Self-laying fireplaces

A fireplace is usually placed in the living room. Where else to admire the fire, if not in the room for rest and receiving guests. It is not possible to use it as the main source of heat with all structures, but as an additional one, in the autumn-spring period it is very comfortable. A fireplace will also help in especially severe cold weather, when the main heating power is insufficient. You can fold a simple fireplace with your own hands. It is far from easy, but possible.

Making a fireplace with your own hands is not easy, but possible

Although the construction of a fireplace requires a lot less bricks, it is very important to lay out all the elements correctly. Due to design errors, the fireplace may work ineffectively or not at all. In addition to the heating function, the fireplace also performs in many ways aesthetic functions, therefore, it is often chosen also in appearance, not forgetting about the technical features.

Dutch fireplaces

This heater, although it has a wide-format firebox, traditional for fireplaces, is in fact a stove - it has a multi-turn chimney. So it is a heavy, difficult to execute massive structure. It has only two key differences from the stove - the size of the firebox portal and the absence of a blower. If you know how to fold a Dutch stove, making simple adjustments, you can turn it into a fireplace. Moreover, if there is an old Dutch woman in the house, even requiring major repairs, she easily turns into a fireplace. It is only required to disassemble the front furnace part, insert a finished metal furnace of a suitable size, connect it to the smoke circuits and decorate it.

The Dutch fireplace is built on the principle of the same stove, it differs only in the dimensions of the firebox

This is the type of units with an open hearth that can be used as the main heater. The Dutch have long been forced to save on fuel and do not allow themselves to release heat into the pipe.

Open or Alpine (Swiss)

This type of fireplace has only recently become popular. In fact, this is also not a pure fireplace, but for a different reason. Rather, it is just an open or semi-closed hearth, over which a bell is made, which turns into a chimney.

Alpine or Swiss fireplace has a memorable look

It fits perfectly into the chalet-style interiors, because it is from there that he came to us. The device, in general, is uncomplicated, but also not very efficient in terms of heating. But it is very decorative.

The option that you see in the photo above is made in the rustic style - from natural processed stone. This kind of work costs a lot of money: you have to adjust, hew up hard rocks, which requires a high level of skill.

Classic english

Exterior of a classic fireplace

The traditional look is the fireplace as we imagine it. Open wide portal of the firebox in which the wood is burning. Moreover, its finishing can be any, both pretentious for the corresponding interiors, and restrained, which fits into high-tech and minimalism.

Despite the fact that it does not seem to take up a lot of space, it will take about 800 bricks to make a classic fireplace together with an average chimney length. The total mass of such a structure is in the region of a ton.For the smallest classic fireplace, a solid separate foundation is required, such as the one that is arranged for the stove - to the same depth as the foundation of the house, and in size it should be at least 15 cm larger on all sides. with the floor.

Device and how it works

Drawing of a classic English fireplace with dimensions

Ordering a classic fireplace

Traditional English fireplaces are structurally different from each other in the shape of the smoke tooth. For its accurate reproduction, only "straight arms" are not enough. Experience is required and considerable. But there are models that are not so critical to this detail. You can fold such a fireplace with your own hands if you know how to handle a trowel and a level.

Simple classic fireplace: order

In this version, the grate is small and is located at the very end of the firebox. This made it possible not to be smart with the tooth, but to make it ordinary, stepped. But in this fireplace, during kindling, the blower cannot be closed. The fire "spins" precisely due to the flow of air into the rear of the furnace.

Rumford fireplace

One of the varieties of the classic is called the Rumford fireplace. The principle of operation is the same, only it is not the smoke tooth that provides the swirl, but the narrowed neck of the chimney, the shape of which repeats one of the branches of the hyperbola.

One of the possible options for decorating a fireplace in a modern style

It is possible to "push through" the permission by drawing up papers and a complex redevelopment with the transfer of heating devices. An example is the transfer of walls, piers, integration with a balcony or loggia. Do not write in papers about registers or central heating batteries. It is in this general formulation that heating devices are. In the same document, you enter that you are going to put the heating device on a flame, attaching a project made in the design organization. In this case, homemade papers do not pass. There is a chance. But in general, the owners of houses and apartments will be driven long and hard. And do not try to argue, otherwise you will never get permission. Redo whatever they require. There is no other way. Home owners will have a little easier. The logic is clear - if problems arise, you will burn yourself. They talk harshly with apartment owners, but permission can still be obtained.

Now, if you don't want to get involved with all this, you can order the installation of the same fireplace with a firebox in a specialized organization. They usually provide paperwork services. They have already trodden paths, the chances are much greater. In addition, upon acceptance of your heater, they may (and most likely will) require certificates for all materials, including bolts, screws and oven fittings. You also need to know and remember about this. And with this task, buying materials turns into a difficult quest.

Brick fireplace option in the corner

Corner fireplace - order and video

Very often fireplaces are made in the corner. It is convenient and practical: it occupies the most difficult area to decorate and itself serves as an excellent decoration. When choosing a place for a fireplace, take into account such a nuance as the height of the chimney. When laying a fireplace, almost half of the material and time is spent on forming the chimney. On the one hand, a high pipe is good - there will be good draft. On the other hand, there are high costs. To reduce them, the fireplace can be placed in the corner where the roof slope is located, and not its ridge. The height of the pipe should still be sufficient to provide traction, and the costs will be lower.

How to make a protective screen

If the fireplace will be located in a wooden house, the walls must be protected. Optimally it should look like this:

• wooden walls are sheathed with thermal insulation (you can use basalt wool cardboard with an operating temperature of up to 800 ° C with a thickness of 1.5-2 cm);
• on top of it, on ceramic insulators with a height of 3 cm, attach a metal screen.

The walls of the fireplace can be located 5-7 cm from the screen. The dimensions of the metal sheet are 15-20 cm larger than the dimensions of the firebox.This multi-layer system will prevent the wooden walls from heating up to any significant temperatures.

Materials, ordering, comments

This fireplace has dimensions of 890 * 890 * 1610 mm (excluding the pipe). To make it you will need:

• red oven bricks 356 pcs (without pipe);
• refractory bricks SHA-8 - 55 pcs;
• smoke damper 250 * 130 mm;
• steel corner with a wall thickness of 5 mm: 50 * 600 mm - 1 piece; 50 * 800 mm - 2 pieces;
• steel sheet with a thickness of 3 mm 400 * 600 mm.

Ordering a brick corner fireplace

The above layout is one type of classic fireplace for installing in a corner. The scheme is quite simple, but a large number of bricks in it require trimming. To lay this brick fireplace, you definitely need a good grinder and a large number of stone discs.

When forming a tooth in the furnace (rows 10-13), fireclay refractory bricks are suspended. The upper edge of the brick of each subsequent row should protrude 30 mm above the previous one. This edge is hung so that it is inclined and even. As a result of the placement of all 4 rows that form the tooth, the surface should be flat and smooth. It will "spin" the flame and reflect heat into the room, so pay maximum attention to this moment.

Quite detailed instructions for laying this fireplace are given in the video.

Masonry conditions and materials

You need to start laying the fireplace with your own hands in the autumn-spring period, when the temperature is kept within 15-20 ° C. Under other conditions, work is difficult and requires solid experience.

The brick is taken from the oven, red, corpulent. Facial and smooth does not fit - it will not withstand temperature changes and will crumble. When choosing oven bricks, pay attention to geometry and color. Burnt "iron ore" does not suit us, as well as swollen and warped bricks. Only smooth, one color, emitting clear sound when tapped.

The laying is carried out on a clay-sand mortar. Clay - purchased construction, as well as sand - river, not quarry. The clay soaked to a pasty state is mixed with sand in a ratio of 1: 3, water is added to obtain a solution of medium plasticity. Be sure to check the fat content of the solution: take the solution on a trowel, tilt it. The solution should fall, leaving a layer of 1.5-3 mm on the metal. If the layer is thinner, metal is visible, clay is added, if the residue is lumpy and thick, sand and a little water are added. As a result, a solution with the given conditions should be obtained.

Brick types

You can mix it all at once. At night, the container with the solution is covered with wet sacking, and before work, it is stirred several times.

When laying, the thickness of the seams is 6-13 mm. Ideally 8-10 mm. If you are putting a fireplace with your own hands for the first time, always use a level and a plumb line. Check every row and even every stone. Fireplaces are tall and narrow devices with a high center of gravity. Such structures do not forgive even the slightest deviations. Therefore, the level should be of good quality, ideally if you have a calibrated plane builder (laser level).

Drying and accelerating furnace

The finished fireplace must be dried for at least 20 days in a well-ventilated area. You can arrange a draft, but the sun's rays should not fall on the walls. For shading on windows and doors, you can hang sheets or tighten the openings with gauze.

After three weeks of drying, an accelerating furnace can be carried out. Take a slow burning fuel (coal-seed, blacksmith coal). If the oven was dried in good conditions, melt it, add fuel in small portions, heat it for a while. After three days you can use it "to the full". If the conditions were not very good, start with 3/4 of the bookmark, gradually bringing it to full in a few days.