Choosing a mixture for installation of stoves and fireplaces
Installation of furnaces and chimneys is not an easy process. Construction of this kind of complex and fire-hazardous construction requires the participation of professional qualified stove fitters. However, there will always be brave and persistent amateur stove-makers, folk craftsmen who rely only on their own strength and skills. We will tell you how to choose a stove mix or prepare it yourself.
In any case, you should know that the use of quality masonry mix for masonry and stove lining is of utmost importance. The masonry mortars used directly affect the reliability and durability of the stove or fireplace. That is why it is essential to use a furnace mixture of good quality and suitable for the particular type of heating installation.
Varieties of masonry furnace mixes
Heat-resistant mortar. Such stove masonry mix is characterized by good resistance to high temperatures. Once cooled, it retains its chemical properties and structure. There is no irreversible deformation. The mixture in question does not lose its load-bearing capacity even when heated.
Heat resistant mortar. Under the influence of high temperatures, this mixture does not expand and does not change its properties. When heated, the mixture retains all its characteristic mechanical properties. The mortar is more resistant to thermal deformations, compared to the heat resistant mixture. It can withstand static and dynamic loads very well.
Refractory mortar. It can be either heat-resistant or heat-resistant. Refractory oven masonry mix can withstand not only high temperatures, but also the effects of chemically aggressive substances in the exhaust gases.
In the construction of any furnaces, even those that are heated not more than 400C, only fire-resistant and heat-resistant masonry mortars should be used. Do ordinary building mixtures in this case is impossible and extremely dangerous, since the destruction under the influence of high temperatures of the furnace or chimney, often leads to fires.
Mixtures for individual furnace structures
The following requirements apply to all mortars used in furnace masonry
- Thermal resistance, which ensures the safety of the furnace and the possibility of its full operation;
- elasticity, which is necessary to prevent cracks in the walls of the furnace.
Masonry mortars for furnaces are also subdivided according to the type of components. Among them, it is possible to note mixtures on the basis:
Foundations of construction. Furnace bases are constructed using lime or cement-lime mixtures. If there is an overabundance of moisture below the foundation, a cement mix should be used. It is sufficiently resistant to moisture.
Chimney. The part of the structure that is above the roof, you need to use lime or lime-gypsum mortar. To speed up the process of hardening the mixture, it is recommended to add gypsum to it. Those who prioritize the strength of the construction, it is worth including cement in the composition.
The body of the building. A mortar consisting of sand, water and clay must be used for this part of the stove. And the clay should be sufficiently oily.
Lime mixture
The main components of this mortar are sand and lime dough, which is a mixture of quicklime and water in a ratio of 1:3. You can buy lime putty or prepare it yourself. In the first case, you will be guaranteed a high quality of the material, the advantage of the second is the optimal cost.
To prepare the solution, you need to sift the sand through a sieve, mix it with lime dough in a ratio of 1:3 and add such an amount of water that the mixture is thick like sour cream.
Next, the solution is tested for elasticity. To do this, you need to use a plank of wood. Stirring the mixture with it you can determine the next state of the mortar:
- lean mortar, if there is no mixture left on the wood at all. This means that you have to add a little lime;
- normal mixture, if the wooden slat removed from it is covered with a film of mixture or lumps of the same;
- greasy mortar if there is a thick layer of mixture on the bar. In this case, more sand should be added to the mixture.
The mixture based on lime has its own disadvantages. This prolonged drying of the masonry and the adverse effects of the material vapors on the human body.
cement mixture
A normal cement mixture includes sand, cement and water. The brand of cement determines the choice of the proportion of components. First you need to mix the cement and sand. Only then is water added.
Complex mixtures are obtained by incorporating additional components. If it is lime dough, then using the resulting mixture should not be delayed. Mixed mortar should be prepared in the following proportions: one part cement, 1-3 parts of other ingredients and 6-15 parts of sand.
If you add Portland cement and broken bricks to an ordinary cement mortar, you get a mixture of heat-resistant type.
Clay mix
To build the body of the furnace, it is necessary to prepare a clay mixture, which must be homogenous, without lumps, and of a creamy consistency. If the mortar is not prepared properly, it will crumble while using the stove. It is also not possible to achieve beautiful masonry joints.
Check the oil content of the clay before making the mortar. To do this, take about 2 kg of material and pour water into it. After stirring the resulting mixture with a wooden bar, conduct a visual inspection of the latter:
- Clay stuck heavily on the spatula is an indication of its high grease content. It must be sharpened with sand;
- Small pieces of clay remaining on the bar indicate that the mortar is normal and that you do not need to add sand to it;
- The clay film, covering the wood, indicates that the material is thin, and suggests the inclusion of greasier clay in the mixture.
The clay mixture is consumed as follows: about 25 liters of mixture are needed per 100 bricks. The best mixture for the stove bricks is the one, the composition of which has the greatest similarity with the composition of the bricks used. Qualitative clay mortar can sustain 800-1000C without cracking and without losing strength properties.
To achieve a stronger mortar, you can add ingredients such as sodium chloride and Portland cement:
- Sodium chloride (table salt) is added at the rate of 100-150 g per bucket of mixture. The resulting mortar should be well mixed;
- Include 0.5-1 kg of Portland cement for the same amount of clay mixture.
The amount of clay and sand in the solution can vary within the range of ratios: 1:1 1:2. In this case, the water takes a quarter of the added clay.
The ingredients included in the mixture, you can prepare yourself or buy ready-made materials. Now sell the following types of clay:
- white clay, suitable for fire-resistant mortars and used for wood-burning stoves with a furnace mode not exceeding 1000C;
- Chamotte clay, used for masonry stoves with any temperature range.
Ready mixes for stove installation
It is cheaper to prepare the ingredients for the masonry mixture yourself. However, this option is the most labor-intensive. To make this process quicker, easier and more reliable, it is best to use ready-mix mortars.
Currently, there are many both foreign and domestic manufacturers of ready-made masonry mixes in the Russian market. You can easily choose and buy the stove mix. Manufacturers, as a rule, produce a variety of composition and purpose mixtures:
Among the numerous list of such materials, it is worth noting the following:
Plitonit range of mortars for stoves and fireplaces. Plitonit joint venture, manufactures mortars by German technology in Russia. The range includes mixes with reinforcing heat-resistant fibers for masonry furnaces, heat-resistant mortars for masonry and repair of stoves, fireplaces, chimneys, as well as mortars and adhesives for plastering and tiling.
BOSSNAB is a brand of St. Petersburg company that produces stove mixes based on red clay. The range includes refractory and heat-resistant mortars for laying stoves, stove plaster mixes and glues for tiling.
Terracotta. Russian manufacturer of building mixes including for construction and repair and lining of stoves, fireplaces and chimneys. Terracotta mixtures are environmentally and human friendly, heat resistant, plastic material, the main binding components of which are kaolin clay, sand and chamotte. Terracotta endures heat up to 1300 C.
RATH is an Austrian company that produces refractory mixtures on the territory of European countries: Germany, Austria, Hungary and Poland. Produces a large number of refractory and heat-resistant building materials, including furnace mixes for various purposes: refractory concrete, plastic masses, adhesives and mortars.
Vetonit is part of the international Weber organization with production facilities in 64 countries worldwide. The company is headquartered in France. Among the variety of products of the company is represented by masonry mortar Vetonit, consisting of clay, cement, sand and additional components, which has found application in the construction of the interior of furnaces and stove pipes made of red bricks.
Makarovs Stove House. One of the best masonry mixes produced in Russia. The company has grown from a small business to a small business in the city of New York. Kastorome, whose founder has established the production of stove masonry mixes for his own needs and fellow stove-makers. Given the quality of the mixture, the products were in high demand among professional stove and fireplace builders, and as a result the company began producing the products on an industrial scale. Nowadays Makarovs’ Stove House produces masonry mixes from environmentally friendly materials, based on red and blue Cambrian clay.
SEV A Russian company producing dry mixes for masonry stoves and fireplaces. Production of the company is located in the city of Bucharest. Borovichi Novgorod region.
In the process of applying pre-made mixtures, certain rules should be followed:
- Kneading is done with a mixer only.
- Do not mix again after it has cured.
- The mixed volume of the mixture must be consumed within 60 minutes.
- The ambient temperature for the furnace must be at least 10C.
- The finished oven should not be heated sooner than 3 days after the completion of the paving. This is due to the fact that the mixtures include substances that delay the drying of the solution and, consequently, exclude the possibility of cracking the seams.
- Stove pipe is laid with a special mixture, which can be identified by a marking on the package.
- Facing the furnace should be carried out not earlier than a month after it will be intensively used.
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To remove efflorescence on the masonry joints, which may occur after the first use of the stove for its intended purpose, use a damp rag. But only after the stove has cooled down completely.
Mixtures prepared by yourself, are cheaper than ready-made materials. However, the latter have a number of advantages. So each of you should make a choice independently in favor of one or another option, based on your own preferences and capabilities.
The choice of mortar for masonry wood stoves made of bricks
In every private home, different heating systems are used. Recently, many owners have a desire to arrange a stove in their home. And this is quite understandable, because it warms up the house well and retains heat for a long time. It can be stoked with regular firewood, which you can prepare yourself, thereby reducing the cost of heating the house, or use coal.
If you have realized the need for a stove in your home, it is quite easy to do the work with your own hands. The main thing. read the instructions for masonry stove in advance, prepare the necessary tools and use quality materials.
Speak to any qualified professional, and he or she will tell you that half of the success in building a furnace depends on the masonry mix used. There are certain requirements for these compositions, about which you need to know.
Making your own mix for stoves and fireplaces
Planning to build with their own hands a fireplace or brick stove, you need to choose the right materials. And it’s not just about bricks, but also about the mixture for masonry stoves. The right choice of materials affects the properties of the finished product.
Modern masters use different mixes for masonry stoves, to perform masonry bricks with their own hands you can choose a composition on different bases. Apply compositions:
For masonry and cladding, as a rule, binders of mineral origin are used:
Refractory mixes for stoves and fireplaces are divided into several types:
- Clay, are used for masonry of the main elements of the structure;
- Cement, are used in the manufacture of foundations in wet soil. Are used in the manufacture of exterior pipes. They are used to prepare mixtures for installation of chimneys above the roof level.
Peculiarities of the choice of material
The process of erecting modern stoves is divided into several stages:
- The first stage is the arrangement of the furnace foundation by means of a concrete composition;
- The second stage. masonry furnace of refractory bricks with the use of masonry connecting mass on the basis of clay;
- The third stage. the lining of the furnace with plaster composition.
The most important is the stage of direct masonry and the preparation of a reliable foundation, which must have high performance characteristics. heat resistance, adhesion, water resistance, strength and durability.
Several variants of masonry mortars are used for modern stoves: clay, lime and cement mortar.
Masonry mortars can be simple or complicated. Simple ones consist of one type of binder and aggregate; complex mixes include two or more binders and several aggregates. Binding ingredients such as lime, clay and cement.
To prepare the mortar to perform masonry will require the following tools:
- Mixer;
- Knead container;
- A sieve;
- Trowel;
- Trowel;
- Plastic spatula;
- Construction thermometer;
- Scales.
Clay Mortar
Clay mortars are characterized by their greasiness. Their ductility, heat resistance, strength and shrinkage depend on it.
- oily mortars, which have good plasticity, but crack badly when drying;
- Skinny, having unplastic and unstable properties, when drying crumbles;
- normal. plastic, when drying almost does not crack, gives little shrinkage.
For reliable masonry requires a normal level of plasticity of the mortar, because it can withstand a temperature of 100 degrees.
To prepare the mortar gather the materials :
Prepare with clean, slightly mineralized water that does not contain silt. If a lot of mineral salt is dissolved in the water, it is more likely that stains will appear on the surface of the stove plaster, which are not one-time whitewash. In ancient times, rainwater was traditionally used for masonry.
Clean the sand from gravel, grass, roots, sifting it through a sieve. Sifted fine sand ensures a thin masonry joint. The amount of sand needed to bake the mortar depends on the quality of the clay used.
The plasticity of clay can be determined in several ways, which will be described below in this article. Sift the clay through a sieve, so that it is of a homogeneous consistency and cleared of debris.
Options for preparing the solution
Let’s consider several ways to prepare mortar for masonry.
Soak the clay for a day before laying, then add water, bringing it to the thickness of sour cream. Strain the mortar, add the sand and mix thoroughly. Puddles of liquid clay should not appear on the mortar, and if they do, then add sand and stir again.
We make a mortar for laying bricks. We mix chamotte sand with refractory clay in an equal ratio, then add water, which is a quarter of the clay, and mix thoroughly. This method is very simple in implementation.
It is possible to make a mortar for masonry stove from loam. To get the right ratio of components, we mix ten versions of the mortar (each in a matchbox). The first option. ten parts loam, one part sand and cement; the second. nine parts loam, two parts sand, one part cement, and so on to the tenth option. one part loam, one tenth part sand, one part cement. We fill the boxes with the mortars and dry them for a week. Then we choose the mortar that is not cracked and has more clay. Such mortar dries quickly and burns when heated. Ceramics are formed by sintering the clay-sand mixture. This mortar can withstand temperatures of up to 600 degrees. At the highest temperature it breaks down. It can be used to make fireboxes that will work with wood.
If the clay is clean and has no stones, add shredded fine sand and ¼ of the water volume. In this case, it is necessary to thoroughly mix the clay and sand.
Clay solution should be a sour creamy thick, not to run and slide well with the shovel. You can add salt or cement for strength. Add 100 to 250 grams of salt and ¾ of a liter of cement per bucket of mortar. Salt dissolve in water, and pour cement to the thickness of sour cream, and then add to the mortar. High-quality mortar will ensure good adhesion of the masonry and fill in the irregularities of the brick, which will make the joint dense and gas-tight.
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Check the plasticity of clay
To test the clay for quality, we advise a few proven ways:
The first method is based on clay of different plasticity, which shrinks differently on the surface of wood. Pour ten liters of water into a bucket and add the clay until you get a sour cream solution, stirring it with a clean board. If a thick layer of clay remains on it, the mortar is too plastic. It is necessary to add sand at the rate: one liter can per bucket of mortar, until it has normal plasticity. The solution is considered to be of normal plasticity, when a 2 millimeter layer of clay remains on the board, and sticks to it in clumps. If the board is covered with a thin layer of 1 millimeter, the mortar is low plastic.
The second way is to mechanically test the mortar after drying. Clean the clay from large lumps and use a 1-liter jar to measure out five equal portions. In medium plastic clay, add sand in proportions: the first we leave without sand, the second mix with ¼ jar, in the third add ½, in the fourth. a whole jar, in the fifth. 1.5 jars of sand. Dilute each portion with water, so that the clay does not stick to your hands, but kneads well. From the obtained solutions, balls are molded, which must then be crumpled into tortillas. These scones should dry, the main thing is not to mix up where which mortar. Those with little sand will crack, and those with too much will crumble. Optimal is considered to be the composition, from which a dense and not cracking cake is obtained.
For the third method, it is necessary, as for the second, to prepare balls. After they have dried, we take two boards. The ball is placed on one of them, and the second one is pressed on top. Where the optimal composition of the mortar. the one will start to crack when squeezed to 1/3 of the diameter. Oily mortar will crack at half of its diameter, and lean mortar will crumble almost immediately.
Checking the quality of the mortar
In order for the brickwork of the furnace to hold well, the mortar must be well prepared in the optimal ratio of components. As written above, the amount of sand depends on the level of plasticity of clay. In this regard, you should determine how much sand to add.
Five separately taken jars of greasy clay should be mixed with sand in proportions: the first portion we leave, in the second we add half a jar of sand, one jar in the third, one and a half in the fourth, in the fifth. two. Mixing the clay with the sand, water is added to each portion. The solution should not stick to your fingers. Then five balls with a diameter of three to five millimeters are rolled from each type of mixture. It is necessary to take two balls of each mixture, make thin tortillas of them and leave them to dry for 12 days in the room. From the dried balls and tortillas we test in this way: take the balls and tortillas, and from a height of one meter throw them one by one. If, when falling, the balls and cakes do not crack and do not break, then this is a quality solution. The main thing to remember what kind of mixture is made of each ball.
To check the clay mortar can be checked with the help of plaits made of it. Roll out the clay, make plaits with a diameter of about one and a half centimeters and a length of fifteen to twenty centimeters. Then we stretch the plaques and wind them on a wooden round stick, five centimeters in diameter. If the harness breaks off at the moment of reduction in thickness by fifteen to twenty percent of the original diameter, then it is made of good clay.
The best mortar for laying stoves and fireplaces
Despite the large selection of modern heating equipment, many people prefer to use an oven made with their own hands.
So you can save on utility bills, and most importantly, that the furnace creates the right microclimate at any time.
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Today’s masonry has no archaic look, the stove can fit perfectly into every interior.
The main point in choosing a stove or fireplace is the mortar for masonry. This is important because of the quality of the masonry mixture depends not only on the reliability of the future construction, but also the proper functioning of the structure.
Mortar for masonry according to all the rules
As already noted, its ideal consistency should correspond to the thickness of sour cream. If fat clay is taken for it, then to 1 part should be added 2 parts of the sand, if normal. the proportion should be equal.
Before proceeding to masonry furnace, it is necessary to check the quality of the resulting furnace mixture. To do this you will need to cement together 2 bricks, wait about 5 minutes and then raise the top brick. If the construction does not disintegrate in a few lifts, the mortar for masonry brick oven is matched perfectly. If this does not happen and the bond quickly fell apart, it is likely that lean (nonfat) clay was taken for the preparation of the mortar.
Experienced bakers also advise to increase the strength of the solution by adding table salt to it (150 g per 10 kg of clay is enough). Cement M400 can also be added: 1 kg for the same volume of clay.
When the stage of work on the chimney begins, it will be better to replace the clay mortar with a lime-sand one: it is more resistant to moisture. To make it, you need to take 3 parts sand and 1 part lime dough. As an option. 1 part quicklime and 3 parts water.
Mortars for stoves: varieties, methods of mixing
Properly mixed mortar determines the quality of the furnace masonry, its tightness, thermal resistance, durability for years. Lack or overabundance of any component leads to its cracking, integrity failure, carbon monoxide leakage. For the work use ceramic bricks, and it is the clay mortar for masonry furnace is homogeneous with it in composition. It provides a unified structure of the structure with the same physical properties of the mortar and brick. That is why clay mortar is considered the best.
