Floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace in a living room near Aurora, IL, limewashed soft chalky white with an oak mantel shelf

Brick and stone surrounds, hearths and chimney breasts

Aurora Limewash: Fireplace Limewash in Aurora

The quickest way to change a room: a soft lime finish on the brick everyone looks at.

Aurora and ten towns within 20 miles
Written price before work starts
Licensed, insured local contractors
Historic district rules covered

Aurora Limewash arranges limewash for brick and stone fireplaces in homes around Aurora, applied by local painting contractors. A fireplace is the most popular limewash job indoors, because it is a contained area with a big effect on the room, and it can be done in any season.

Limewashing a fireplace surround runs $500 to $1,500 and leaves the brick's texture intact; paint it in a heavy acrylic instead, and stripping it later costs $1.50 to $9.50 a square foot in the tightest working space in the house.

$500 to $1,500 for a fireplace surround

A limewash applicator working the Chicago suburbs publishes $500 to $1,500 for a fireplace surround. A floor-to-ceiling chimney breast sits at the top of that range or above it, and a small surround with a raised hearth at the bottom. A national cost guide puts painting a brick fireplace at $200 to $1,000, which is the cheaper finish and the harder one to undo.

Get a price: (630) 528-2808

Signs a fireplace is ready for a change

The brick is a dark red or orange that makes the room feel smaller
The brick has soot staining on the face above the opening
The mortar is a contrasting colour that makes the brick look busy
The rest of the room has been updated and the fireplace has not

The firebox stays as it is

Limewash goes on the face of the surround, the hearth and the chimney breast, never inside the firebox. The brick inside the firebox takes direct flame and needs heat-rated materials, which the national cost guide notes as well. A clean line where the surround meets the firebox opening is part of a good job.

Soot and sealers come off first

Soot on the face above the opening and any clear sealer applied to make the brick easier to clean both block limewash. The face is washed and tested with a splash of water. If the water beads, the sealer has to come off before limewash can bond, or the job moves to a mineral paint.

Not sure what your brick will take? Describe the house, the brick and the look you want, and get a straight answer on coats, prep and a typical price.

Call (630) 528-2808

Working indoors

Floors, mantel and nearby walls are covered, and the room is ventilated. Limewash is caustic while wet, with a pH of 13 on the maker's safety data, so it is kept off wood and skin. Indoors there is no weather window to wait for, which is why fireplaces are the job people book in the winter months when exterior work stops.

Wood mantels, stone hearths, tile

A wood mantel is masked and left as it is, which usually looks best against limewashed brick. A stone hearth can be washed to match or left natural. Glazed tile does not absorb and will not take limewash at all. Even in a house inside the historic districts of Geneva or St. Charles, a fireplace is interior work, and those commissions review exterior changes only.

Questions people ask

How much does it cost to limewash a fireplace?

Typically $500 to $1,500 for a fireplace surround, more for a floor-to-ceiling chimney breast.

What are the signs a brick fireplace will take limewash?

It absorbs a splash of water, it has no sealer, and any soot on the face can be washed off.

Can you limewash inside the firebox?

No. The firebox takes direct flame and needs heat-rated materials. Limewash goes on the surround, hearth and breast only.

Is limewash safe to use indoors?

Romabio lists its Classico limewash at 3.9 g/l of VOCs. It is caustic while wet, so the room is protected and ventilated.

Can a limewashed fireplace be cleaned?

Gently. Limewash is a matte mineral finish, so heavy scrubbing will lift it. Small marks are touched up rather than scrubbed.

Often done together

Interior limewash walls

The soft, cloudy movement of a lime finish on a wall, which flat paint cannot fake.
Stone limewash

Lime on stone is the oldest pairing there is, and it settles into the joints in a way paint never can.
Brick paint removal

Limewash cannot bond to paint, so on painted brick the job starts here.

Talk it through before anyone opens a bucket

Say what the brick is, whether it has ever been painted or sealed, and how much of it shows from the street. You will hear what the job usually involves, what it tends to cost, and whether your town needs a sign-off first.