Do-it-yourself stove repair in the house

We bought a house in the village with a stone stove, which turned out to be in rather bad condition. I had absolutely no experience in this matter, so I did not immediately notice that she was “defective”. She was whitewashed and seemed quite decent. I was afraid to undertake its repair myself, but I realized that if you invite a stove-maker, it would cost a very decent amount. In addition, I thought that if I repair it myself, then there will be experience and additional confidence in my abilities. So I started practicing myself - everything worked out for me, and not even bad at all. I will say right away that while the final repair of the furnace is not completed, there are still all sorts of little things to be done in the spring, but it is already working and is working well. So do not be afraid and feel free to take on the independent repair of the brick oven: I think you will succeed too. And now useful information from my experience, how to repair a brick oven with your own hands, both in the country and in a private house.

• Brick. At the construction market I bought a brick of the Tula brick factory, which was called "stove brick". Professionals say that in general there is no special oven brick - any building ceramic brick of any brand will do, even M-75 - the main thing is that it is free of cracks. But, by the way, I really liked the brick that I bought - smooth, without cracks, much better quality than the usual building brick. It cost 15 rubles apiece, and I took as many as 100 pieces. In some stores, they even sell them for 25 rubles apiece. By the way, 7 pieces were not enough, and I had to use the old one, which I took out of the oven. I also bought 20 pieces of fireclay bricks at 49 rubles apiece. Fireclay bricks can withstand very high temperatures, as much as 1800 degrees. I wanted to lining the firebox with them, but then it turned out that it would not work. So this expensive brick lies and waits in the wings - it will come in handy for a new oven.

• Furnace casting. These are latches, furnace and blower doors, cleaning doors, cooking floor. The so-called scar casting (Zavod "Litkom") is the leader in quality. There is also a supplier from Balezino, but the quality there seems to be worse. I took the Rubtsov furnace door, and the ash door, as less important, I bought the Balezin one. I paid 1,500 rubles for everything. I did not consider imported casting: it is, of course, much better quality, but it also costs decent: I thought it was not advisable to buy it. I did not buy a cooking floor (stove): for now I decided to use the old one, which had been split, until spring. I didn't buy the grate either - I used the one that was in the old oven. By the way, it's homemade. Do-it-yourself brick oven repair did not include replacing valves and cleaning doors from me yet, so I did not buy them. I will do all this in the spring.

• Basalt cardboard BVTM used for sealing when installing metal parts: cooking deck, door. I bought two sheets of 5 mm thickness at 156 rubles apiece. This was quite enough and even remained, but I think that it will still come in handy: during the life of the furnace, it may well be required.
• Wire and metal tape. It is used when installing doors. I'll tell you more about this a little later. I found the wire in the garage, and bought the tape in the store (I gave 500 rubles for 20 meters) - the same as in the photo.

• Drill with mixer attachment - used to prepare the solution.
• Brush (drill attachment) - used to remove soot and old mortar from bricks in some places.
• Grinder + disc for metal + metal disc for concrete - mainly used to cut bricks. It turns out quickly, evenly, but hefty dusty, so buy another respirator. Sometimes it was required to cut the metal too: now a corner of some of the oven sticks out - I cut it off completely, then the grate cut. The photo shows an example of using a grinder when working with bricks. This is a key brick, which is placed over the firebox door.

• Building level - it is clear why.
• Gon - it is better if it is long, I had a short one. I mainly used it to mark out bricks.
• Roulette - for measurements of all kinds.
• Marker - they marked the brick. I took the marker from my daughters from drawing sets and will not return it, because it has worn out in the trash.
• Trowel, trowel - used to work with the solution. Basically I used a 70 mm wide spatula, it seemed to me that it is more convenient for them to work than with a trowel.
• Hacksaw for wood (old) - used to cut a brick out of the oven at the seam. An irreplaceable thing. Sometimes it was required to take something smaller, then I used canvas for metal.
• Hammer - used to neatly straighten a newly laid brick. And so, for other purposes, the hammer will find application.
• Sponge for washing dishes - wetted the surfaces of bricks prepared for mortar with water.
• Buckets - for mortar and for soaking bricks in water.

• If non-critical cracks need to be repaired, then, of course, it is not necessary to disassemble the oven. We melt it - the seams expand. Then we thoroughly clean out the old mortar until we clean the brick well at the crack. It is convenient to work with a cloth for metal.
• If a cracked brick needs to be replaced, then an old wood saw comes to the rescue for cutting bricks from masonry along the seam. Then carefully remove the brick and clean the bricks in the masonry, preparing them for mortar.
• If most of the oven is in critical condition, then you have to take out a lot of bricks. It is very dusty. I did not think of separating the stove from the room with foil, and my whole house was covered with a layer of dust. We remove the bricks until we reach those that hold tight. But turn on your head, otherwise you can disassemble the whole stove. The fact is that some bricks that wobble a little can be left in the masonry. Then they will bond with their new neighbors, and everything will be fine. And, of course, we also take out all the cracked bricks, and also the burnt ones. Here, look at the photo of how my firebox looked like. She had to take it all apart and put it all over again. I took out about a little over 100 bricks from the entire oven.

After you have prepared the seams for repair (I wrote about this above), we wet the bricks with water using a sponge and put the mortar into the seam: we take it a little bit and with a trowel we "chase" the seam - we seal it with the edge of the trowel until the metal practically stops penetrating into the solution.

Do-it-yourself brick stove repair is very often a furnace repair. First of all, I took out all the burnt bricks and prepared the firebox for new masonry. But there was one serious problem: one of the walls of the furnace turned out to be load-bearing in the entire structure - let's say, the pipe rested on it. Therefore, I decided not to remove the bricks from this wall, but simply shifted the firebox to a half-brick to the side and laid out an absolutely new firebox wall. There is nothing particularly difficult in the masonry itself - just do everything carefully, take your time and try to keep all the bricks tied. Under the grate, I cut out the bricks with a grinder so that it would lie in the grooves, as it were. The grate must lie freely under its own weight with a gap of 5 mm from the bricks, otherwise it will expand from heating and begin to destroy the masonry. Some people advise to fill these free gaps with sand, but I did not - they themselves will fill with ash.

All kinds of doors (furnace, blower, cleaning) are installed so that there is a gap of 5 mm between them and the bricks, otherwise they will destroy the masonry when heated. The doors are fastened either to wire or to tape. They are attached to the wire like this: four pieces of wire are tied to the door (there are special holes in the doors), and then these mustaches are embedded in the masonry. Places for embedding (seams) must be pre-cleaned. If the door wobbles a little after the mortar to be laid has dried, then bend the wire with pliers - as if pulling it. In this way, I fixed the blower door. I did not like this method - the door is not very securely mounted in the masonry.

But the fire door, as a more responsible one, I fastened with a metal tape. I riveted two strips to the door with rivets, which I made from cut nails, and walled up this whole structure in the masonry. It turned out perfect. Therefore, I almost forgot about the basalt sealant, which is placed between the metal of the doors and the bricks. You can immediately close it up, and then you can fill it in a 5 mm gap.

The cooking deck was also installed with side gaps from bricks of 5 mm. It lies with me just under its own weight, but along the perimeter under it there is a basalt sealant in two layers. So that the cooking floor was flush with the plane of the stove, I cut out grooves in the bricks with a grinder along the perimeter of the stove.

This time, he did not repair the valve on the pipe and the cleaning doors for soot - he postponed this business until spring. But the general approach is the same.

Ideally, if the oven dries up by itself. This is long enough: it can take a month or two. Drying times will depend on the scale of the repairs performed. Another drying option is with gentle heating. In this case, it is important not to overdo it, otherwise the seams will crack. And it worked out for me: the upper two rows of the stove, newly laid out, cracked at the seams, because I hurried and went out ahead of time (5-7 days) to the normal mode of the furnace.

In my case, this is not critical: in the spring I will move the heels of the bricks again, and in some places I will simply rub the cracks. But nevertheless, it is still unpleasant. And one more thing: the criterion that the stove is dry is that there is no condensation (water droplets) on the cleaning doors and on the valves.

A brick oven can serve for several decades if you regularly engage in preventive maintenance and promptly eliminate damage and breakdowns. Depending on the complexity of the work, it is customary to subdivide furnace repairs into current, average and major. Minor problems are easy to fix in a few hours, while major problems can take days. To save on stove-maker services and extend the life of the stove, it is recommended to make repairs already in the first years of operation.

Professionals strongly recommend that you carefully examine the state of the hearth before the start of each heating season. Timely repair of stoves and fireplaces prevents accidents and fires.

Any owner, even if he does not have building skills, can perform minor repairs to a stove in a country house or in a residential building.

1. The scuffs that appear on the pre-heating sheet make cleaning difficult and can cause a fire. The leaking metal must be removed, the floor covering must be protected with an asbestos sheet and roofing steel of the required size must be nailed on top.
2. To replace the grate, you need to remove the old part from the oven and clean the area of ​​soot. The new grille must be exactly the same size as the broken one. It is laid in place without mortar, similar to the old grates.
3. The chimney should be inspected twice a year for foreign objects and debris. It is recommended to use special chemicals to clean the canals from soot.

Leaky seams spoil the appearance of the brickwork and let harmful gases into the room.To detect weak areas, it is recommended to heat the stove - this will make large cracks visible. To eliminate the problem, it is necessary to clear the seams by 2-3 cm, having previously soaked with water. Next, the walls are washed well with clean water using a brush.

The resulting depressions are filled with new clay mortar, carefully compacting the mixture and rubbing the voids. To increase the resistance of the mortar to cracking, you can add a little table salt to the clay - 300–350 grams per bucket of mortar. It is recommended to seal wide gaps with a fire-resistant cord. If necessary, the walls are plastered and whitewashed or tiled.

The gaps formed between the doors and the masonry due to mechanical stress and thermal expansion also begin to let dangerous gases into the room. Do-it-yourself oven repair in this case begins with cleaning the surface and removing the old solution. The cleaned area is washed and primed with heat-resistant glue diluted in the same volume of water.

A sealing asbestos or ceramic cord is attached around the perimeter of the door - it protects the clay from cracking, compensating for the differences in thermal expansion of materials. In order not to buy a fake instead of a fire-resistant cord, experienced stove-makers recommend setting fire to the purchase without leaving the checkout. Next, the area around the door is rubbed with repair mortar and left to dry for at least a day.

Similarly, the gaps that appear between the hob and the walls are eliminated. To remove the stove, heat the stove a little, then pry the cast iron with a hard metal object, such as an ax. Instead of a cord in this case, you can use basalt wool or felt. If possible, the old stove can be replaced with a more modern one.

Medium-level malfunctions will also not be difficult to eliminate without the involvement of experts. This approach will help save money on the services of a stove-maker.

Over time, the refractory brick from which the firebox is made collapses and requires attention. Do-it-yourself repair of the furnace firebox is carried out through the furnace door. In the case of minor damage, the destroyed areas are restored using clay mortar or factory-made masonry refractory mixture. If several bricks are damaged, a partial replacement can be dispensed with. To do this, soak and clean the solution in the right place and remove the damaged element. New bricks are carefully inserted into the voids and carefully covered over. It is advisable to take the same composition that was used during construction.

It is not always possible to completely replace the lining through the combustion hole; in some cases it is necessary to disassemble the wall. If the top of the stove is covered by a hob, it is easier to get to the top of the combustion chamber. The new lining is made of fireclay bricks, not forgetting that the refractory material should not be tied up with the one from which the furnace body is folded. In large ovens, bricks are laid flat, in small and medium-sized ones - on the edge.

A new cast-iron door must have the same parameters as a broken one. In order not to be mistaken, you must measure the width and length of the product before purchasing. The old door is dismantled together with the frame, clearing the masonry as much as possible in the right places. So that the masonry mortar can be easily and quickly removed, it is soaked with water. Just in case, you need to stock up on a few bricks - they will be needed if unforeseen destruction occurs during dismantling or unusable bricks are found. Steel legs are attached to the new cast-iron door and set so that the strips are in the masonry seams. An asbestos or ceramic cord must be placed between the masonry and the frame. The gaps are filled with a solution, carefully eliminating all the cracks.

Major renovations are rarely complete without replacing damaged bricks. Most often, the problem occurs above the fire door.The damaged elements are carefully removed from the structure, after soaking the solution, and the resulting "window" is cleaned from the remnants of clay. The new brick is immersed in water for a few minutes and placed on a refractory mortar, after which possible gaps are filled and the seams are rubbed. When repairing a sauna stove, it is recommended to seal large gaps with a mortar with the addition of brick chips made from refractory bricks. The repair of the Russian stove in many cases consists in the restoration of a destroyed or sagging vault. As a rule, to eliminate the destruction, it is required to make a new circle and move the brick in this area. The second vulnerable spot of the Russian stove is underneath, here the burnt-out bricks can be easily removed and replaced with new ones.

For those who do not feel the strength to repair a brick oven with their own hands, we do not recommend taking up work. In this case, as well as if a complex chimney repair is necessary, it is better to immediately seek professional help from experienced stove-makers.

Describe your question in as much detail as possible and our expert will answer it

A well-built stove in a country house or in a country house can serve for decades, warming up with its warmth, if preventive examinations are carried out in a timely manner, eliminating emerging problems and not postponing their solution until later.

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

This is what the old stove looks like after repair - the brickwork and hob, top and bottom doors have been replaced

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

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, the stove must be heated most of the year, especially if it is used 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;
• base and walls;
• furnaces, including the reliability of the lower and upper doors, grate, ash pan;
• cooking stove;
• chimney;
• stove damper used to adjust the draft in the stove and in the chimney;
• condition of masonry and masonry seams.

We advise you to read an article about choosing a brick for laying a stove and add the article to your bookmarks.

Video: DIY brick oven repair

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

The correct design and operation of the chimney is the cornerstone of the safe operation of the stove. The chimney must be free from accumulations of soot, debris, pieces of crumbling clay and bricks, and foreign random objects - this is necessary for the free passage of waste air streams containing smoke and other combustion products.

Installation diagram of a stove with a chimney passing through the floor slabs and the roof, with a thermal insulation device

Important: It is recommended to clean the chimney channels at least 2 times a year.

Special tools are used for cleaning:

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

All these chimney cleaning products require some skill, so it is better to entrust such a responsible job to professionals.

Chimney cleaning using a special tool - brushes with a telescopic extension

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

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

If, during the inspection of the chimney, internal and external cracks, chips, cracking, etc. are found, repair of the chimney channels will be required, which is significantly complicated due to the considerable length and small cross-section of the chimney.

Repair and strengthening of the chimney with external lining with artificial stone

Depending on the volume of destruction, it may be necessary to:

• In the dismantling of the chimney with the subsequent restoration of brickwork (with the destruction of more than 20%).
• In partial replacement - damaged knocked-out bricks are removed, in a previously cleaned place, new ones are placed on the mortar (in the proportion: 1 part of cement, 0.5 part of lime, 2.5 parts of sand). For greater strength, additional lining of the chimney can be made (Fig. 4).
• In the installation of sleeves in the smoke ducts. 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 chips, which greatly facilitates the operation of the chimney.
• Internal lining - performed if cracks appear on the surface of the chimney walls.

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

• Damage to joints and cracks in masonry, which are better visible if the oven is preheated. As a result of disturbed masonry and large cracks, the penetration of flue gases into the room is possible - it will be necessary to seal the cracks (Fig. 5).

Repair of brickwork with preliminary cleaning and subsequent filling of the joints with cement mortar

• To restore the normal functioning of the furnace, the seams are pre-soaked with water, cleaned to a depth of 2-3 cm and additionally moistened, after which they should be tightly filled with clay mortar. It is recommended to add table salt to the clay mortar (0.5 kg per bucket of mortar) - this will prevent the joints from cracking. Strengthening the frame of the brickwork can be done by covering 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 placing an asbestos sheet under it.
• Loosening and loosening of the frame of the firebox door and the blower door, gaps between the hob and the brickwork of the stove, resulting from thermal and mechanical effects. Stove repairs will also be needed here in the places of their contact with the brickwork, which must be cleared by removing the old mortar. After rinsing, heat-resistant glue is applied to the cleaned areas, diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1. An asbestos or ceramic cord must be placed between the brickwork and the frame, the gaps must be completely filled with mortar (Fig. 6).

Installation and strengthening of oven doors using ceramic cord and cement mortar

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

Removing the old hob after preheating the oven

Due to regular temperature fluctuations of large amplitude, the operation of the furnace sooner or later fails. Any owner can repair a brick oven with his own hands, having initial technical knowledge and skillful hands.

The main thing is to do it in a timely manner, then you will avoid troubles and fires.

Usually renovation work are divided into three types:

1. elimination of minor problems
2. medium troubleshooting
3. elimination of serious defects (overhaul).

We advise you to remember that regular inspection of the oven before the heating season and maintenance is a way to prevent possible serious damage to the structure in the future.

What minor problems can you face when operating the oven and how to fix them?

This problem can occur due to the following reasons:

• the stove was not used for a long time, and cold air accumulated inside the chimney;
• there is no air flow to support combustion;
• exposure to strong winds from the street;
• soot clogged the smoke ducts.

Solution: we ignite the stove not with paper, but with a piece of rubber or dry fuel.

Attention! The use of kerosene or other flammable liquids is prohibited.

In case of a blocked chimney, you need to carry out the following activities:

• light the stove;
• pour coarse salt (about a handful) into the firebox;
• close the damper immediately;
• soot will fly out in chunks into the chimney.

If this method does not help, then it is necessary clean the pipe with your own handsby opening a special door, or taking out knocked out bricks. Experienced kiln craftsmen will always leave doors or knocked out bricks for cleaning.

To determine, where are these bricks located, do this:

• make an external inspection of the oven; especially in places of passage of smoke channels;
• the knock-out brick is usually displaced slightly outward, in contrast to the main masonry;
• clean the old mortar and take out the brick. This will make the smoke channel accessible and you can clean it;
• then replace the knock-out brick and coat it with clay mortar.

as a result of which the stove began to smoke.

In addition, its appearance is spoiled.

Heat the stove and you will notice cracks that need to be covered by hand.

Sequencing:

• soak the seams, and then clean them 2 - 3 cm;
• rinse the walls with a brush using clean water;
• prepare a solution by mixing clay, sand, asbestos fiber and salt (at the rate of 100 grams per 3 liters of the mixture); an indicator of a quality solution is an average viscosity. You can purchase a ready-made solution at a hardware store;
• fill the seams with a clay mixture, compact it, wiping out all the voids;
• if necessary, plaster the walls, whitewash or tile.

It is required to replace it with a new one.

Sequencing:

• clean clay and dust from the place where the old brick lay;
• moisten the place with water and put a clay cake on it;
• wet a new brick, coat its top and sides with a clay mixture (we prepare it first in the same way as for covering the cracks);
• lay it in place of the damaged old brick.

Sometimes, in case of moderate damage to the furnace, it is impossible to do without self-repair and strengthening of some parts.

Mechanical stress and temperature fluctuations can lead to the formation of gaps around the door of the firebox or hob. As a result, hazardous gases escape.

These places need to be compacted.

Sequencing:

• clean the surface, remove the old solution;
• rinse and prime it with heat-resistant glue diluted with the same volume of liquid;
• attach an asbestos or ceramic cord around the door or hob to prevent cracking of the clay.
• rub the necessary areas with the repair mixture;
• dry for at least a day.

Advice: to check if the fire-resistant cord is tampered with, set it on fire right at the checkout counter.

You can eliminate the cracks around the hob using the same algorithm. Heat the oven before removing the stove. Then pry off the metal with an ax. It is permissible to replace the asbestos cord with basalt wool or felt. If the old stove is completely leaking, replace it with a new one.

It becomes necessary if cracks and cracks are located around the entire perimeter of the oven... In this case, it is best to shift the masonry, but if you do not have enough time, you can resort to screeding the frame with a metal wire.

Sequencing:

• we chase special channels with a depth of 15 to 20 millimeters in the oven strictly horizontally;
• we lay the wire in the grooves so that it provides the frame screed;
• we stretch the wire by twisting it with a beard or a thick nail so that it does not break;
• plaster the stove.

When replacing the grate, keep in mind that there must be a gap between the brickwork and the grate. It must be covered with sand. The new grill must be exactly the same size as the old one.

This manipulation should be performed only when the sheets are punctured or rusty. Sequencing:

• removing the old sheet;
• excavation of nails;
• laying a piece of felt that has been previously soaked in clay solution;
• nailing a new sheet.

Sometimes the damage to a brick oven is so serious that it is necessary to restore its full performance, replace or improve the broken parts.

Lining is nothing more than protection of the furnace surface from various mechanical and thermal damage. In our case, this is the use of fireclay bricks.

If the firebox lining is damaged, it must be replaced.

Important! For old and new masonry, use a homogeneous brick so that the coefficient of thermal expansion does not change.

Simple work can be done through the firebox door. To do this, it is enough to restore the damaged areas with an earthen solution or a factory-made refractory mixture.

Partial replacement of bricks is performed in the following sequence:

• prepare the mortar that was used during construction;
• soak and clean up the old solution in the required area;
• remove the item that has been damaged;
• insert a new brick into an empty space and cover it well.

For these manipulations, a ready-made refractory solution can also be used - Chamotte mortar, which consists of chamotte and refractory clay. Then the seams of the furnace will be able to withstand more than 1700 degrees.

Complete replacement of the lining is carried out only after dismantling the wall. The main masonry must not be touched.

Sequencing:

• disassemble the wall from the hearth to the ash hole; do not touch the stove ribs;
• remove the remnants of rubble;
• lay out a new fireclay brick lining so that it is not tied up with the material of the stove body. Observe the thickness of the seam - no more than two millimeters.
• if the stove is large, lay the brick flat. If small or medium - on the edge.

This may require plastering of the masonry, or even brute force in the event of destruction.

The main method is to lay out the walls of the firebox with fireclay bricks using refractory mortar. Install slopes on the sides of the firebox. On them, hot coals will fall down during the heating process and close the grates.

It is important to use only high quality bricks.

It is better to prepare tools for repairs in advance.

You will need:

• brick;
• double-sided hammer;
• Master OK;
• plumb line;
• level;
• roulette;
• bucket for solution preparation.

Not all the subtleties of repair can be described in words, the video will show this clearly.