How to parge a smoke chamber and also how to clean it ?

[WoodBurner777]

Both of my wood burning fireplaces are non parged smoke chambers made of bricks , built 1965 with flues tiles going up the chimney.

A lot of tar collects on the non parged bricks in the chamber and I had two sweep companies come out and neither clean the chamber brick just the flues

1) how do I get past the damper door because it makes it impossible to get anything up there for cleaning or doing repairs

2) why didn’t builders parge chambers in the past ?

 

[bholler]

View attachment 287077View attachment 287078View attachment 287079Both of my wood burning fireplaces are non parged smoke chambers made of bricks , built 1965 with flues tiles going up the chimney.

A lot of tar collects on the non parged bricks in the chamber and I had two sweep companies come out and neither clean the chamber brick just the flues

1) how do I get past the damper door because it makes it impossible to get anything up there for cleaning or doing repairs

2) why didn’t builders parge chambers in the past ?

Clean it with a rotary cleaner then suck the debris out from behind the damper. Oh and find a new sweep they only did about 1/4 of the job. As far as parking it I use chamber tech. If it's mixed to the right consistency you can make balls of it and throw it against the wall. It will stick and flatten out. Do that for one coat let it set up and repeat as many times as nessecary. Smooth out the last coat with your hand or tools.

 

[WoodBurner777]

Clean it with a rotary cleaner then suck the debris out from behind the damper. Oh and find a new sweep they only did about 1/4 of the job. As far as parking it I use chamber tech. If it's mixed to the right consistency you can make balls of it and throw it against the wall. It will stick and flatten out. Do that for one coat let it set up and repeat as many times as nessecary. Smooth out the last coat with your hand or tools.

Is that how pro’s do a parging ? I just can’t see getting in there easily , the damper leaves little to no room? I’ve seen a parging trowel look like garden hoe on a stick for smoothing it , also do some companies spray the motar in the chamber ?

 

[bholler]

Is that how pro’s do a parging ? I just can’t see getting in there easily , the damper leaves little to no room? I’ve seen a parging trowel look like garden hoe on a stick for smoothing it , also do some companies spray the motar in the chamber ?

Yes I am a pro and that's how it is done by many. There are also spray on options.

 

[WoodBurner777]

Yes I am a pro and that's how it is done by many. There are also spray on options.

Thank you

 

[WoodBurner777]

Does it look like I’m missing motar in my flue joints ? If so how is this normally fixed

 

[WoodBurner777]

This my area behind my damper lid , I was able to remove the damper lid to get more access I vacuumed this the best I could , how’ does it look ?

 

[WoodBurner777]

Bump

 

[nate0918]

WB777, I would also like to see how this goes as I am in the same situation. I notice on another thread that you moved on to the parging. I'm am curious on how clean the smoke chamber needs to be prior to parging so that the mortar will stick properly. Squeaky clean by any means necessary with chemicals and scrubbing non-stop to a brand-new finish? Just knock of the big chunks with a rotary cleaner? Can a thin layer of creosote (1/16" or less) be parged over? My smoke chamber is around 5ft tall and there is no way to reach past the non-removable damper to get any kind of muscle applied to a wire brush on a stick. Even if I chopped out the damper, there is no way to reach up there to apply any kind of meaningful leverage between all the corbelled bricks. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Marconis]

Thinking about having my chamber parged next year as well, even made a thread on here about it. Curious to see what you decide to do. I watched a video of some spray parging, and another where a guy literally shimmied himself in through the damper opening and parged by hand.

 

[WoodBurner777]

WB777, I would also like to see how this goes as I am in the same situation. I notice on another thread that you moved on to the parging. I'm am curious on how clean the smoke chamber needs to be prior to parging so that the mortar will stick properly. Squeaky clean by any means necessary with chemicals and scrubbing non-stop to a brand-new finish? Just knock of the big chunks with a rotary cleaner? Can a thin layer of creosote (1/16" or less) be parged over? My smoke chamber is around 5ft tall and there is no way to reach past the non-removable damper to get any kind of muscle applied to a wire brush on a stick. Even if I chopped out the damper, there is no way to reach up there to apply any kind of meaningful leverage between all the corbelled bricks. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I did it without removing my damper frame , obviously this is probably not the correct way, but I managed it , I’m very skinny with long arms lol, needless say I was in the most awkward positions and was extremely sore the following 2 days , half the time I couldn’t see what the hell I was doing but I just took my time and slowly spread motar , put a light up in there . I cleaned the bricks the best I could with a wire brush , time will tell how well it will hold up , if u hire a pro I could see how the spray gun is the way to go by far more effective and easier

 

[bholler]

I did it without removing my damper plate/frame , obviously this is probably not the correct way, but I managed it , I’m very skinny with long arms lol, needless say I was in the most awkward positions and was extremely sore the following 2 days , half the time I couldn’t see what the hell I was doing but I just took my time and slowly spread motar , put a light up in there . I cleaned the bricks the best I could with a wire brush , time will tell how well it will hold up , if u hire a pro I could see how the spray gun is the way to go by far more effective and easier

I don't use a spray system. I just don't do enough of them to justify the cost of getting setup.

 

[WoodBurner777]

Thinking about having my chamber parged next year as well, even made a thread on here about it. Curious to see what you decide to do. I watched a video of some spray parging, and another where a guy literally shimmied himself in through the damper opening and parged by hand.

A guy in here told me to make the motar into little “ snow balls “ and throw them at the bricks , yes this does well and very effective

 

[Marconis]

A guy in here told me to make the motar into little “ snow balls “ and throw them at the bricks , yes this does well and very effective

Hey, if it works, it works! Saw your other thread. Nice job

 

[bholler]

Hey, if it works, it works! Saw your other thread. Nice job

That is generally how the pros including me do it unless they have a spray system

 

[Marconis]

That is generally how the pros including me do it unless they have a spray system

Good to know!!