Brick fireplaces are suitable for heating large rooms in country houses without central heating. These can be buildings made of wood, gas silicate blocks, logs or other material. With good thermal insulation of the walls, it is possible to build an open stove that can cope with heating any area. Advantages of a brick fireplace in high Efficiency from work - it reaches 80%, strength, long-term heat retention, durability and ease of maintenance and cleaning.
The choice of the size and shape of a brick fireplace depends on the following conditions:
- the area of the heated room;
- location in the room;
- the selected type of construction;
- building features - foundation, floor slabs, wall insulation, location of the chimney;
- functionality of the future fireplace.
The area of the furnace opening for a brick fireplace should be approximately 100 times less than the area of the heated room. The height and width of the firebox are chosen in a ratio of 1.5 to 1, the depth is 1.5-2 times less than the width, the cross-sectional area of the chimney is 10-15 times less than the area of the firebox. For example, based on these parameters, for a room of 24 sq. m. you can make a drawing of a fireplace with the following dimensions:
- furnace area - 0.24 sq. m.;
- furnace width - 40 cm;
- its height is 60 cm;
- depth - 20 cm;
- chimney section - 0.024 sq. m. or 240 sq. cm.
By location in the room, fireplaces are wall, corner and island.
- The first option will require the most material and solution, but it will cover the room with heat as much as possible, and around it you can sit in a large company. The drawing of such a fireplace is most often symmetrical, the facade is U-shaped; in most cases, brickwork is required, covering the chimney to the ceiling.
- Corner fireplace can be compact, requires a small number of bricks, cladding occurs only on one side, the role of the other two is played by the walls of the room. Despite its small size, this option is able to effectively heat a room with an area of 20-30 sq. m. in a short time.
See in the video how to make a corner fireplace with your own hands.
Island fireplaces they are usually located in the center of the room, not adjacent to the internal ceilings. They look like a pool with low sides, inside which firewood is placed for kindling. To remove smoke, a suspended hood is placed above such structures. Such projects require a minimum of building materials, and their drawings are extremely simple, most often in a profile projection they represent a square or rectangle. Although some install in their country house more complex forms of round island fireplaces, multi-level, with a table top
Outdoor BBQ fireplaces are a separate option., barbecue, built into the backyard gazebo. Their models are more varied, especially when the area of the site allows for the construction of a large building with many elements. They definitely require a foundation on a concrete base, so as not to get bogged down and float in the yard over time. Before starting construction work for an outdoor fireplace with a barbecue, detailed drawings should be created with the order of bricks and plans for various projections
If an outdoor fireplace is made on the street with a gazebo, then the walls or roofs are usually made of wood, plastic, metal profiles, and other light materials. In addition to the furnace itself, bricks can be supporting columns, a platform in front of the firebox to prevent fire.
Varieties
A brick fireplace for heating a room consists of 4 main parts:
- a portal containing a masonry facade;
- firebox - a place where firewood is placed;
- smoke collector, which serves for a smooth transition of smoke into the chimney;
- chimney that brings smoke to the street.
Internal fireplaces are available with an open firebox and a closed one. The first option does not require a cast-iron insert to be built into the portal, which protects the walls from open fire. But the inner walls of the furnace must be made of refractory bricks. This is a special grade of building materials that is obtained by pressing and firing chamotte mass or quartz.
Advantages of open hearth fireplaces in the beauty of natural fire in the interior of the room and the ease of installation of the portal without a bulky cast-iron cabinet, which has a considerable price. But with the open version, there is a possibility of sparks entering the room, so the area in front of the fireplace must have a fireproof coating. Sometimes it is made of the same brick as the fireplace facade
If the fireplace insert is made of cast iron, then it can be either open or closed.… In this case, the inner surface of the niche can be built from ordinary non-refractory bricks - metal protects against flame. Open fireboxes are safer, they prevent sparks from entering the room, the device of their doors can be side or top opening. Dampers for home fireplaces are made of tempered fire-resistant glass - burning wood and flames are visible through it
To prevent the transparent material from becoming covered with soot, it is covered with a special smoke-repellent layer.
- Wall and corner fireplaces are built with a chimney. Its metal pipe is best hidden by decorative brick trim, in addition to beauty, it gives additional insulation and strength to the chimney system. For laying a chimney, as well as for a portal, it is necessary to create drawings with an order.
- Island fireplace most often it does not have a brick chimney; ready-made metal hoods are sold for it, which are suspended from the ceiling.
Calculations and drawings
Calculations of the sizes and schemes of the future fireplace should be prepared in more detail in advance, even before purchasing the necessary materials. From a visual drawing, you can always see how much ordinary, refractory and facing bricks you need to purchase. It is better to buy a little more than is needed in the finished project, with the expectation of marriage at work or small amendments in construction.
Next, you need to calculate the consumption of cement for masonry work … There are different costing methods depending on the material grade. But you can take the most common type of dry cement mixture for kiln work - M200. It is mixed with sand in a 1: 3 ratio. Further, this dry mixture is diluted with water and thoroughly mixed until a thick homogeneous mass. For masonry 1 cub. m. bricks need about 0.3 cubic meters. m. of such a cement-based solution M200 … The volumes of the chimney facade and chimney cladding can be calculated from the dimensions of the drawing. An easier way to calculate is to multiply the volume of one brick by their number, this will give an approximately accurate result.
A drawing of a finished fireplace usually consists of a horizontal and frontal projection. These two views give a detailed idea of the height, width and thickness of the portal with a chimney, the number of bricks for each row, the way they are connected. For a firebox, especially with an arch or trapezoidal opening and inclined inner walls, separate visual drawings with different projections can be created. The most important thing is that the master understands how the smoke collector is located inside the stove, how the chimney is fixed, at what angle the walls are inclined in the niche.
Operating procedure
After creating the drawings of the fireplace with the dimensions and order of the bricks and purchasing the necessary building materials, you need to prepare working tools. Their list is as follows:
- a container for mixing the solution, optimally - with a volume of at least 50 liters, if there is an electric mixer, then this is even better;
- a sieve and a container for sifting sand, if it is with large impurities;
- mortar masonry trowel;
- building level 1 - 2 m long;
- tape measure, ruler, square;
- pencil or marker;
- hammer.
For masonry, additional items may be needed, for example, a knife, a grinder, a hacksaw, rags, a container with water - it all depends on the nature of the work.
Before starting, it is worthwhile to organize the workplace as conveniently and functionally as possible, bring extension cords with sockets, lighting, protect interior details from possible dirt.
It is easy to carry out the installation of a brick fireplace with your own hands according to the drawings, even without the experience of such construction work, if create a preliminary step-by-step plan.
- Installation work begins with the installation of the foundation … It can be tape made of concrete, blocks or bricks. If the base is jellied, then a formwork is pre-built from wooden panels, a liquid concrete solution is poured into it. In this case, laying the facade of the fireplace begins only after the foundation has completely dried and shrunk.
- An orderly layout of bricks takes place on the finished foundation. in accordance with the developed drawings. The ordering scheme contains all the stages of construction with the arrangement of fragments. Laying in rows must be done very carefully, observing even seams, a bunch of bricks and a horizontal level. After the formation of each row, it is necessary to carry out an additional check of the level and, if necessary, adjust it until the solution has dried.
- After building the fireplace portal, you should take up the installation of the chimney … The metal chimney is attached to a horizontal wall and is additionally insulated. Then it is built up with a brick wall according to the existing drawing.
- After the brick base of the portal and chimney of the fireplace is ready, you can start decorating, arranging countertops, grilles, shelves, flaps and other elements.
A built fireplace should never be used immediately. At least 2-4 weeks should pass from the moment of construction to complete kindling. Before that, a partial firebox with a small amount of firewood is organized to dry the stove and chimney. They start with 2 kg of dry logs, every 2 days, increase the weight by a kilogram.