Fire is the most beautiful and dangerous element, since ancient times it evokes special feelings in a person - it brings a feeling of security, heats and creates comfort, helps to cook food, and ultimately it simply pleases the eye. But, building your house or land with structures where open fire will be used, remember that fire has tremendous destructive power, you need to handle it carefully. Most often, stoves or fireplaces are built in private country houses, but if there is no place for it in a small building, they resort to arranging a street fireplace.

Content:

1. Types of Outdoor Fireplaces  video video
2. How to choose the best location for the outdoor fireplace 
3. We comply with fire safety regulations
4. Design features 
5. What construction tools will be required 
6. We stock construction materials
7. We make a project
8. The order of construction work  video  video
9. Finishing work 
10. Landscaping near the fireplace

Types of Outdoor Fireplaces

Outdoor fireplace - a great opportunity to create an original recreation area on the site. Depending on the availability of free space in the territory and the general style of the design of the site, the role that will be assigned to the construction, you can use different types of fireplaces.

If the hearth will be used exclusively for decorating the territory, creating a special cozy atmosphere on it, it is best to use the option of a classic indoor fireplace. It will have a similar architectural solution, the only thing that needs to be taken into account is that atmospheric precipitation will affect the outdoor wood fireplace. Materials for the manufacture of the hearth should be selected as refractory, brickwork is usually used as the base, sometimes they resort to the use of frame structures - gabions.

The outdoor hearth can be built into the retaining wall, it can also be located separately from any structures. Shrubs or decorative trees located behind it will be an excellent background. Projects of outdoor fireplaces must necessarily include the presence of a high-quality chimney. You can build such a fireplace with your own hands, but you can resort to buying a ready fireplace.

An open construction fireplace, which is a round metal sheet, will look no less attractive. Outdoor outdoor fireplaces are usually equipped with barbecue and grill.

The location of the open fireplace can be different - it can be deepened into the ground, or raised above it. To create a hearth, you can use a bed of gravel, sand or stones.

Mobile fireplaces have an interesting and neat appearance, they are practical, have a compact shape, style of execution and height. Such models are attracted by the ability to easily change location, their configuration may include built-in shelves. Purchased or made with your own hands, such a hearth will be an excellent solution for a summer cottage area of \u200b\u200ba small size, any utility room can be used for storage.

Of particular utilitarian importance are outdoor grill fireplaces; they allow you to cook original vegetable and meat dishes. Craftsmen integrate an additional element - a barbecue into the general design of such a fireplace. To such a fireplace you need to build a canopy, it is better to place it on a site with a hard surface.

How to choose the best location for the outdoor fireplace

To use the outdoor fireplace brought only positive emotions and was comfortable, you will need to correctly determine the place for its construction. Often the best option for the location of the hearth is the place near the gazebo or the patio area - the heat from the fire will heat the people who are there. Given the most frequent direction of the winds, you should arrange the fireplace so that the smoke from it is not carried away by the wind to neighboring areas - this will help to avoid incidents with neighbors. A suitable place may be an open veranda, terrace, conservatory. The place heated by the fireplace can be used for a comfortable stay.

We comply with fire safety regulations

Although there are no strict regulations on where to locate the hearth with open fire, it is not recommended to neglect fire safety rules. Fireplaces should not be placed near buildings made of fire hazardous materials or trees. Also, one should not choose a place near neighboring buildings or a fence - the wind can accidentally carry sparks towards flammable structures.

Features of the design of the outdoor hearth

The design of the outdoor garden fireplace is very similar to that which is characteristic of the inside house, it includes such elements:

• the foundation which ensures the strength of the structure, its subsidence as a result of soil moisture, saving the frame geometry and prevents the appearance of cracks;

• a firebox designed for burning wood;

• case with decorative trim;

• chimney flue.

Often, drawings of street fireplaces are performed with the addition of optional, but useful fragments, such as seating. It’s also nice to place a firewood near the fireplace, it will help to make the operation process more convenient and will add great attractiveness to the constructed facility.

What construction tools will be required

A set of tools for the construction of the hearth is not much different from the traditional one that will be required when building a house:

• different types of shovels: for digging trenches under the foundation and for mixing the solution,
• level, with its help it will be possible to observe the geometry of the parameters of the structure, eliminate distortions and surface irregularities,
• solution trowel,
• measuring tape
• sieve for sifting sand.

We stock construction materials

The main one will be a brick, the frame of the structure, a chimney will be erected from it. For work, it will require different types of bricks: fireclay - refractory, for the construction of a furnace and chimney, for the body - burnt clay. In order for the hearth to serve for a long time it is better to buy high-quality brick of the first or second grade. If you can’t get fireclay brick, you will need a steel sheet with a thickness of at least 1.5 mm.

Also, boards for formwork and scaffolding will be required, you can stop the choice on low-quality material. As a mortar for masonry, high-quality clay that does not include impurities should be used. It is clay that has a coefficient of thermal expansion similar to brick, this will avoid the appearance of cracks in the masonry when heated to high temperatures.

For finishing work and laying the foundation, it will be possible to use cement, better than grade 500. To save mortar when laying the foundation, you can use natural stones.

We make a project

Before you create a street fireplace with your own hands, you will need to make a project. If there is sufficient training, then you can develop it yourself. For the construction of the furnace and chimney, you can use durable and inexpensive materials, and for decoration you can use the most diverse, at your discretion: gypsum, tiles, artificial or natural stone, or combine these materials. Invented independently option will give the suburban area a unique, attractive design.

The order of construction work

The construction of a fireplace with your own hands will require compliance with the sequence of work. Let's consider in more detail each of the stages. First, mark the place and dig a pit. Its depth can be from 15 to 30 cm, depending on the characteristics of the soil on the site. To do this, remove the soil layer, install the formwork. Then, within the marked base, small stones are laid, poured with prepared concrete mortar. Depending on which brands of cement the concrete hardening period is used, it can be from 24 to 48 hours.

After making sure that the concrete foundation is frozen, you can begin to brick work. In this case, it is imperative to observe the horizontal laying of each row of pores to the level. To lay the space inside the firebox, use fireclay bricks. Compliance with the rules of the masonry and high-quality mortar will ensure the reliability of the design.

The solution for laying ceramic bricks is traditionally used clay, its structure is uniform in composition with brick. The proportions of the components included in the solution depend on whether it will be used for masonry or for finishing work. As a binder, you can use not one but two components: clay and cement. This option will provide greater masonry strength. During manufacture, one should not allow an excess of the binder component in the mixture - if an excess of filler gives the mixture rigidity during solidification, then the increased clay content reduces the strength properties. But replacing it in solution with lime or cement is not fully recommended.

143. Determination of the plasticity (fat content) of the solution by paddle; and low ductility (lean solution); b medium ductility (normal); high ductility (bold);

144. Determination of the plasticity of a clay solution by the ball method: a ball from a solution of low plasticity (compression 1/51/4 of the diameter). b ball from a highly plastic solution (compression 1/2 diameter);

145. Determination of the plasticity of a clay mortar using the flagellum method (stretching on the left, bending around the rolling pin on the right)

The prepared solution should be viscous and ductile, but should not crumble or be liquid. The thickness of the joints for furnace masonry should not exceed 3-4 mm. The proportions of the components depend on the quality of the clay: if it is oily, then 2 parts of sand is taken for 1 part of clay, if lean - the amount of sand is reduced. If the sand is fine and the clay is of good quality, the proportion may change 1: 1.

Additives to the solution are made as desired, it can be salt - up to 150 g per 10 kg of clay and cement grade 400 - up to 1 kg. To lay 100 bricks, you will need to prepare a solution of 2 buckets of clay and 2 buckets of sand. The amount of water may be a quarter of the clay volume. When the optimum consistency is reached, the mixture being mixed will slowly slide off the shovel.

For laying the chimney, it is recommended to use a solution based on lime dough: 3 parts of sand are taken for 1 part of the lime dough. To prepare the lime dough itself you will need to mix 1 part quicklime and 3 parts water. Work should be done very carefully - contact with quicklime can cause burns to the skin and mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. You can buy finished dough in specialized construction stores. To increase the strength of the lime mortar, cement is added to it: 8 parts of sand and 1 part of cement are added to 2 parts of the lime dough. Such a solution is characterized by high moisture resistance.

For the construction of the foundation of the fireplace, concrete and heat-resistant concrete mixtures are used. For their preparation, in addition to crushed stone, cement and sand, chamotte sand is also used, which gives the mixture heat-resistant characteristics.

The masonry technique for the construction of an outdoor barbecue fireplace or an ordinary one should be used beautiful - because the fireplace will serve not only for utilitarian purposes - it will serve as a decoration of the site. After completing the masonry, all air bubbles should be removed from the solution; The furnace is left to dry for 48 hours.

Next, a chimney is installed in finished form or the chimney is laid out of brick in accordance with the project. It is imperative to comply with construction standards - only this can guarantee a high-quality exhaust of smoke from the furnace. Be sure to install a shelf that reduces the force of reverse traction.

The next step is fixing the mantelpiece, which is the open part of the furnace. Install the stove is required by all the rules, because she is a very important fragment of the fireplace. Specialists recommend applying the solution to the surface on which the plate will be installed with strips, the distance between them should be 2 cm, the thickness of the strips of the solution should also be 2 cm. Lay the plate according to the level, use a hammer with a rubberized striker when laying. The stove should fit evenly without protruding above the firebox.

To give the fireplace an attractive appearance, an arched design is often added to the project. It complicates the construction process somewhat. Build arches using templates.

First knock down a wooden guard of the appropriate size. A semicircle is cut out in it, a plastic, tin or metal strip is attached from the end. The template is lifted, wedges are placed under it, an arch is erected. Particular attention is paid to the tight fixation of the last brick - it is used as a wedge. Upon completion of the erection of the arch, the wedges are removed, the template is dismantled. A properly folded structure will not collapse.

Finishing work

Having chosen the style of decoration and preparing the facing material, you can begin to ennoble our building. If stone is chosen as the facing material, then a distance of 5 mm should be left between the fragments. The stone should not be fixed at the joints of surfaces with an angle of 90: the first stone of the fireplace is fixed at an angle, the second is fixed with a protrusion of 3 cm, so that their edges meet. It will take no less than 24 to solidify the solution after lining. After the construction of the outbreak, you cannot immediately begin to use it - it should stand for several days and dry well. Material for facing is recommended to choose dolomite or basalt. On surfaces where temperatures can reach over +80 degrees, rubble granite is undesirable.

Arrangement of the territory near the outbreak

To make the area near the fireplace comfortable to use and attractive in appearance, you will need to work on its design. For example, if the outdoor barbecue fireplace is equipped with firewood, then the areas above them can be finished with tiles. They can be used as working cutting tables, or decorated with vases, beautiful crafts.

The cap of the structure is often conical, it looks quite attractive. It will also be useful after a few weeks after the completion of construction to coat the surface of the barbecue with a special varnish. The area around the hearth is laid with paving tiles.

The street center constructed according to the original design will decorate a suburban area for many years and fulfill its utilitarian functions.

Author: Sergey and Svetlana Khuentsov

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