Fireplace Work: Terra Cotta Tiles Removed

October 30, 2025

Big day today! The folks we have helping us with our fireplace are masons, and part of the work we asked them to do was more than just getting the fireplace up and running (which in itself, is pretty dang exciting).

Back in 2020, when we were getting new floors installed on the first floor… the installation process started to loosen some of the tiles on the dining room fireplace.

On the advice of our flooring guy (Nick), Liz started to remove all the tile – to prevent it from falling and getting damaged. Our idea was we’d put the tile back up, after the install was done.

After removing the tile, Liz went about cleaning the mortar off – and in doing so, had a really amazing discovery. Two in fact!

On exposing the brick underneath, she found that there were two original terra cotta tiles, embedded in the brick.

While the tile was really cool, this was also an incredibly great feature that had been hidden for who knows how long.

Our idea: have the masons cut out these tiles, clean them up, and we’d re-install them… flush with a new layer of tile. And show off an original feature of the house that had been hidden for far too long.

While we try a lot of DIY stuff, this kind of work was beyond both of us. So we asked the professional masons at Coast to Coast Masonry to help us out.

Tools for removal.

The tiles, in place.

The tiles, removed!

Safely cut out and excavated. Incredibly exciting to see these guys, on their own.

Liz, showing off one of the terra cotta tiles. Excited to see how these things clean up.

Originally, we were going to have the masons re-install them. But we decided to let our tile guy handle the placement – figuring it’ll be easier for him to set the terra cotta tiles at the same depth as the fireplace tile.

I always thought of these things as incredibly fragile. So I’m beyond excited to see them safely removed, and in a state where we can clean them up and get them reinstalled.