There are two basic types of fireplace surrounds, brick and natural stone. Within that there are two types of surfaces, smooth and rough. Most brick surrounds are rough and most natural stone is smooth. Boston Stone Restoration works only on smooth natural stone surfaces.
For soot and other staining on natural stone fireplace surrounds, mantles and hearths call Boston Stone Restoration, as they require careful cleaning. Scratches and etch marks need to be diamond honed and polished out. Boston Stone Restoration specializes in bringing back antique marble fireplace surrounds to their original grandeur. Whether they have ornate carving, cherubs, chips, cracks or wine and wax stains we can handle it all.
If you get soot on brick or a rough surface your best bet to remove it, is to use a stiff bristle brush to try to dislodge the soot. DO NOT DO THIS to smooth natural stone! If you have missing mortar or cracked bricks you will need to contact a mason, someone who works specifically with brick, to do that repair. At BSR when we take on a project requiring mason work, we provide references for quality masons to do work before we do any final finishes.