Firebox Liner?

[Don3245]

I inspected a 30 year old home yesterday that was in excellent condition. Very nicely appointed. Very little found that required repair or replacement. There were two fireplaces in the home that appear to be masonry but the firebox was lined with a material I'm not familiar with. I've attached photos here. If you're familiar with this process or application I would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks,

Don Norman

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[randynavarro]

I've not seen it before, either, but it appears to be some sort of fiber reinforced mortar or concrete.

The question is whether it's ok to use inside the firebox. Google reveals all sorts of applications for outside the firebox.

[mgbinspect]

I've not seen it before, either, but it appears to be some sort of fiber reinforced mortar or concrete.

The question is whether it's ok to use inside the firebox. Google reveals all sorts of applications for outside the firebox.

Yeah, it resembles a material used for relining fireboxes in oil-burning furnaces and boilers, and the fiber immediately makes me wonder about:

1. the composition and 2. a product misapplied.

I'd probably recommend further evaluation - testing?

[Bill Kibbel]

Hi Don,

Rutland, a company that supplies all types of fireplace and wood stove repair products, has a fiber-reinforced refractory cement. It is intended to be used for repairs to damaged firebricks and for setting firebricks. I've used it to repair firebricks in my wood stoves.

I don't recall any information about the ability to use it as a coating. It looks like the product in your pictures, but I'm thinking it's a misapplication. If it's a "colonial" style home, I guess it's possible they were just trying to imitate old plaster coated fireboxes of earlier times.

[Neal Lewis]

Was the fireplace a Heatilator type?

[Tom Raymond]

Neal, look at the second pic again. You can see the fire brick peeking out from behind the parge and the fibers sticking up at the edge along the damper.

I feel sorry for the poor bastard that is gonna have to chip that off.

[hausdok]

I dunno,

It's using a spring-loaded top-of-the-flue damper and that looks like it's probably been professionally applied. I think you are asking the wrong folks. If it were me, I'd be asking someone over at the Chimney Safety Institute of America site (http://www.csia.org) what they think of that.

Coming here to ask about an unusual fireplace lining is like going to your family practice doctor with mri images of a rare brain anomaly; a lot of the responses will be guesses or half-informed opinions.

If you go over there and find the answers; please come back and edumakate the rest of us about it.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike