Help with Restoration
Help – I need my fireplace restored. So many companies have moved into the suburbs and upstate. Please recommend someone in my area who you’ve had excellent experiences with. Thanks!
Help – I need my fireplace restored. So many companies have moved into the suburbs and upstate. Please recommend someone in my area who you’ve had excellent experiences with.
Thanks!
Has anyone heard of Thermocrete http://www.thermocreteusa.com/ and has anyone used it or something similar to a ceramic flue sealant/liner? I have been advised that since the flue in my chimney is small, it is best to use this since I will get the best draft for the size.
Note: I also posted this as a separate thread under Chimneys. Thanks for your input.
I posted this comment to a another recent inquiry about fireplace mantles.
“The person you have to call is Manny LaSalle.
I bought two marble fireplaces in pieces from Eddie Hibbert (Salvage place – Grand and Greene) and Manny patiently pieced together the mantels, identifying missing pieces, getting them out of his own supply, having iron pieces soddered and generally doing an excellent job. He also took a old marble “saddle” (is that the term?) on the floor and rather than having me buy a new one took the old one to a marble person, had it dipped in cleaning chemicals, cleaned and polished. He did an excellent job. He was fast, professional, reasonably priced and very meticulous. Manny does everything to do with fireplaces – rebuilding flues, installing liners, anything to do with making a fireplace work safely. I called him after that bad storm which knocked some bricks out of my chimney on the roof. The thing was in bad shape and the storm was the kiss of death. He rebuilt the thing quickly. Manny’s number is 917-292-1825.
Good luck.”
I had a bad experience with Big Apple Chimney two years ago. The representative they sent over tried to frighten me with carbon monoxide scares that other contractors subsequently found to be false. I have detectors throughout my brownstone, tested yearly, so I’d know if carbon monoxide was a genuine concern anyway. (It hasn’t been.) Big Apple quoted me three thousand dollars for a job that ended up costing less than a thousand, but said if I signed on the spot they’d pull a team from a nearby job, start in the morning and brig the price down to two thousand.
I found it all very fishy and went elsewhere.
I used Manny Lasalle (sorry, I don’t have his number). He stipped paint off a gorgeous slate fireplace, dismantled it and moved it to a different room without a scratch.
He then bricked up the opening in the old location. Manny also stripprd a wrought iron summer screen for us and it looks like a million bucks.
Thanks for your help so far. I’ll definitely check into these suggestions. Just an FYI, I had checked with Fireside since I had heard a lot of good things about him here on this board as I’ve been doing seaches. However, it seems that he’s taken ill – I haven’t been able to reach him. When I did get in touch with his office, they told me that he was sick. I’m so sorry to hear that – can anyone confirm this?
I do appreciate everyone’s help, and if anyone knows anything else or has other suggestions, please feel free to chime in – especially with who to avoid. I’m having a very difficult time with this – some of these quotes are through the roof (no pun intended!) And some of them talk and talk and you still don’t know what you’re getting for your money!
We used Fireside recently after buying our brownstone – got their name from a poster on this site (Bob Marvin, if memory serves – thanks, Bob). They were reliable and quick, if not particularly cheap (4K to install a steel liner in a pretty dauntingly curved/blocked chimney to vent the furnace – 4 sty brownstone). Explored opening up fireplaces for wood-burning purposes – 6K-ish for that – but, with a new baby on the way, decided the expense (and mess could definitely wait. Their number: (718) 951-9494.
David Watt fireplaces (tel: 646-372-0936) has done an excellent job restoring three fireplaces plus the boiler flue in our townhouse in Carroll Gardens. It’s really messy, so be prepared.
Try the Slate Rock and Gravel Company. Sorry…couldn’t resist. Manny LaSalle does Brooklyn, but I’ve lost his card.