If you are moving into a new house and you want to build a fireplace in your living room you should know a thing or two about fire bricks and fire cement. Things like what bricks and cement, are used, how to work with them and what kind of fire bricks and fire cement you need are important for the success of your project. . Like any other construction material, these are divided in many categories, based on the manufacturing company, on their resistance and on their lifespan. If you want to make a decision as to which materials you should acquire, you can start by consulting this short guide on how to handle the materials used in the construction of your fire place.
Fire bricks are usually found in rectangular shape and are used for building ovens, furnace, pits and all kinds of places where an open fire is used. What makes fire bricks more resistant than any other bricks is the manufacturing process involved. These bricks are backed in clay and then they are heated at a very high temperature which confers the heat resistant property you need in your fireplace. To add even more resistance, some of the bricks contain amounts of silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide. There are many other materials used in the composition of these bricks, and you should choose the ones that cater to your needs and are within your price range. . If you don’t know anything about building a fireplace for your home, then you will need to ask for the advice of a specialist. He will assist you every step of the way and recommend suitable fire bricks for your project.
After you made a decision about the bricks you will use in the construction of your fireplace, you will need a material to hold those bricks together. The first one you will think of is cement, because it’s the classic material used to hold bricks together, and you are right. But you need a special kind of cement, called fire cement. The fire cement is different from the regular cement because of its heat resisting properties. If you use regular cement instead of fire cement in the construction of your fireplace, this will be damaged because of the heat caused by the open flame. Depending on what combustible you intend to use you will need different kinds of cement, a regular one for the fireplaces where you are going to burn wood and a highly resistant one for the fireplaces which will use coal.
These two materials are the base of your fireplace. Besides fire cement and bricks you will also need decorative materials, but these have to be heat resistant too. For a nice fireplace design you must use decorative elements made of clay bricks, because these will withstand high temperatures. For more information and advice on what you need you should , always choose to collaborate with a contractor.
There are many varieties when it comes to fire bricks and fire cement, but if you pay a little bit of attention and you choose wisely, you will create the perfect combination for your fireplace.