How to tile a brick oven. Residential Stove Tile - Proper Cladding

Facing the stove with tiles or ceramic tiles is not only an aesthetic effect. Their smooth surface is less susceptible to dirt, it is easier to wash it, and it becomes water-repellent. Finishing increases the life of the stove and makes it a real hot heart of a cozy and warm home for many years.

If she has lost her original tidy appearance, or in the event that was such a cladding supposed in advance, even when planning the construction? This question often arises for owners of private houses during the renovation of the premises where the old stove is installed, or upon completion of the masonry and drying the new one.

Some owners prefer to plaster the stoves with subsequent whitewashing or painting, but this is a less durable finish, and it will have to be updated in a couple of years. But a properly laid tile will last for more than a decade.

The finishing of the stove with tiles is carried out not only to make this structure look aesthetically pleasing, but also to preserve the plaster layer. In this case, the plaster is the main protective layer that does not allow to open the seams between the bricks through which combustion products can enter the room.

In addition, it has a high heat capacity, and, heating itself, gives off heat to the room for a long time and does not allow the entire brick oven to cool quickly.

Previously, tiles were laid in only one way - with mortar. Today, some craftsmen are inventing new methods that even allow, over time, to replace the cladding material that has become boring or has lost its decorative qualities with a new one that has, for example, a more interesting design that matches the style of the entire room. The same method can also help in the event that one of the tiles, and in any place of the stove wall, is accidentally damaged and you want to replace it.

To decide on the choice of finishes and figure out which of the cladding methods will be easier to implement, you need to take a closer look at the nuances of the technology.

Plastering the stove is also a good solution!

For a long time, brick ovens were plastered with clay mortars and whitewashed for every big holiday. This is a time-tested method, and if the solution is prepared with high quality and the plaster is applied according to all the rules, then sometimes you can limit yourself to such a finish. - read in a special publication of our portal.

But before starting finishing work, it is necessary to carry out preparatory measures, which are no less important for the safe operation of the stove and high-quality tile laying.

Preparation for tiling the oven

You need to start by preparing all the necessary tools that will help prepare the surface and finish it.

Tools for the job

Of the tools you will need:

• Spatulas:

- serrated - for applying and distributing tile adhesive. The recommended height of the teeth is 5 ÷ 6 mm;

- normal straight line of medium size - for surface cleaning;

- corner - to decorate the corners of the building;

- rubber - for sealing joints between tiles, when laying it on glue.

• Tile cutter and grinder.
• Metal ruler.
• A simple pencil or marker for marking.
• Building level, plumb line.
• Container for glue.
• Electric drill and mixer attachment for mixing the glue mass.

When installing tiles without glue, you must additionally prepare:

• A wooden or rubber hammer for making corners.
• Metal scissors.
• A device (bending jig) for making corners of the required size. It is assembled from a thick wooden bar and a steel strip with a thickness equal to the thickness of the ceramic tile, plus 1.5 ÷ 2 mm.
• Riveter, rivets, drill with a set of drills for metal.

Materials for preparatory and finishing works

For each of the installation methods, in addition to the tile itself, various building materials will be required.

So, for laying ceramic tiles on glue you will need:

• Heat-resistant adhesive for cladding fireplaces and stoves.
• Primer.
• Grout for joints between tiles.
• Skirting board.

In the case of "dry" installation of tiles, without glue, you need to prepare:

• Galvanized steel sheets with a thickness of 0.6 - 0.9 mm.
• Aluminum or steel corner to close corners.
• Aluminum strips 2 mm thick, 20 mm wide - for the manufacture of a frame on which the guides will be fixed.

Prices for heat-resistant plaster for ovens

heat-resistant plaster

Preparatory work

Whichever finishing method is chosen, the surface of the stove must be well prepared for plastering and cladding. These works cannot be considered secondary, since they will determine how smoothly the plaster and tile glue will lie on the surface.

• The first step is to remove the old plaster. To make it easier to remove, you can wet the wall with water several times. If the coating consists of clay, it can be easily removed with a spatula. If the mortar was made with the addition of cement, then you may need to use a chisel and hammer. But, it must be remembered that the wall of the furnace must be completely freed from the old plaster layer to the "clean" brick.

• Having removed the plaster from the surface, it is necessary to walk on them with an iron brush by hand, or with a grinder, fixing a special nozzle on it.

• Further, the surface is well sprayed with water from a spray gun, and the seams between the bricks are cleaned to a depth of 8 ÷ 10 mm - this is necessary for the plaster to adhere well to the wall.

• If the masonry is new, then it must be well dried, and it must also be cleaned, since anyway residues of mortar or dust are retained on the surface.
• Upon completion of cleaning, the wall must be well primed, and the soil must fall to the depth of the masonry joints. Before proceeding to the next work, the wall is left to dry completely. Optimally, do not spare the primer and apply it twice.

The surface requires priming, and best of all - twice

• Further, the walls of the stove must be checked for their straightness, since the laid tiles will not be able to make them even and will only emphasize the differences, if they exist. The process is carried out using a building level and a plumb line.
• If differences are found, the wall will have to be leveled.

To do this, focusing on on a plumb line, on a wall exposed metal profiles-beacons. It is desirable that the height of the leveling layer be no more than 8 ÷ 10 mm.

Leveling is carried out with a plaster mixture, which is intended for finishing furnaces.

If the layer of plaster is thin, then it is applied with a wide spatula, immediately leveling the solution.

A thick layer of the solution is applied by the method of scattering ("spraying"), and then leveled with a rule, moving it along the fixed beacons.

• If, when removing the old plaster, knocked down corners are found, then they must be strengthened by reinforcing with a perforated metal corner before applying the solution.

• After the plaster has set, it is recommended to fix a reinforcing fiberglass mesh onto a thin layer of adhesive mixture. When the glue is dry, the mesh is covered with another thin layer of glue, which, in turn, should also dry well.

Sometimes the reinforcement is carried out with a metal mesh, which is attached before leveling the wall directly to the brick with nails with wide heads driven into the seams between the rows.

• The leveled plastered wall must dry well before further work.
• If the tile will be mounted on glue, then it is better to prime the plastered dry surface again - this will help the tile to more reliably anchor on the wall.

Once again, I would like to remind you that the preparation of the walls of the furnace before facing work must be carried out very carefully, otherwise the glued tiles will begin to fall off when the temperature drops. Well, if the installation of the finishing material is carried out on a metal frame fixed to an old, dilapidated plaster layer, then it is possible that the entire structure will move away from the wall along with the old plaster and tiles.

Adhesive for lining the oven with tiles

Facing the stove with tiles can be done with different solutions, but in order not to rack your brains and not calculate the proportions of the components, it is better to buy ready-made glue specially designed for finishing stoves and fireplaces.

Some craftsmen prefer to use a cement mortar with the addition of PVA glue or salt to it.

If you add a little ordinary table salt to the ready-made glue for masonry, it will not be worse, since this substance is able to accumulate moisture and thereby prevent the glue, concrete or clay from drying out quickly. Therefore, whichever solution is chosen, adding salt to it will not hurt.

How to cut tiles?

Another process that can also be attributed to preparatory work is tile cutting. It is better to know in advance how to do this correctly, since you can spoil a lot of facing material before you can cut out the necessary fragments with high quality.

The most important thing in tile cutting is neatness and dexterity. When you get the slightest bit of experience, the work will go smoothly.

• This process is easiest to carry out if you have a small tile cutter.

- The first thing to do is measure the desired distance on the tile and draw a line along the ruler with a marker.

- Then fix the tile in the tile cutter so that the marked line is under the cutting roller.

- Then the lever is lowered and the tile breaks in two.

When there is little experience in this process, it will take one to two minutes of time. But in order for the tile cutter to work efficiently, before starting work you need:

- A few drops of machine oil are poured onto the roller and onto the guide frame.

- It is necessary to check how well the roller is fixed, that is, it should not move from side to side, otherwise the cut will turn out to be uneven.

- If the tile cutter has already been used extensively, the cutting roller may need to be replaced. It can be found in tile stores.

The tile cutter allows you to cut tiles, even those with a thickness of 8 ÷ 10 mm.

• Another tool for cutting tiles is manual tile cutter. If this tool is purchased, then it must be of high quality. It should be said that it is hardly suitable for thick floor tiles, but if the stove is finished with wall material, then such a tool may be sufficient.

Hand tool - tile cutter

• In addition to tile cutters, a jigsaw can be used for cutting, on which you need to install a special tungsten carbide file. But, using this method, you need to take into account that it will take about 10 minutes for each tile.
• If you install a special circle on the grinder, then it is also suitable for making straight cuts on ceramic tiles.
• Some craftsmen successfully cut tiles with an ordinary glass cutter, holding them along a metal ruler laid along the drawn line. This method of cutting requires the application of a certain force both when drawing a line and when breaking the tile in two. In addition, without experience in carrying out such a process, you can seriously injure your hand.

That's why the most optimal and a safe option is still a large tile cutter that is installed on on safe table or directly on the floor.

If the edge of the cut tile is not perfectly straight, then it can be trimmed with a grinding stone.

Furnace cladding with ceramic glue tiles

Going directly to the cladding, the work is carried out as follows:

• The laying of tiles on the walls of the stove starts from the bottom. Therefore, the first thing to do is to beat off the line of the first row. The marking is carried out using a painted cord, which is set horizontally according to the intended risks, checking against the building level, pulled back and released. The cord will leave a perfectly straight line on the wall along which the first row will be laid.
• Since the tile may initially slide down the wall, it is recommended to fix a metal perforated corner along the broken line.

It is fixed to the wall with dowels with a pitch of 150 ÷ ​​200 mm. The size of the corner is selected according to the thickness of the tile. If you choose it correctly, then the profile after installing the tiles on it will not be noticeable.

If it was not possible to find a corner of the required size, then a 15 × 25 mm wooden rail or a wide glazing bead, which is temporarily fixed from below along the broken line, will do. This makeshift guide is removed after the masonry is completed and the glue has completely dried.

• Perforated corners can be fixed in the corners of the oven, which will become the design of the corner joint, since without this it is quite difficult to make it neat.

To do this, you need to choose a profile that has a roundness at the junction of the sides, which, when the element is mounted on the walls, will be at the corner of the wall. The ends of the tiles to be glued will be pressed against this profile on both sides.

The corner is fixed to the wall with small dowels with a step of 300 - 350 mm.

• After the preparation of the wall and tiles, you can proceed to the preparation of the glue. To do this, water is poured into the prepared container, then the finished mixture is poured into it, and mixed using an electric drill and a mixer nozzle. As mentioned, a small amount of salt may be added.

After mixing, the solution should be infused for 10-12 minutes - during this period, the polymer additives included in its composition enter into the necessary reaction, and the mixture becomes a full-fledged glue.

• Further, you can proceed to the laying of the first row.

The adhesive mass is applied to the wall with a notched trowel. The glue is distributed over the area of ​​5 ÷ 7 tiles, since during the laying it should not have time to grab.

• Tiles are laid on the surface covered with glue, between which crosses are installed both in vertical and horizontal joints. Usually, two crosses are installed on each side of the tile. This is done to keep the seams at the same thickness. When facing furnaces (for example, when using terracotta tiles), sufficiently large gaps are used, even 10 mm, so sometimes cut pieces of drywall are used instead of crosses.

• Each tile is firmly pressed against the wall, its horizontal and vertical position is immediately checked by the building level.
• Glue protruding between the tiles in the seams must be removed immediately. The joint space should be left empty as it will be filled with grout later.
• When laying tiles, you need to remember that if it is installed unevenly, then it can still be fixed on the wall within 12-15 minutes. After this time, the glue will already set, and you cannot move the finishing material on it. In this case, you will have to dismantle the tiles from the wall, clean off the glue and do all the work anew. So it is better to immediately approach the styling with the utmost care and accuracy.
• Having laid out 4 ÷ 5 rows, you need to take a break for two ÷ three hours so that the lower rows grab well.
• After that, you can complete the laying completely and leave it to dry for 24 ÷ 36 hours. However, one should not forget about cleaning the tile surface from possibly trapped on not e of glue stains. Now they will not be wiped off tons of ore, but when the ruts finally grab, removing these stains will become a very difficult task.

• After the glue has been set, you can proceed to grouting. For the oven, only those groutings are used that have a heat resistance of at least 200 ° C. The composition for this is often selected according to the color of the tile, but you should not choose white, since with temperature changes it can acquire a dirty tint.
• When sealing joints, excess grout should be immediately removed from glazed tiles with a damp sponge. This composition dries quickly, and after even a short time it will be difficult to remove it.

• If cladding with terracotta tiles was carried out, a construction gun with a tube is usually used to fill the joints. The seams are filled to the full depth and left for one and a half to two hours. After that, "jointing" is performed, for example, with a wide flat screwdriver or a wire loop. In this case, you should not try to wipe off the accidentally hitting grout from the tile surface - it is better to wait until it dries completely, and then carefully pick it out with a thin screwdriver or a knife blade.

Video: how to tile a stove with terracotta tiles

Furnace cladding with ceramic tiles without glue

Prices for ceramic tiles for lining the oven

Ceramic tile

This method of installation is suitable for those craftsmen who do not want to use glue, express doubts that with the help of the adhesive mass, a high-quality lining of the oven with tiles will turn out.

Furnace tiled by dry technology, on a metal frame

This method is also good in that the cladding will not react in any way to an increase and decrease in temperature, and an air cushion is formed between the wall and the tile, where hot air is retained. Therefore, it turns out that such a facing to some extent resembles the structure of a tile. It is quite simple to cover the furnace in this way - the main thing is to make very careful measurements and accurately manufacture the frame elements, as well as to carry out work slowly, very carefully.

The whole structure consists of a kind of frame made of metal profiles, into which ceramic tiles are laid, as if along guides.

Illustration	Brief description of the performed operation
	The first thing to start with is marking the oven wall. For this, marks are made on the upper part of the masonry, which are verified according to the building level. Then, the same is done along the bottom line - it is outlined at the height of the plinth fixing. After that, the entire space between the upper and lower marks is divided by horizontal lines into equal strips - the height of the tiles plus 3-4 mm. They will be used for fastening the inter-slab profiles. Extra millimeters are necessary for the tile to move freely in the metal frame fixed to it.
	Marked with a level line, you need to beat off with a colored blue cord. To do this, it is stretched over the entire width or length of the oven wall according to the marked marks, then pulled and released. Straight lines remain on the wall, along which the frame profiles will be attached.
	Further, the plinth should be immediately fixed to the floor and wall. You can make it yourself from galvanized metal or pick up a ready-made version, since today you can find a large number of profiles on sale with various shapes. For self-production, you need from a sheet of metal, 1-1.5 mm thick, measure and cut a strip equal to the height of the plinth plus 15-20 mm for the fold that will go to the floor.
	The fold is done by placing the strip on a metal table or a special device prepared in advance, consisting of a 50 × 60 mm bar and a steel plate (strip) fixed to it with self-tapping screws, 1-1.5 mm thicker than the tile thickness. The workpiece is laid and fixed with clamps on top of a metal plate, leaving a protrusion outward of 15-20 mm. Then they gently tap on it with a mallet - an even strip should bend, forming a right angle. The narrow, bent part of the element will be fixed to the floor. The finished skirting board is fixed on the wall of the stove with the help of anchors, and on the floor, if it is wooden, with self-tapping screws with wide heads. It is especially important to make a plinth of metal on the wall of the stove under the firebox.
	Next, you need to measure and cut off a piece of the corner, which will be fixed along the upper line marked on the oven wall and on the lower edge of the hob plane. This corner will frame the edges of the inner part of the frame, and its vertical elements will be fixed to it.
	This photo shows a corner anchored along the edge of the hob.
	Through the fixed perforated corners, metal strips with a width of 20 mm, made of 2 mm aluminum, are fixed with rivets. The strips are installed vertically across the entire plane of the wall, at a distance of 250-300 mm from each other. They will serve for the installation of supporting profiles to them, into which the tile itself will already be installed. In the photo, the master shows how the stripes pass inside the entire already mounted structure.
	When the horizontal corners and vertical stripes are fixed to the oven wall, you can proceed to the manufacture of the profiles themselves, into which the tiles will be installed. The figure shows the J-shape of the profile that should be the result. For each row of tiles to be installed, you will need two profiles, which are installed above and below along the height of the tile, forming a groove with sides.
	For the manufacture of these frame elements, it is necessary to cut strips 44 mm wide and length equal to the width of the wall from a sheet of galvanized metal. If the wall of the furnace is too long, then it is better to make profiles no more than a meter long, and splice them already when installing the frame.
	J-shaped profiles are made using the same listogib device from a bar with a metal plate. An important point - it is necessary that the steel plate protrudes along the entire length of the beam outward by about 3 mm - this is required for the correct formation of the side.
	The strip for the future profile is laid on the edge of the bending machine with a protrusion outward at first by 3 mm. When installing tiles on a wall, this side will serve as a holder for it.
	Thin metal is tapped with a mallet until the entire strip is L-shaped. Then the strip must be bent again to form a J-shaped profile. The workpiece is moved forward so that the shelf size is equal to the tile thickness + 1 mm. Another 1 mm is added - on the bend itself. For example, with a tile thickness of 6 mm, it is necessary to retreat 8 mm from the first obtained corner. It must be remembered that the cladding looks neat, the sides must have the same width. The workpiece is again fixed with clamps and bent with a mallet. The 3mm projection of the metal plate ensures that the entire profile is formed correctly.
	Having made the profiles, each of them is checked with tiles, which are installed over the side and moved. It should slide easily on the inner surface.
	This photo shows how the profiles are fixed inside the structure.
	This shows how the profiles of two adjacent rows should be installed in relation to each other.
	The profiles are installed from the plinth. Exactly along its upper part, the lowest profile is fixed to the vertical stripes. For this, through holes are drilled in the wide flange of the profile and in the strip, where the rivet is then installed. A second J-strip is mounted along the line that defines the top of the lowest row - two tiles can be placed along the edges for control. Further, close to the first row, guides for the second row are installed according to the same principle - and so on to the very top.
	Having mounted a frame for two or three rows, tiles are installed in them. It is inserted between the upper and lower profile, and pushed to the end of the wall - and so on, until the entire row is filled with tiles. The result is a neat surface, and, as can be seen from the installation process, the tile can be replaced with a new one at any time if desired.
	After installing the tiles, you can proceed to closing the joints at the corners. Narrow, self-made corners are installed around the cooking chamber.
	Rounded metal corner strips are mounted on the outer corners, which are fixed to the frame guides with self-tapping screws.
	It is advisable to cover the inner walls of the cooking chamber with stainless steel sheets. Rectangular fragments of the required size are cut out of it, bent at the edges to obtain more reliable joints, since the panels at the corners are overlapped and screwed to the inner walls. After their installation, the surface, if desired, can be coated with heat-resistant black paint, which allows you to easily put the walls of the chamber in order.

This method of decorating the stove is available even to those who are unfamiliar with the art of a tiler or stove-maker. If to carry out work correctly, carefully calculating your actions, then the cladding will turn out to be no worse than the one made using the technology of laying tiles on glue. Another advantage of this installation method is that, using frame rows, you can lay out any pattern from tiles of different colors, having prepared its scheme in advance.

Many of us have stoves in country houses, apartments or summer cottages: bath or intended for home, induction, brick or iron, gas or electric. Often the appearance of your brick heating installation does not fit into the interior of the room... To increase the attractiveness of the stove, you can either use it with a decorative artificial stone.

Tiles are the same ceramic tiles, only made by hand. Due to this factor, it has high strength and heat resistance. You can buy tiles of any kind on the market.

In the case of ceramic tiles, everything is much simpler. She possesses a little less heat resistance however, it is sufficient for the daily operation of the unit. Laying it down is easier because this material has a simpler shape and texture. In addition, ceramics much cheaper than tiles.

Furnace lining algorithm

Do-it-yourself laying of material begins with surface preparation heating structure... To do this, we need a metal brush: we use it to carefully remove old plaster. We should have a flat, clean surface. Then you need a little polish the building's hull by means of a grinder, then we thoroughly coat the stove with a primer in several layers. When the mixture is dry and absorbed, you can start with the tile base. In this case, we can help the net for the plaster will come... It must be properly attached to the stove body.

Only when we have done all the above steps, you can start laying the tiles. Better to start work from the bottom moving up. Apply with a spatula to hot glue unit body... Then you need to attach the building material to the surface, clamp it tightly. It is better to constantly check the quality with a plumb line and a building level.

You can immediately install inter-tile crosses... This is necessary so that the rows are even and do not require correction later. Thus, you need to properly overlay the stove to the very top. When the work is finished, you need to wait about three days and start grouting using a rubber spatula and a special tool. On the front side, try to remove the remaining grout immediately, without breaking the seams... After final drying, all you have to do is polish the tiles.