colonial Revival stacks, then single end-wall fireplaces in the 1950s; many have clay tile liners, and tall slender stacks go first in a quake. |
| Ranch and split-level fireplace | 1960 to 1979 | A brick or stone fireplace face; many tracts of these years got a factory-built metal box instead, so we check which you have. |
| Rumford and newer low-emission fireboxes | Newer builds | Tall shallow firebox with splayed sides and a rounded throat that throws heat into the room; newer designs add doors and outside air, and both need a brush sized to the throat. |
| Masonry fireplace with an insert or gas logs added | Any house | A wood insert should run its own liner to the top; gas logs usually sit under a damper clamped open; we sort the venting first. |
What goes wrong and what fixes it
Six things go wrong with masonry fireplaces more than anything else.
-
Creosote on the flue walls and a pile of it on the smoke shelf
Opening sealed, flue brushed with rods sized to it, shelf vacuumed, photos before and after Chimney Sweep, from $249
-
Unknown flue condition after a chimney fire, a sale or years of disuse
A Level 2 camera inspection of every joint, with the images and a plain opinion Chimney Inspection, from $129
-
Cracked, shifted or missing clay tiles, or no liner at all
A stainless liner sized to the firebox opening, insulated where the installation calls for it Chimney Liner Installation, from $1999
-
A rough corbeled smoke chamber and cracked or loose firebrick
Parging to smooth the chamber; firebrick reset in refractory mortar Smoke Chamber and Firebox Repair, from $299
-
Water in the firebox under a cracked crown and an uncapped flue
Crown rebuilt or sealed, then a screened stainless cap on the tile Chimney Crown Repair, from $349
-
A throat damper rusted stiff, not sealing or missing its handle
Plate freed and refitted when sound, or replaced, often with a top-sealing damper Damper Repair and Replacement, from $149
What a sweep and inspection of a masonry fireplace involves
An open brick fireplace is swept in a set order, with two extra checks on a masonry system.
Cover and seal
Drop cloths down, the opening sealed, a HEPA vacuum running throughout. The ash dump and cleanout get checked too, since an open ash pit is a second path for dust.
Brush and clear the shelf
Rods and a brush matched to the tile, or to bare brick on an unlined flue, go up from the firebox or down from the roof; the shelf behind the damper is vacuumed by hand. Glazed creosote takes rotary tools.
Look over, then scan
A Level 1 look-over comes with every sweep: damper, firebrick, lintel, hearth, the stack from the ground. A Level 2 camera inspection runs the flue end to end for a sale, a new appliance or anything that happened to the chimney.
When a masonry fireplace needs a liner, a rebuild or a different appliance
Reline when the flue can no longer be trusted, rebuild when the brick above the roof is failing, and change the appliance when you want heat more than the sight of an open fire.
A stainless liner answers cracked tiles and an unlined flue, but it is sized to the firebox opening, so a narrow old stack sometimes means a smaller opening or an insert vented through its own liner.
A rebuild from the roofline up makes sense when the stack leans, the brick has spalled through or mortar washes out faster than tuckpointing can keep up.
A masonry fireplace that smoked into the room, failed an inspection or had a chimney fire stays cold until it has been looked at. If a chimney fire is burning now, get everyone out and call 911 first; inspection comes after the fire department clears the house.
Rain, swifts and earthquakes: what Portland does to a brick fireplace
Water does more harm to a Portland masonry fireplace than fire does: the airport records measurable rain on about 157 days a year and roughly 32 freezing nights, nearly all in the wet months.
Water that gets in through an open crown, a missing cap or a washed-out joint freezes and pops the brick face; moss on the shaded side holds it there longer.
Vaux's swifts roost in brick chimneys during the September migration and are protected by federal law. If swifts are in your flue, we sweep after they leave and cap it before August.
An unreinforced brick chimney is a falling hazard in an earthquake, and tall slender stacks go first. Bracing, shortening the stack to the roofline or replacing the upper chimney with a metal flue each lower the risk without removing it, and any quake you feel calls for a Level 2 inspection first.
Masonry fireplace questions
How can I tell whether my fireplace is masonry or factory-built?
Firebox walls of individual firebricks with mortar joints mean masonry; large flat panels with corner seams mean a factory-built metal unit. Outside, a brick stack with a clay tile or mortar top is masonry, and a framed box with a flat metal cover and round pipe is a prefab chase.
How often should a masonry fireplace in Portland be swept?
As needed, which for an open masonry fireplace that burns through the winter usually means once a year. The national chimney standard calls for a yearly inspection and cleaning when needed, and the trade sweeps at an eighth of an inch of buildup.
Can we use a masonry fireplace whose chimney has no clay tile liner?
Have the flue camera-inspected first and keep it cold until then. Many Portland brick chimneys from before the 1930s have no tile liner, so heat and gases reach the mortar joints directly, and a century of use often leaves them open. A stainless liner is the usual fix.
Why does our masonry fireplace smoke into the room when we light it?
Usually a cold flue, a damper not fully open, or a smoke chamber and flue that never matched the opening. An outside-wall chimney in January holds cold air that pushes smoke back until it warms. Keep a carbon monoxide alarm on that floor and have the system looked at first.
Does Oregon's wood stove removal law apply to a masonry fireplace at a home sale?
No. The law covers uncertified wood stoves and fireplace inserts, and an open masonry fireplace is exempt. The exception is an uncertified insert sitting inside your masonry fireplace, which has to be removed and destroyed at the sale unless the buyer takes that on in writing.
Related pages
Masonry fireplace calls near you
Masonry fireplace work has taken us to Milwaukie, Raleigh Hills and Garden Home, Tigard and the rest of the metro, and the posted price is the same at every address.
Other fireplace and flue types
Ready to book a sweep?
Call with what the fireplace is doing, or text a photo of the opening and one of the chimney top, and we will name the service and its posted price before we come out.