Hi, I am enlarging a fireplace. It's not going to be an inglenook or have a canopy; it will have the same basic design that you get from using a pre-made fireback and throat-forming lintel, but will be about 24" wide and 12" deep.
The throat-forming lintel will be the same shape as this commercially-available one:
...but I will be making it for myself, in timber formwork, because you can only buy them in widths of 16" and 18". My question is: should I use mouldable firebrick, or should I mix up my own stuff using refractory cement? (Both are easily available, e.g. made by Vitcas.)
I haven't worked with either of these before. The mouldable stuff sounds very tough; I've read advice about banging it with a hammer to get it into the shape you want. So can it realistically be shaped inside formwork, as if it were ordinary concrete? As for the refractory cement, I've only read about people using it e.g. to coat their breadmaking ovens, presumably smoothing it with a trowel, which is a bit different from what I want to do.
In short, what I am thinking of is making a standard-type throat-forming lintel (see photo above), but a bit wider than usual, getting it out of the form and putting it on top of the fireback in the normal way.
I'd be grateful for some advice!
Thanks in advance!
Harry
The throat-forming lintel will be the same shape as this commercially-available one:
...but I will be making it for myself, in timber formwork, because you can only buy them in widths of 16" and 18". My question is: should I use mouldable firebrick, or should I mix up my own stuff using refractory cement? (Both are easily available, e.g. made by Vitcas.)
I haven't worked with either of these before. The mouldable stuff sounds very tough; I've read advice about banging it with a hammer to get it into the shape you want. So can it realistically be shaped inside formwork, as if it were ordinary concrete? As for the refractory cement, I've only read about people using it e.g. to coat their breadmaking ovens, presumably smoothing it with a trowel, which is a bit different from what I want to do.
In short, what I am thinking of is making a standard-type throat-forming lintel (see photo above), but a bit wider than usual, getting it out of the form and putting it on top of the fireback in the normal way.
I'd be grateful for some advice!
Thanks in advance!
Harry
