I have a wood burning fireplace made of cinderblock on the inside and regular brick on the outside. The inside cinderblock has become very stained. Currently, I am not using the fireplace to burn wood and I would like to paint it so I can place candles (or something of the sort) in there. However I want to paint it properly in case I decide to have fires in it in the future. Can I safely paint it and later light fires in it? And what type of paint should I use? I've seen some high temp paints but I prefer to not use black, brown or any other dark colors. Thanks for any advice =).
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- Can I paint the inside of a fireplace and with what?
There is heat resistant paint but it does not work exposed directly to flames it will burn and you of course would be exposed to chemicals released as a result of it burning i would say your best bet is to get into some old clothes put down plastic on the floors get a strong cleaner/degreaser and a wire brush and scrub away. you might even want to call a chimeny sweeper and ask if there is some type of chemical avaliable for that purpose.
I believe there is paint specifically made for fireplace brick. But if you want a light color inside the burning area, it won't last. The smoke, etc. will soon discolor it dark.
You need special fire-resistant paint, available at specialty stores. As the last guy noted, a light color will scortch once a fire is in there.
I have recommended to people on this board that they abandon re-painting the fireplace and instead construct a small panelboard insert that you can put into the fireplace to cover the ugly cinderblock for candles, and remove when you want to use the fireplace for a fire. The cinderblock backdrop is there only for fireproofing, not decor: why keep it for candles or when the fireplace cannot be used for fires? Creating a panelboard insert gives you something better than a cinderblock backdrop, while not creating a hazard in the future.
Three simple panels connected with hinges so that it folds is all you need. Home Depot or L-O-W-E-S or other building supply centers carry the pressboard/panelboard that you can keep the original color or paint with regular paint to your heart's content.
Cinderblock should not be used for a fireplace interior anyway. It should be firebrick!
I have seen many painted black with heat resistant paint from the auto parts store. Any that gets burned off will end up blackened anyway so the whole thing is black on black. Any noxious fumes go up the chimney.
