Why does it matter?

We’re trying to figure out what to do with the fireplace so curious what might be beneath the paint.

1915? what style home?

It could be either. why on earth someone would slap on paint on antique ceramic tile is beyond me. (based on the size and the grout joints, it may be tile. you'll score if those are original tiles)

could be something like these

get a heat gun (you can rent them) and peel off the paint.

you could also try SoyGel. it's a paint stripper made mostly of soybeans, so it's safe to use. also cleans up w/water. works just as well as the harsh chemical strippers. I use it all the time.

remember, with any stripper, it only works on one coat per application. after scraping off some paint, apply another application to keep going.

if that's an original oak mantel, use the soy gel or heat gun to strip off the paint as well. your baseboard molding, if original, is prob oak too.

man, someone went to town w/the glossy white paint.

Victorian home. I am hoping it’s tile. The shape gave me pause and had me thinking brick, which I wouldn’t be too excited about. We’ll definitely strip it off. thanks Beth!

don't know if the bricks have texture, but it's possible you could have this. notice the hearth tiles. I don't know if yours are the same material as these, or possible put down sometime in the 50's

the originals would have been flush w/the wood flooring. yours is raised.

If you mantle is original, it should look like this. a tiger oak

and if you have these original victorian tiles under that paint? even better

can you scrape off a little paint and take a closer pic?

I will and I’ll post what we find!

Thanks for your help

I'm betting that someone decided to paint tile {no comment on that decorating decision]. If you can temporarily demount the brass surround, you should be able to see if it is tile or brick.

Great idea!

With such a wide mortar joint my first inclination is brick. If it is brick it can't really be stripped without damaging the brick surface.

How would we spruce up this fireplace if it is brick? Could we apply tile on top of the brick? Or would that need to be removed? The gas insert will be replaced. But we want to keep the mantle because it is original to the house.

Considering its location, it has to be able to withstand the full heat of the fireplace firebox, so my guess is that its brick. However, I have never seen brick in the face of a fireplace where the joints lined up vertically like that, so it might be a layer of decorative tile over the original brick surface.

Can you open or remove the enclosure and look up at the edge of the surface? It should be easy to tell if its brick or a veneer of tile.

Bruce

Al, remove all the layers and lets see what's there first. I'm betting it's tile. so scrape carefully. (hopefully it wasn't redone in the 70's w/weird tile!)

yes you can tile on top of brick. but all the old mortar from the other tile will need to be chipped away.

are you stripping the mantle too? did you get the SoyGel? (amazon has it)

if it's brick, you'll know by your complete inability to remove the paint... ;)

Can you remove the black n gold surround and see for yourself what the material is, the motar looks thick my guess is brick, what look are you going for, what is your style?

We will check! Our style is updated traditional, but we want to keep whatever is original to the house that we can. There's beautiful woodwork throughout that's in great shape. It would be ideal if it were a beautiful, original tile, but it sounds like it'll probably be brick which really isn't the look we want. In that case, we'd cover it with something.

I’m thinking the mantle is not original but was added later on

Interesting! May I ask what clues give that indication?