Repairing Fireplace Brick

Repair Bricks and Tile Surrounding an Old Fireplace

Q: I have a 114-year-old home with old fireplaces that we never use. The tile was falling off one, so I removed it, and all the brick crumbled behind it. How can I replace the tile around the wall?

A: Without seeing the brick damage, we can't tell you the best option with any certainty, but we can at least point you in the right direction. There are a few likely scenarios to consider, but you should plan on hiring a qualified masonry contractor to assess the situation and repair the fireplace's brick facade before attempting to replace the tile.

From your description, it sounds as though the fireplace brick is spalling, which means thin layers of the brick faces are breaking off with the tile. Age, poor-quality bricks, or decades of hot fires might be the culprit. If the spalling is isolated, you can simply patch the few recesses with mortar. But widespread breakage means you'll have to restore the surface to a relatively flat plane before reinstalling tile. A mason can remove cracked or loose pieces of brick, then apply a scratch coat of mortar to rebuild the surface. Once the new surface is cured, you can apply ceramic tile in a bed of thin-set mortar.

If the mortar joints themselves are failing—quite possible given your home's age—then you should hire a professional mason to rebuild the fireplace and chimney or at least tuck-point the joints with new mortar. Keep in mind that although you have no plans to use the fireplace, subsequent homeowners might want to; unless you seal the flue shut, do repairs with refractory mortar and firebrick so the fireplace can be used safely later.