Mortar for laying brick oven: components, proportions, cooking

It is right to prepare a brick masonry mortar - this is one of the most important conditions for the successful construction of this structure. Many people often do not pay enough attention to this moment, as a result of which their furnace is not for long, and sometimes it can not function at all. That is why in this article we will consider in detail how the mortar for masonry brick is properly made and what needs to be taken into account in order for the stove to be really reliable and durable.

What will it be?

In the process of laying ovens, it is required basically about three buckets of mortar for every one hundred bricks. In the majority of cases, the mortar for laying the brick oven has a uniform composition, and at the same time it must withstand a temperature of more than 1000 ° C, without deforming. Professional specialists who for a long time work in this field, the quality of clay for the mortar being produced is determined without any difficulty by touch, and the masonry is carried out with a joint thickness of about 4 mm. If you make thicker joints, the mortar for laying the brick oven will not be able to withstand high temperatures and will crumble, which will lead to cracks that impair traction and increase fuel consumption. Among other things, one can not help saying that such problems ultimately lead to the danger of the release of carbon monoxide into the living quarters, which can provoke extremely unpleasant consequences.

What do you need to consider?

One of the most important rules of the baker is the following: the less clay used in the masonry process, the higher its quality will be. At the same time, it should be noted that clay itself is a noble building material, since even those people who do not engage in such things professionally and in principle do not have any relevant skills can work with it. In the event that the masonry is carried out on a solution of cement, then in this case it will be impossible to disassemble it without serious losses, since it is not difficult yet to prepare mortar for brick laying to a non-professional person, but it is much more difficult to build everything correctly. The clay solution allows, if necessary, without difficulty to disassemble the furnace without any waste. In the process of repair work, both brick and other building material, for which the clay mortar is used, is always preserved.

Do you need supplements?

There is an opinion that it is possible to increase the strength of the solution used, if you use specialized additives, but in fact, do not forget that literally 100 years ago no such additives were used, but the furnaces that were based on clay mortar served faithfully and truthfully People for a hundred and more years, since it is far from being a difficult task to prepare a mortar for laying bricks from clay, even if it is necessary to do everything as correctly and efficiently as possible. In the event that you were able to properly prepare all the components, you do not need any additives to make a clay solution, and various recommendations in this case are a simple insurance.

What should it be?

To build a really reliable brick oven, you need to use extremely plastic, but at the same time a "fatty" solution. In the event that seriously overdo it with the "fat content" of this solution, after the final drying it will decrease sufficiently in volume or may crack at all. At the same time, "lean" solution does not allow achieving the required strength, as a result of which the structure itself will be unreliable.

Clays for making this solution differ in plasticity and fat content, it should be noted that there are such deposits of clay, from which a solution of normal fat content is made even in the absence of sand. It is often necessary to mix simultaneously two or even three types of clay, which are taken from different places, but in this case a fairly strict dosage is observed.

How does mixing work?

Initially, the mixing of brick mortar is carried out in dry form, but then the resulting mixture is closed by water. In the event that the clay is more oily than planned, sand is added to the solution in quantities of half to five parts, depending on the volume. The most common ratio of sand and clay in the already prepared solution is a ratio of 1: 1 or 2: 1. Water is added about a fourth of the total volume of clay.

You should remember that for processing fatty clay you need to use more sand, and it itself must be fine-grained, with complete absence of any foreign impurities. Initially, the sand is sifted carefully through a frequent sieve, and from very thin clay it is necessary to remove all excess sand.

How to check the quality?

There are quite a lot of ways of how to check the quality of clay. As mentioned above, in most cases, professional specialists are able to determine the quality by simply touching clay mortar for masonry after cooking.

For people who do not specialize in this area, the simplest way is to mold the ball from the solution and throw it on the floor. In the event that the ball completely disintegrated, this indicates that there is too much sand in the prepared solution, which is also indicated by the formation of a large number of cracks. When normal or excessive fat content of the resulting solution in the ball should not remain any cracks.

There are also three other ways to determine the quality of the mortar.

First

Approximately 0.5 liters of clay is taken, after which a small amount of water is added to it and carefully kneaded by hand until the water has completely entered it, and it itself will not stick to the hands. After preparing a steep dough, a ball is rolled, the diameter of which is 40 to 50 mm, and the same ball is then used to make a cake, the diameter of which is 100 mm. In normal conditions, this product is dried for two to three days.

Further, if cakes have formed any cracks during this period of time, this indicates that the clay is too greasy, and it will be necessary to add sand to it. Again, if the cracks are completely absent, and even after falling from a height of one meter the ball does not crumble, the clay is suitable for making a really high-quality solution of clay and sand.

Skinny clay, too, will not crack, but you should understand that it is fragile, so you need to add a large amount of fatty clay to it, and as a result, you can get a large consumption of the solution for 1 M3 of masonry. The clay itself or sand is added for several visits, after each of which a repeated quality check of the manufactured solution is carried out.

Second

The clay is placed in a dish and filled with water, after which the resulting consistency is kneaded into knots and mixed with a gum. In the event that the clay strongly adheres to the vesicle or even completely envelops it, this indicates the excessive fat content of the resulting solution, as a result of which it will be necessary to add a certain amount of sand. If, after mixing, only single clots remain on the vat, then the clay is normal, and a stove mortar can be prepared from it for laying even in the absence of sand. On a too thin layer, a thin clay is determined, and in this case, in order to ensure the normal characteristics and consumption of the mortar on the masonry, it will be necessary to add a certain amount of fatty clay to it.

The third

This method is the most accurate and allows you to determine the optimum quality of clay, necessary for making bricks. Approximately 0.5 liters of clay is kneaded to the state of density of the steep dough, after which it is thoroughly kneaded by the hands in exactly the same way as in the first method. Then a ball is rolled from this test, which is placed between two planed boards, and the upper one is gently pushed, gradually squeezing the resulting ball. The compression is repeated until the cracks appear on the ball. The degree of fat content in this case is determined depending on how much the ball is flattened, and also what character the formed cracks will have.

If the ball was made of a fairly thin clay, then in this case, even with a primary click on it, it will completely fall into pieces. A ball of a greasy clay will give a crack approximately when compressed by a quarter or a fifth. If the ball shrinks by a third of the diameter, and then gives a crack, this indicates that the clay is normal and does not require any additives. Oily clay can be flattened to half of its original thickness.

Alternative option

From the same test as the ball, hands can be rolled out flagella, the thickness of which is 10-15 mm, and the length - up to 200 mm. Flagellum bends in the form of a ring around the rolling pin or stretch.

In the event that the flagellum is stretched smoothly, clay is oily, and sand should be added to the mortar solution. When using normal clay, the flagellum will also be stretched smoothly and will break only if its thickness directly at the point of rupture is about 15-20% smaller than the initial thickness of the flagellum, and small cracks appear when bending. Of lean clay, the flagellum is practically not stretched, it gives a rather uneven rupture, and when bending, a large number of ruptures and cracks appear.

What do you need to consider?

Carrying out the ball crushing test several times allows us to determine the normal clay, which will ideally be suitable for the production of raw bricks, as well as for mortar for masonry furnaces.

Quite often during the test, it will be necessary to mix several types of clay at the same time in order to make the ideal mortar solution, the proportions of which will correspond to the requested requirements. It will also be necessary to add or remove sand if necessary. Only in this way you can choose the most optimal ratio of materials and make a really high-quality solution.

Are deviations acceptable?

Even if there is an error, it is best to err on the side of fatness, since for the operation of the furnace this is practically imperceptible. In the event that there is too much sand in the solution, this can significantly affect the overall strength of the masonry. If the solution is too greasy, the plaster can give serious cracks, but you can eliminate them using a grout with a lot of sand and whitewash in several approaches.

After the final choice, you just have to prepare the correct solution.

How to prepare a solution?

Initially, the clay is soaked in a large box or trough, and then in rubber boots it tramples on until all clay lumps are crushed. It is worth noting that you can break them using a special rammer. After these procedures, you will need to thoroughly probe the solution with your hands to completely chop the pieces of clay. In the event that the mortar was mixed correctly, and thus the clay with sand are in the most optimal proportion, it will slip well from the trowel or steel shovel, that is, it will not adhere to them reliably.

If you apply an even layer of such a mortar on the brick, then put the second one on it and strike it, then after five minutes raise the top one, then with the optimal quality of the solution the lower one should not tear off. Also, when lowering the stick into a normal solution (for example, it can be a shovel spade), there should be a slight trace on it.