Repairing exposed brick chimney breast/ fireplace

jucie_lucie

Hi, I hope someone can help. We are currently doing up a 1930s semi. The first room we are tackling is the kitchen, and the plaster is awful. The chimney breast (which had been blocked up) was particularly bad, and would have had to have been re-plastered in order for it to look OK. We decided to see what the brickwork was like under the plaster and were happy with the bricks, so we have exposed the entire chimney breast. See photo here:
h t t p /w w w.uploadimage.co.uk/images/67930162046482551925.jpg (without spaces!)
A few of the bricks have chipped edges (e.g. one of the arch bricks, and the corner ones), which we are hoping to repair - does anyone have any advice for doing this without replacing them?? Is it possible to mix cement dye with filler/mortar and fill/mould the damaged bricks?
We are planning to put a gas stove in the fireplace (wood burning stove effect) in case this affects what we can and can't do with the bricks.

tony6403

Having looked at your photo , if it were mine I would scrub the brickwork, rake out the joints and repoint.
I don't think that you will succeed in making an acceptable job by applying mortar or any other compound to the damaged bricks.
If you renew the damaged bricks the repairs will stand out , but less if you can find some old bricks of the same size and colour.
Thoroughly cleaned and repointed, you may find that the existing brickwork has some real character.

DVardysShadow

I think I would replaster this one. The bricks are commons and not IMO greatly attractive. But if you wanted them kept native, you would probably need to repoint - I imagine the mortar is limebased judging by the era and will be quite friable. Alternatively, you could paint - in which case, you would still need to do something to stabilise the mortar - my first thought would be that alkali resisting primer might be good enough for the job - but others will probably have better ideas

olias

I agree, re plaster. Those bricks were never designed to be exposed. If you insist, then clean thoroughly with brick acid, then rake out joints and re point. Forget trying to repair individual bricks.

Olias

Doozergirl

I agree, when it was built wasn't done with the intention and therefore attention to be exposed, hence the bricks are cheaper than those you'll find on the outside of your house and the pointing is messy.

It will be cheaper to simply re-plaster it. The bricks themselves I don't think are worth spending money on to try and make it look decent. Exposed brick doesn't really suit that age of property.