painting firebrick in open fireplace

[thesuz]

I am having a black/soapstone, Hearthstone Tribute installed in my masonry fireplace. The firebrick is unevenly blackened, I have cleaned the soot off as best I can but it is still unevenly stained. In order to appreciate the beauty of the stove, I feel the firebrick needs to be brought back closer to its natural color. So, I’m thinking about painting it with a light colored high temp. paint. However, I'm concerned about the prep and how well the paint will adhere even if all the soot isn’t completely removed. It would be far more noticeable with a light colored paint than black. Has anyone else done this? I have seen photos on this site of painting with black and the results look good.

 

[pinewoodburner]

You can take a wire brush to the brick to clean them. Then you can paint the brick. We painted the brick in my fireplace, but there had never been a fire in it since the house was built in 1952. The other fireplace has seen lots of use. Here is a picture of mine. 2nd picture is a close up of the T, flash makes the color look diferent on the different metal but you can see the fire brick. Jeff

 

[savageactor7]

^that looks real nice painted up like that pinewoodburner ...I would have never thought of doing that. An excellent simple and elegant fix.

 

[thesuz]

Thanks so much. It looks great!

 

[Corey]

I have seen a couple of different recommendation to paint them with black high temp stove paint - which looks pretty sharp IMHO. If you are looking to restore the tan color, that might be a little harder because some of the carbon soot may bleed through the lighter color. If you were going to try it, I'd probably try to wire brush and clean off as much soot as possible. Then try a high temp primer (possibly something from the VHT paint line - or look around the brake caliper paint section of your local auto store. I think VHT makes a white high temp primer which would be a good base for any lighter color) Then cover that primer with your lighter color.

Hopefully all this would lock in the remaining soot and the brick would remain lighter.

 

[thesuz]

great recommendations! I will try that and post a photo.

 

[Danno77]

Stove black paint makes everything look better. Here's my set of brass doors from the 80s before and after.