Do-it-yourself stove repair in the house. Do-it-yourself old oven repair: a modern approach How to repair a brick oven with your own hands

Do-it-yourself repair of an old furnace with your own hands will significantly extend its service life and save you from additional costs.

This is how the old stove looks like after repair - the brickwork and the hob, the upper and lower doors have been replaced

To avoid an accelerated failure of the furnace, you should familiarize yourself with the rules for its safe operation - this will help you quickly cope with emerging malfunctions.

Monitoring the technical condition of the furnace

Like any equipment, the furnace needs periodic inspections, current, medium and major repairs. The complexity of the upcoming repair depends on how serious the internal and external damage is. Due to the special climatic conditions, it is necessary to heat the stove for most of the year, especially if you use it for cooking. Therefore, the frequency of inspections is an important component of the quality and safe use of the oven.

To prevent the occurrence of fires, fires, carbon monoxide poisoning, it is necessary to repair the old stove in time before the start of the heating season. Before that, conduct a complete examination of all components, carefully checking the condition:

  • metal flooring in front of the firebox;
  • bases and walls;
  • furnaces, including the reliability of the lower and upper doors, grate, ash tray;
  • hob;
  • chimney;
  • furnace damper used to adjust the draft in the furnace and in the chimney;
  • state of masonry and masonry joints.

Video: do-it-yourself brick oven repair

Important: Detected malfunctions and blockages should be eliminated before the start of the heating season - this will help to avoid problems during the operation of the stove.

Chimney inspection and repair

The basis of the safety of the furnace is the correct design and operation of the chimney. The chimney must be freed from accumulations of soot, debris, pieces of crumbled clay and bricks, foreign random objects - this is necessary for the free passage of exhaust air flows containing smoke and other combustion products.

For cleaning, special tools are used:

  • telescopic (sliding) brushes specially designed for this purpose;
  • special vacuum cleaners with which soot can be removed, however, vacuum cleaners are ineffective for large blockages;
  • dry cleaning with liquid or powder products, the application of which on hot surfaces leads to the separation of soot accumulations.

All these chimney cleaners require some skill, so it is better to entrust such responsible work to professionals.

Cleaning the chimney using a special tool - brushes with a telescopic extension

Attention: The cleanliness of the smoke exhaust system of the furnace is especially important for the complete removal of carbon monoxide from the furnace - carbon monoxide (CO), which is formed in the event of incomplete combustion of fuel, its presence in the air in an amount of 0.1% CO is deadly to human health.

When checking the technical condition of the chimney, you should pay attention to the quality of the thermal insulation of the chimney in the places where it passes through the ceiling and roof ceilings - damage to the insulation layers can lead to overheating of the ceiling material and its ignition.

If, during the inspection of the chimney, internal and external cracks, chips, cracking, etc. are found, the smoke ducts will need to be repaired, which is much more complicated due to the significant length and small cross section of the chimney.

Depending on the extent of damage, it may be necessary to:

  • In the dismantling of the chimney with the subsequent restoration of brickwork (in case of destruction of more than 20%).
  • In partial replacement - damaged knockout bricks are removed, new ones are laid on the previously cleaned place, on the mortar (in the proportion: 1 part of cement, 0.5 parts of lime, 2.5 parts of sand). For greater strength, you can perform additional lining of the chimney (Fig. 4).
  • In the installation of sleeves in smoke channels. This method is the most promising - steel or ceramic pipes (sleeves) installed inside the old chimney are easily cleaned of soot, are not subject to cracking and chipping, which greatly facilitates the operation of the chimney.
  • Internal lining - performed in case of cracks on the surface of the walls of the chimney.

Elimination of defects

When inspecting an old furnace, the following defects are most often found:

  • Damaged seams and cracks in the brickwork, which are more visible if the stove is fired first. As a result of broken masonry and large cracks, flue gases may enter the room - crack sealing will be required (Fig. 5).

  • To restore the normal functioning of the firebox, the seams are pre-soaked with water, cleared to a depth of 2-3 cm and additionally wetted, after which they should be densely filled with clay mortar. It is recommended to add table salt to the clay mortar (0.5 kg per bucket of mortar) - this will protect the seams from cracking. Strengthening the frame of brickwork can be done by overlaying it with ceramic refractory tiles.
  • The appearance of rust on the metal flooring in front of the firebox - the thinned flooring should also be replaced by laying an asbestos sheet under it.
  • Weakening and loosening of the frame of the furnace door and the blower door, gaps between the hob and the brickwork of the furnace, resulting from thermal and mechanical effects. Here, too, furnace repairs will be needed in the places of their contact with brickwork, which must be cleared by removing the old mortar. After rinsing, a heat-resistant adhesive diluted 1:1 with water is applied to the cleaned areas. An asbestos or ceramic cord must be laid between the brickwork and the frame, the gaps must be completely filled with mortar (Fig. 6).

  • To fix the hob, it must first be removed - it is easier to do this when the stove is heated, prying it with a crowbar or an ax (Fig. 7). After that, in the same way as in paragraph 4, prepare the surfaces by sealing the places for laying with basalt felt.

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The brick oven is designed for a long service life. But sometimes it can fail for one reason or another. In order to less often face the problem of serious destruction of a brick oven, it is necessary to carry out preventive and repair work in time.

To fix minor problems, you do not need to call the wizard. You can solve such issues on your own, having little skills in construction.

A standard brick oven consists of:

  • grounds
  • prefurnace sheet
  • ash pan and furnace
  • grate
  • chimney and pipes

All repairs of a conventional design are divided into:

  • current
  • average
  • capital

Main problems and how to fix them

Minor Issues

  • Scuffs that appeared on the pre-furnace sheet. They can lead to serious problems and even fire. To solve the problem, the wiped sheet is replaced with a new one. To do this, we dismantle the deteriorated metal, protect the flooring with an asbestos sheet and fasten a new sheet of metal of the desired size on top.
  • Replacement grate from the grate.
  • Lack of traction. If the draft is gone, most likely you are faced with a clogged chimney or lack of air flow. Once a year, inspect the chimney for dirt, debris, and foreign objects. Chemical preparations are used to clean the channels.
Chimney cleaning with chemicals

To clean the chimney from soot, you will need to prepare:

  • Firewood
  • Trowel with sharp edges
  • Soot scraper
  • Clay mortar for masonry
  • Lime and plaster for whitewashing

The whole working process comes down to heating the stove with wood. It is better to use alder or aspen firewood, as they quickly burn out, form good traction, and burn out soot. Sprinkling salt on the wood can clean the chimney and chimney of soot. This procedure is recommended every three months.

Replacing the grate comes down to:

  • Taking out old grates
  • Carrying out repair work on masonry and blowing, if necessary
  • Laying a new grate, not forgetting to leave gaps of 5 mm
  • Filling gaps with sand or ash

Attention: the new grate from the grate must strictly match the old one in size. It must be laid in its original place without the use of a solution.

Problems of medium complexity

  • Shattered furnace door
  • Damaged chimney
  • Firebox repair and relocation

Medium repair work also includes the renewal of masonry joints. They not only spoil the appearance of the structure, but also let harmful gases into the room. To detect problem areas, it is recommended to heat it. To solve the problem, you need:

  1. Clear the seams.
  2. Rinse the walls with water using a brush.
  3. Noticeable cracks and defects in the brickwork should be filled with a new clay mortar.

So that after drying the clay does not crack, it is worth adding a little table salt to it. For one bucket of clay, it will be enough to add 300 grams of salt. If the cracks in the masonry are large and deep, they should be sealed with a refractory cord.


A shattered furnace door can be strengthened. If you notice that gaps have formed around the doors, and it wobbles a lot, it's time to repair it:

  1. We clean the repair site to the brick and rinse it with water
  2. We prime the surface
  3. We put a sealant in all the cracks
  4. We close it with a solution

To prepare the solution, we need to take:

  • Chamotte clay
  • Heat Resistant Adhesive
  • Portland cement
  • Sand

The prepared composition should be similar in consistency to sour cream.


After strengthening the furnace door, after 24 hours, the structure should be heated with a small amount of firewood.

Capital works

  • Complete lining replacement
  • Alteration of the furnace from one type of fuel to another
  • Repair and re-laying of brickwork

Repair without dismantling the oven

If you need to replace burned-out bricks without dismantling the stove, prepare the following materials and tools:

  • Brick
  • Hammer
  • Masonry mortar
  • Scraper and trowel

Instead of old burnt bricks, it is necessary to lay new material, having previously moistened them with water. Next, apply the solution to the masonry.

Attention: with the prepared solution, carefully lubricate the place of the fallen brick. The new material is placed in its original place, pressed and sealed.

How to shift the firebox

It also happens that the refractory brick from which the masonry is laid is destroyed and becomes unusable. In this case, it is necessary to repair it through the furnace door. If the damage is small, clay mortar will help to cope with them. If only a few bricks are destroyed, it is recommended to replace them by removing the old mortar.

To complete the work, you will need to prepare:

  • Spatula, hammer and chisel
  • Solution
  • Refractory brick

The old mortar is removed with a construction tool, this place is wetted with water, and new bricks are laid on top.

When repairing the firebox, it is advisable to use the same solution that was used during construction. After repairing the furnace, it will be possible to use the stove only after a week.


How to restore an oven

If you want to restore an old brick stove and restore its aesthetic appearance, you should stock up on the following materials:

  • Heat resistant tiles
  • paint
  • Whitewash or lime

When decorating the oven with tiles, it must be laid on a prepared and even surface. Be sure to use bas-relief edges and frescoes. The advantages of this material include:

  • Ease of care
  • Presentable appearance
  • Durability

If you want to cover the oven with paint, pay attention to the material that can withstand temperature changes. To give the product originality, apply drawings and ornaments with paints using a stencil.


Whitewashing the oven is the most common option. To give a snow-white sheen, add salt to the composition of lime.

Oven Repair Safety

Before you start repairing a brick oven, be sure to take care of safety:

  • To prevent heating and ignition of wooden surfaces, use insulating materials adjacent to the heated part.
  • Choose your consumables carefully. They must be of high quality and without visible defects.
  • To prepare the solution, it is recommended to use oily clay and heat-resistant glue.
  • Before starting work, place a steel sheet in front of the vent.

Summing up, it is worth noting that timely preventive work and repair of minor problems will significantly extend the life of a brick oven. Keep in mind that repair work must be carried out with full responsibility, since not only the performance of the structure and its appearance, but also the safety of your home depends on this.

In order not to crack the stove in the house, it is necessary to take a responsible attitude to the performance of work during the construction of the building. The main causes of the malfunction are laid at this stage. But if the problem has already arisen, it is important to quickly eliminate it. How and how to do this, you will learn about this in the article.

Collapse

First you need to understand why the cracks are spreading along the wall of the stove.

Reasons for the appearance

Before you properly and reliably cover the oven, in order to prevent repeated malfunctions, you need to know what can affect the integrity of the oven coating:

  • with a long break in the heating of the house and sudden changes in temperature;
  • the laying of the furnace was carried out on a poor-quality mortar;
  • perhaps the reason is the settlement of the building or foundation. In this case, it will be necessary to carry out a major overhaul of the foundation, increasing its size and strength;
  • after laying the furnace, the process of normal drying of the surfaces was disrupted;
  • when plastering the oven, a low-quality mortar was used or a thick or very thin layer was applied;
  • perhaps the reason is faulty ventilation and condensate settling on the walls of the furnace.

Can a cracked stove be used?

The answer to this question is unequivocal - it will be necessary to cover up a faulty, smoky stove immediately, it is not recommended to use it. Such requirements are explained not by a violation of the appearance of the walls, but by cracks that let carbon monoxide into the room. Poisoning by combustion waste can lead to sad consequences.

The statistics of firefighters say that most people die in a fire because of gas, and not from fire.

Damage diagnostics

Therefore, at the first sign of smoke in the house, you will need to do:

  • diagnose the surfaces of the furnace and find a malfunction;
  • after that, immediately prepare a solution or buy ready-made material to fill the gaps;
  • plaster the walls and re-plaster them.

But first of all, it is the diagnostics that will help determine the size of the damaged surfaces and the approximate amount of materials to be eliminated. If the solution just cracked from high temperatures, you just need to beat off a layer of plaster and apply a new layer of quality materials.

It is worse if the cracks are through and continue to expand after the work has been done. In this case, it may be necessary to call specialists to find the causes and lay a new stove. Stone stoves are a complex structure, so you should not try to lay it out according to the book, it is better to entrust this work to an experienced stove-maker.

Such cracks can no longer be simply covered up.

In this example, too, do not gloss over. The brick was badly cracked.

If the cracks are small and their size does not increase, you can proceed to fix the problem yourself. To do this, it is important to prepare a quality solution and properly apply it to the wall. How to cover up cracks in the furnace so that it does not crack from heat - knowledge of the basic materials for making the solution will help in this matter.

Examples of small cracks:

How to cover cracks?

For these purposes, you can use several options that will reliably seal cracks in the walls and prevent gas from escaping into the room. Let's analyze each method in more detail.

Chamotte clay

Before you cover the cracks on the stove with fireclay clay, you need to know its advantages:

  • the material is resistant to the effects of temperature during fuel combustion;
  • high level of vapor permeability;
  • resistant to moisture when heated;
  • environmentally friendly material, safe for humans and animals, so it can be used in residential areas.

To make a solution, you need to mix several ingredients:

  • 1 part cement brand 500;
  • 2 parts fireclay clay"
  • 7 parts river sand.

The solution is well mixed and water is added. The consistency depends on the skill and type of work, but you should not make it very liquid or thick. To get rid of stones and lumps, the clay can first be soaked in water for several hours and knead the lumps of material, and sift the cement and sand. Such a solution will be plastic, laid on the surface in an even layer.

Plastering walls with a certain skill is easy. To do this, it is important to install beacons and distribute the solution, level the layer on the wall. You will need to prepare a trowel, a spatula, the size of which depends on the surface area.

clay and sand

This is the most democratic inexpensive solution for plastering surfaces. Such a solution for the furnace has sufficient plasticity and is not subject to destruction under the action of high temperatures.

Preparing the solution for work is simple, for this you will need:

  • prepare a large trough in advance, fill in the required amount of clay and completely fill the layer with water. For 1 bucket of clay, pour 3 buckets of water. Clay should soak within 24 hours;
  • then mix the solution, and add more water to it. We pass the liquid through a sieve, get rid of lumps and let the solution settle;
  • we drain the protruding water, extracting the density of the solution like homemade sour cream;
  • in a ratio of 1 to 1, add river sand and mix the solution.

Expert opinion

Pavel Kruglov

Baker with 25 years of experience

Important! At this time, the quality of the solution can be determined. Having lowered the handle from the shovel into it, and seeing the adhered clay - in this case, you will need to add a little sand. Only after seeing small clots of a solution of sand and clay on the holder, you can start plastering the walls of the stove.

With this solution, it is necessary to close up all the cracks that have appeared, after wetting the surfaces and then plastering the stove in several layers. In villages, the old method is still used, adding horse manure to the finished solution. Such a solution is obtained with enhanced thermal insulation properties. Hay plays the role of air layers that prevent the free passage of heat.

Grout

Such a putty for the oven is sold ready-made, but it is easy to make it yourself. The main advantage of this material is the ability to maintain properties even when heated to 10,000. Industrial materials are used to equip and repair stoves and fireplaces, but the price of such a grout is high, so home craftsmen make it with their own hands.

The mixture for coating the oven is done in several stages:

  • knead large lumps of clay and pour it into the trough;
  • fill it with water and leave for 10-12 hours;
  • we pour part of the sand into the soaked clay, maintaining a ratio of 1 to 4, knead the solution well, adding 5 parts of chopped straw in small portions;
  • add 1 kg of coarse salt to the finished putty and finally mix the solution.

Ready grout can fill gaps between bricks, cracks, cracks and make the first draft layer of plaster.

oven glue

In order to repair the stove from a crack, you can buy heat-resistant special glue at a hardware store. Due to its properties, it is not exposed to high temperatures for a long time. In its composition, the addition of fireclay clay and cements with high refractory properties is used.

A plastic and solid mixture of glue is produced. With the help of solid materials, the surfaces of furnaces are plastered. Cracks and seams between bricks are filled with plastic glue.

When using this material, follow the instructions for dilution and use of the heat-resistant substance. It should not be done in large portions, it dries quickly and becomes unsuitable for work.

How to coat the oven correctly?

In order to reliably cover the cracks in a brick oven, work is carried out in several stages:


How long to wait for drying?

It is not recommended to use the oven until the solution is completely dry. When using different materials, this period may vary. Using a heat-resistant adhesive as a putty, the mortar layer will dry within a few hours.

More time will be required for drying and becoming a solution of clay and sand. In this case, it will be possible to use the stove only after a day. Then the brick oven, protected from cracks by mortar, will remain crack-free for a long time.

Therefore, we do not advise you to rush, immediately flooding your Russian stove with a stove bench. Sealing cracks in the furnace is a simple but responsible job. The choice of material for the solution is a purely individual matter. The main thing is to do the work carefully and responsibly. Then your house will always be light and clean, without the smell of burning and smoke penetrating through the cracks in the walls of the furnace.

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Repairing a brick oven in the country with your own hands is quite real. Is it possible to give a second chance to the heating stove, which stood in the country for ten years without major repairs and was the only source of heat for the country house. In principle it is possible. Here we will introduce you how you can repair a brick oven without the cost of calling specialists. We repair the furnace ourselves!

For this you need:

1) conduct a visual inspection of the furnace.

2) Decide what needs to be changed.

3) Determine what else may well serve.

Today we will deal with the repair of a brick oven. In this case, the stove complex, which is located on two floors of the cottage.

Step 1. Visual inspection of a brick oven

On the ground floor, the stove plays two roles. It is heating and a place for cooking (hob). A visual inspection of the rear surface of the furnace did not reveal strong destructive processes. From this it follows that this wall can be left as a frame for restoration work.

Rear surface of the oven (problem 1)

The only problem identified on this part is small smudges from the chimney hatch. They say that during operation, especially in the warm season, the stove has rather poor draft and the condensate that accumulates in the chimneys finds a way out.

Firebox (problem 2)

Walking around the stove, and approaching the firebox, we were surprised to find two things:

  1. The stove does not have a "letnik" - this is an additional blower that enhances traction at the time of its kindling.
  2. The blower is located on the end side of the stove, and not under the firebox door.

This configuration always worsens the combustion conditions in the furnace, does not provide the necessary oxygen supply and reduces the efficiency of the furnace.

Cooker (problem 3)

The hob is not provided with an additional hood. It follows from this that the additional wall above the stove reduces the heating of the room in the direction on which it is located. Our task is to correct these shortcomings.

View (problem 4)

The view is located horizontally and in the place where the chimney channel begins to vertically go up. Ergonomically, this is wrong. The stove in such places "cries" as the stove-makers say. Especially during the winter periods when frosts crackle on the street. A large amount of condensate is formed in the furnace, which mixes with soot and turns into a concentrated solution of carbonic acid. It is she who, in turn, destroys the masonry. Which is followed by the inevitable repair of the furnace, which will have to be done by hand. Gradually, the solution from between the brick space leaves, and the masonry collapses. As a result, complete destruction occurs around the exit of “furnace tears”.

Here they are furnace "tears" - the detrimental effect of carbonic acid on the furnace masonry.

The view is most of all to blame for this phenomenon, which does not provide reliable tightness of the chimney channel after the furnace is fired. Air seeps out of the warm room of the house and the moisture it contains condenses. And here is the result.

The visual inspection is over, the scope of work has been determined, we are starting to restore the furnace.

Step 2. Remove the excess

Removing the combustion chamber

First of all, we get rid of the combustion chamber, which is folded with gross flaws. Since you have to work in a residential building, a prerequisite is to clean and, if possible, cover everything with plastic wrap. We take out the bricks to the street and store them. As the analysis of the dismantled slab showed, approximately 80% of the bricks fell into disrepair.

This is what a stove looks like without a firebox and a hob.

At the bottom is the chimney cleaning channel, and at the top is the smoke exhaust channel. Our task is to fold the firebox in such a way that the chimney is not on the side, but towards it.

Getting rid of the chimney door (from the bottom of the stove)

The second thing we get rid of is the chimney door from the bottom of the stove. They held up very poorly, and the chimneys needed cleaning of the hood shaft.

Remove the chimney cover (above the top of the stove)

The third thing they got rid of was the chimney overlap above the top of the furnace (casing). Our task is to minimize the number of bends in the chimney that cannot be reached for cleaning. This place turned out to be very worn out. This is not surprising, as the soot fell here, as if into a turbulent jet, and settled on the chimney channel, gradually coking and hardening. The lack of a cleaning hatch only exacerbated the process. When we hid the chimney casing, we saw that the smoke passed through a thin crack. This explains the long tongues of smoke above the firebox before it is parsed.

We disassemble the casing so that the bricks from the old masonry form a natural joint with the masonry that we will lay in this place.

Here it is the "Achilles heel" of this furnace. At the junction of two channels, a zone of turbulence in the movement of flows is formed, soot settles and over time blocks the main channel of the chimney. After disassembling and cleaning, we will think something about this task.

We dismantle the masonry above the casing to that row of bricks so that we can remove the view of the furnace on the first floor.

Step 3 - add what you want

After everything that needs to be repaired is dismantled, we proceed to the installation of the combustion chamber. The principle of its construction is the simplest. The first row is the base of the furnace, the second is the base of the ash pan and the parallel channel of the “letnik”, then everything is as usual.

Installation of the combustion chamber

This is what the base of the combustion chamber looks like.

On the right, the “letnik” provides additional traction when igniting the stove, and on the left, the furnace system and the blower with an ash pan. We will hang all the fittings after the general installation of the furnace.

Pay attention to the connection of the ordering of the old furnace and the new masonry. The rows must match exactly.

We raise the heating stove with a hob by 11 rows of masonry. We lay the upper “strapping” row with a poke in order to later put a hob and a decorative stove on it.

The plate is folded. It remains to wait for the solution to dry in order to proceed with further work on the restoration.

Furnace shell masonry

After the plate is laid out, we proceed to the laying of the furnace casing. The first row of the casing is strapping. It is necessary to create the base of the chimney. The second and third are hollow inside - there is a chimney in it, which is joined to the old chimney of the furnace. The fourth row is the chimney piping and the fifth row of the casing is the control row. It is like an additional fuse against the possible penetration of smoke into the room.

Installing a view

The view was installed vertically and in a different place.

During installation, a 4 mm sealing basalt cord was used. Now the condensation will form much less. And if it drains, then into a special hatch for cleaning, which is located at the bottom of the stove under the chimney.

To create an overlap of rows above the blower and the firebox, a wedge lock was used in the masonry. It is quite reliable and makes it possible to do without additional metal corners during construction. They, in turn, during the operation of the furnace lead to its destruction due to a large linear expansion.

Two wedge locks are used on the front wall of the furnace. One above the blower, the second above the firebox.

Step 4. How to make a new one from the old? Furnace tiling

This is a rather difficult question when it comes to the stove. But let's turn on the fantasy and come up with for ours. We cover it with clinker tiles. Well, in order to do this rather complicated procedure, you must first make strictly vertical corners for our furnace. So that we do not have to cut our own length of tiles for each row.

Draw strictly vertical corners

Let's start drawing corners. For this, we take a 15 mm perforated metal corner, which is usually used to finish the corners of plasterboard structures, and install it on the corner of the furnace, aligning it according to the building level and planting it on Rotgypsum.

It is important not to mix too much solution.

It catches on fairly quickly. Therefore, there is a trick in setting the corner. First, a lump of “Rotgypsum” is made, attached to the upper point of the corner, the corner is pressed, a level is applied and the bottom is fixed with the same lump, and then the main part of the corner is filled.

The second end corner is laid exactly according to the same scheme. It is important for him not only to establish verticality, but also to measure distances both at the bottom of the furnace and at the top.

We do similar work on all corners of the furnace.

Remember that the accuracy of this procedure is the basis for successful repair work (cladding). "Rotgypsum" perfectly seizes with a brick, but does not attach very well to the mortar. Therefore, before installing the reinforced corners, walk with a dry cloth around the corners of the furnace to reduce the contact of Rotgypsum with the furnace mortar.

Step 5 Tiling the stove

Having aligned the corners of the furnace, you can start the process of lining the furnace with clinker tiles.

Why didn't we start finishing the bricks? The fact is that after repairing the furnace in the masonry there will be two completely different bricks in terms of tint. And it is almost impossible to bring them to one color. It was possible to plaster the stove, but the life of the stove without cosmetic repairs is about two seasons. Often you do not want to dilute the dirt in the house. Therefore, the choice fell on clinker tiles. We will carry out its installation on heat-resistant tile adhesive, which can withstand heating up to 180 degrees.

Installation of clinker tiles

We begin the process of installing clinker tiles by using the “rule” to set the level of the first row. There are never perfectly flat floors, so we choose the highest point of the floor at the base of the stove and consider this position as "zero". Then we take the “rule” (a board 2 meters long with even parallel edges) and, using the building level, draw the line of the first row of tile laying.

We align the “rule” according to the level readings and fix this position with the help of available material.

In our case, the floor difference turned out to be almost 3 cm per two meters of floor. After that, with a construction pencil, draw a line on the surface of the brick and begin laying tiles. As a color scheme, we used tiles of three shades. Light terracotta, terracotta and dark terracotta shades are very well combined and look natural.

The photo shows the right edge of the tile. Between them are laid crosses 4 mm in size. If you take a greater thickness, then there will be an overrun of the grout and it will not look so natural.

The second point is that all the tiles protrude 1.5 cm beyond the edge of the corner. This is the thickness of the tile and glue that we will apply to the other side of the furnace, and this protrusion will allow us to perfectly join the rows of clinker tiles.

We try to lay the tiles in such a way that a dark shade lies below, and in the center and closer to the top of the furnace, the tiles form a kind of pattern. We glue the tile, smearing glue on the edges of the tile with a spatula (leave the center empty) - then tapping with a mallet, push the tile, and the glue will evenly fill the entire space under it. We install a cross between the tiles and glue the next one.

Adhesive heat resistance

Pay attention to the heat resistance of the glue. If gluing goes to the back of the furnace, pipes and sidewalls, then it is quite possible to get by with ordinary clinker tile adhesive. The heating of these surfaces does not exceed 50 ° C, and as for the firebox, masonry over the firebox, heat-resistant glue with a resistance index of at least 180 degrees is required here. It usually costs more and is sold ready-to-eat. As for ordinary glue, I recommend diluting it as much as you can work out in 15 - 20 minutes of work.

The back wall of the furnace is ready, you can proceed to the next one.

Please note that the work stopped at the height of a person, we will continue them as the glue sets - after 24 hours.
You should not try to cut the tile into the part that is below the “zero level”, for this you need a special cutting disc and the skill of cutting small tiles, it is better to cover this place with a floor skirting board.

By combining tiles of different shades, you can get a very beautiful combination of colors.

The side part of the firebox has a heating temperature of up to 150 degrees when the furnace is fired in winter, so we apply only heat-resistant tile glue in this place.

Step 6. Repair of the stove on the second floor of the cottage

The stove continues on the second floor. If on the first floor it is a heating and cooking stove, then the functionality of the stove on the second floor is only heating. Before determining the scope of work, let's conduct a visual inspection.

Inspection of the furnace on the second floor

  1. Above the furnace, long tongues of traces of smoke indicate poor draft of the furnace, or the roof of the furnace is destroyed, or the chimney is clogged.
  2. No defects were found either in the masonry outside or in the masonry of the chimney, which means you need to look inside.

The stove smokes - I imagine how smoky it is in the room while it is being kindled.

As it turned out later, this reason was in a very poor device for extracting the furnace. Before the smoke entered the chimney, he had to overcome the brick ledge of the furnace roof.

Such a vault will withstand a couple more seasons and completely collapse.

Firebox replacement

It can be seen that the owners tried to patch up the masonry with their own hands and cover up the falling out bricks. However, this does not bring results, the mortar crumbles from the masonry, and the bricks also fall out of their place - a radical replacement of the entire firebox is necessary.

After the front of work is planned, we proceed to dismantle the part of the furnace, which is subject to complete replacement. We disassemble the firebox (completely), the blower (partially) and part of the chimney.

We choose a brick in such a way that when laying a new one, it can form a bundle with the old one.

We remove all debris, bricks and prepare the workplace for the new masonry as much as possible.

According to a similar principle, as on the first floor - an ash pan and a furnace compartment (firebox). The arch at the firebox is made in the form of a narrowing from above.

We cut the first row into ¼ parts, lay it on the “poke”, cutting off the lower chamfer.

The second row is on top of the tychkovy, performing it as a jumper over the firebox.

The most surprising thing is that the brick outside the firebox is practically not destroyed, which indicates that the stove was most likely fired with raw wood. When burning damp or with snow firewood, the firebox is destroyed much faster than if the stove was heated with dried firewood.

Part of the masonry above the firebox is laid out using used bricks. This is normal. It is still strong enough and will withstand more than one season, accumulating and giving off heat to the room.

This is what the firebox looks like and the blower close up.

And above the firebox and above the blower, a wedge lock is laid out as a jumper. The vault is made according to the method of narrowing the masonry with laying bricks with a “poke”. The chimney was made straight-through without bends, more smoke will not go into the room during kindling.

Step 7. New dress for the second floor stove

preparatory work (similar to the first floor)

The preparatory work algorithm is exactly the same as for the repair of the first floor furnace. First, we reinforce the corners by aligning the furnace vertically. Then putty with "Rotgypsum" to shape the corners and then prepare the surface of the furnace in order to glue the clinker tiles on it.

Whoever laid the stove was not very eager to remove the corners, we had to make quite a few efforts before we evened out such flaws.

I will say one thing, such work is very reminiscent of putty plasterboard walls. We apply the sickle bandage, and apply several layers of Rotgypsum, let each layer dry and then apply a new one.

Unfortunately, the edges of the stove were very far from vertical, so we applied three layers of Rotgypsum, dried it, and only a week later we started lining the stove. Facing goes exactly according to the same principle as on the first floor.

The secret of lining the firebox

To prevent a row of tiles from sinking down, we lay a 25 mm corner in the masonry groove. Its thickness is approximately equal to 4 mm, and this is the width of the tile spacing. The door fittings will completely block the space not covered by the tiles, and the corner itself will not allow the tiles to slide. After the glue has set, carefully remove the corner from the masonry.

Here is the secret of sticking tiles - the corners are installed above the view and above the firebox.

Pay special attention to the "synchronism" of the rows of tiles, they must go one into one from one wall of the furnace to another.

Grouting

After about 10 - 12 hours, after the glue has finally set, we need to grout the seams. We remove all the crosses (spacers between the tiles) and apply the grout. You can use Ceresit Grout - it is heat-resistant. It is sold ready for use, white, so that its color matches the color of the tiles - we add a little “chocolate” color to give the desired shade. We apply with a continuous method. How much you need to sit in the seams, then we will remove the rest of it from the surface of the tile.

They grouted the seams of the facade of the stove. We wait three hours and remove the grout with a damp cloth or sponge. Everything should be easy to remove from the surface of the tile.

Be careful. One has only to overexpose the grout on the tile, and you won’t be able to remove it without the help of abrasive products. And this, in turn, can spoil the appearance.

Installation of furnace fittings

We proceed to the installation of furnace fittings. We take all of it from one manufacturer, I used the Finnish company SVT. For decoration, we use Senegal porcelain stoneware steps 50 * 50 mm. It is quite strong and heavy material, but it looks very expensive.

We finish the pipe and the top of the furnace with porcelain stoneware.

The technology is like that. We apply glue, the same as for tiles. We screw self-tapping screws into the seam of the masonry, put plates on them and then tighten everything with adhesive tape around the pipe. We leave it for a day, remove the adhesive tape, check the reliability, unscrew the screws - it turned out very effectively!

View of the stove on the second floor from the end.

Final touch. We install accessories for cooking - a hob, a firebox door and a blower. We fix everything with concrete dowels.

If you compare what was and what has become, you can’t even believe that the repair of a brick oven could bring it back to “life”!

We suggest watching the video:

"Laying a heating stove with your own hands"

Do-it-yourself laying of a heating furnace

Sooner or later, the owners of summer cottages and private houses have to solve the problem - how to cover up the stove? A failed heating device poses a threat to the life and health of the inhabitants of the house. It is no coincidence that fire safety rules prohibit the operation of a faulty furnace. The work of a master stove-maker is not cheap. However, if necessary, you can repair the "heart of the house" yourself.

Why is it forbidden to operate a faulty furnace?

The oven can fail for various reasons. Sometimes it is easier not to cover up emerging defects, but to re-shift the furnace. However, such drastic measures are rarely required. As a rule, the main causes of an emergency condition are shrinkage, poor-quality materials and mistakes made when laying out the hearth.

Heating systems require regular maintenance. According to the norms of SNiP, heating devices in the country should be examined twice a year. And in a private house at least once a quarter. Unfortunately, most homeowners neglect these requirements.

The main danger for the residents of the house is not a collapsed hearth, but the cracks that have appeared in it. The explanation is simple - obviously no one will heat the emergency furnace, but cracks can not always be noticed in time. Carbon monoxide seeping through them is a serious danger to the inhabitants of the house. According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, in a fire, 70% of people die from smoke, and of those who survived, 42% end up in the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Therefore, timely repairs are the key to the safety of your family. Most stove masters, when asked: “how to cover the stove so that it does not crack from the heat?”, Will advise using clay. However, there is a nuance here. There are several types of mixtures and almost all of them use clay.

Clay - the basis of kiln masonry mortars

Clay is the main component in the manufacture of masonry kiln mixtures. This is due to its unique quality - when heated, it turns into stone. Clay mortar withstands high temperatures and ensures the reliability of the entire structure. But other ingredients are also used to make it. Clay is divided into two types: dry and oily. When heated, the first crumbles, and the second cracks and dries out.

Note that the ratio of the components of the solution will always be different. Each time the proportions are determined by experimentation. After all, in nature there are never two absolutely identical breeds. For each solution, depending on the fat content of the clay, the ideal combination of ingredients will change.

The quality of the breed is determined as follows. It is necessary to roll up a clay cord 1 cm thick and 20 cm long, and then wrap it around a wooden blank with a diameter of 5 cm. A normal clay cord gradually stretches and when its thickness decreases by more than 70% of the initial volume, it breaks.

The most common is a mixture of clay and sand. It is in demand when laying, finishing and repairing the hearth.

The name "clay-sand mortar" speaks for itself. It consists of sand, clay and water. Oddly enough, problems can arise even with water - it should not contain mineral salts and silt. Otherwise, even whitewashing will not save you from protruding salt stains. At the beginning of the 20th century, craftsmen used rainwater to mix the mortar. However, not only water needs to be cleaned.

Sand, which is used to prepare the solution, is pre-sifted through a sieve. This allows you to clean it of gravel, grass and roots, which makes the masonry joint thin and neat. Before starting to mix the solution, the clay must be soaked in warm water for 12 hours.

The step-by-step preparation of the mixture is as follows:

  1. 1. Stir the wet clay mortar - there should be no lumps in it.
  2. 2. Add the sifted sand to the prepared mixture. The combination of 4 parts of clay and 2 sand is considered optimal. Although the amount of sand depends on the clay, more precisely, its fat content.
  3. 3. Sometimes, if whitewashing the hearth is not planned, lime is added to the solution. After mixing the solution to a creamy state, cover the container with plastic wrap and forget about it for 12 hours.
  4. 4. Do not forget to mix the settled mixture, and then make a ball out of it and squeeze it - if cracks appear, add more water.
  5. 5. Straw is added to the clay as a reinforcing layer. However, today there are more reliable materials. When restoring the stove, cover it with plaster mesh, this will allow you to forget about the repair for a long time.

Despite the low cost of the components, such a clay-sand mortar competes confidently with modern building grouts and adhesives.

Features of repairing furnaces using fireclay clay

Chamotte clay is often used in the construction and repair of brick ovens. After heat treatment, this breed receives additional properties. Kaolin clay is used to make fireclay. In the process of heat treatment (+1500 degrees), it turned into a stone. The resulting stone powder is added to the composition of the solution during the repair or construction of the furnace.

Chamotte clay differs from similar materials in the following advantages:

  • resistance to high temperatures,
  • vapor permeability,
  • high adhesive properties.

In addition, fireclay clay is safe for human health and will ensure a long service life of the hearth. Unfortunately, there were some negatives as well.

Fireclay does not occur in nature, and kaolin clay, which is its basis, is a rather rare material. It is not surprising that the main disadvantage of such material is the price. The second caveat - fireclay does not tolerate a humid atmosphere. Therefore, in order to qualitatively cover the furnace, it is necessary to use other materials (cement, quarry sand).

The finishing mixture of fireclay for repairing the hearth is created in the following proportions: 7 parts of sand, 1 cement and 2 clay. The amount of water is selected individually. The proportions may vary slightly, but this combination is considered the best.

A solution of fireclay will be more reliable if certain regulations are observed during its manufacture: first of all, dilute the cement to a state of thick milk, then add the remaining components.

Previously, refractory clay was soaked in water for three days before work - this gave it plasticity. Products of modern manufacturers do not require such a long preparation. The solution can be kneaded immediately after the last component is poured into the container. Rough kneading is done with the help of improvised tools (shovel, chopper, etc.). But it is better to complete the mixing of the mixture manually. The solution in this case will turn out to be of better quality - after all, with your hands you will feel even the smallest lumps.

Heat-resistant glue - prompt repair of furnace equipment

Of course, it is foolish to deny the merits of traditional solutions, but sometimes the furnace needs prompt repairs. For example, a planned celebration at a winter cottage may be in jeopardy due to a faulty stove. It will be difficult to get clay in this case. Of course, shops sell fireclay mixtures all year round, but they cannot be used immediately after purchase. And how can you cover up a home or country hearth other than clay-based solutions?

One option is a heat resistant adhesive designed to work with fireplaces and stoves. Such glue is sold in the form of a dry mixture or immediately ready for use. However, if there is a large front of work to be done, it is better to use dry glue, since the liquid mixture dries quickly.

The main components of heat-resistant mixtures are the same chamotte, cement, sand, synthetic and mineral additives. Depending on the type of glue, one or another element predominates in it. After all, each of them is responsible for a certain characteristic. For example, cement is responsible for strength, synthetic additives increase plasticity and moisture resistance, and fireclay heat resistance. Therefore, when planning a furnace repair using heat-resistant glue, pay attention to its composition.

The procedure for carrying out repair work

In fact, after making the solution yourself, the repair itself is unlikely to cause many difficulties:

  1. 1. The surface is cleaned of plaster and finishing material residues.
  2. 2. The oven needs to be slightly melted, after which the cracks that appear are poured with water. This will prevent the oven brick from absorbing moisture from the solution.
  3. 3. The mixture is smeared into the cracks, and its remains are laid in an even layer on the surface of the furnace.
  4. 4. At the final stage, the entire surface is plastered.

The oven will be ready for use only after the solution has dried. By the way, in this home-made solutions lose to heat-resistant glue - it dries in 30 minutes, after which you can start kindling.

The very work with heat-resistant mixtures almost completely repeats the work with clay solutions. The only difference is that after sealing the cracks, the oven is not plastered, but is finished with solid adhesive heat-resistant mixtures.