Sagging hearth

[jeff.smith2300]

Hello,
New to the forum and found it trying to find the best safe solution to repair a sagging hearth as well as other cracks.

The hearth is pulling away from the (face brick?) chimney. I went under the house to investigate and found the rebar that is supporting it is sagging in the middle. I have a bottle jack and two 4 foot long 6x6's bolted together that I was planning on using to try and lift the hearth up and then put in a good foundation out of cinder blocks and bricks. I also purchased tubes of fireplace mortar for the fireplace box cracks and planned to use fireblock foam to fill in the depths of the big cracks and then use the fireplace mortar on top to seal the box. I also have concrete mortar to fill in the crack between hearth and face bricks. I already tried to lift up the hearth but the rebar is on top of the floor joist (obviously) and lifts the floor when I put pressure on the hearth. My wife was watching as I did this to stop me for causing any damage. So on to my questions...

1. Do I have a good plan to repair my fireplace?
2. Can i cut the rebar that is under my floorboards being I am going to reinforce the hearth with a brick foundation all the way to the ground?
3. The soil that my house is built on is horrible so it changes with the seasons. Should this be a problem with repairs?

Thank you in advance!
Jeff

 

[jeff.smith2300]

Bump

 

[jetsam]

I would need a bunch more info to venture an opinion.

My first reaction upon hearing the phrase "the rebar that supports it" is "tear it out completely".

The biggest question is whether or not there is a masonry chimney involved. You don't want to mess around with thousands of pounds of poorly supported bricks over your head.

After that... describe how this is all put together, and give us some pictures of the whole setup. If it's a wood framed chase, why is there rebar?

 

[Bad LP]

Need a lot more info. Pictures, framing, foundation type, frost line, chimney type?
Soils???

 

[jeff.smith2300]

Jetsam and Bad LP,

Thanks for your replies. I will get some more pictures up in the morning along with a better explanation.

Thanks.

 

[Bad LP]

I’ll tell you this. I would not be using that fireplace.

 

[jeff.smith2300]

It’s not in use until it’s repaired.