We had a test fire the other day to see if our smoke by-pass worked. Success! It's going to take some figuring out in terms of judging when the thermal mass is heated enough to close it, but that will have to wait. It's still too warm outside to heat the house more than it already is. But by opening and closing the damper we could make some assessments.
One of those assessments were a few smoke leaks in the mortar between the bricks. We noted these last year but waited to figure out what to do. One option was to repoint the brickwork, which involves touching up the mortar between all of the bricks. Dan wasn't too keen on this. The other option was to plaster the entire stove. This would deal with any small leaks and also give the stove an entirely different look.
We considered covering the brickwork with mortar last year, but I liked the look of the brick so we left it. Experience has an amazing way of changing one's mind, however.
Here's the stuff Dan is using.
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| Structo-Lite. Dan found it at Ace Hardware for about $26 for 50#. |
Structo-Lite contains gypsum plaster and perlite, has good insulation value, and is suitable for high heat applications.
12 comments:
I don’t have any experience with brickwork so would probably go that route too though I liked your previous brick look. My only concern with off white is that I think it could discolor easily above your doors when adding wood or cleaning out ashes.
Ed, you're probably right about the discoloration. We had that with the brick too (which I also liked). But Dan's the one doing it and this hopefully is a good solution.
Seems as though you've found a great solution!
Daisy, I hope so! Right now it's getting used to the new look. The jury is still out on how well we like it.
Leigh, I really like the new look of the stove! Looks like the perfect place to pull up a chair to and read.
Thank you TB! It's a lovely room in the house to be in when it's cold outside.
It's fantastic that you found a solution, Leigh!
Linda, I hope so!
I like the look of brick too, but I can see the convenience of just using the stucco/plaster to seal the whole stove. Re-pointing brickwork can be very time consuming. The stucco stuff looks nice as well.
Looking good. Most problems have solutions we just got to take the time to find it.
Nina, Dan wasn't into re-pointing at all. Now that he has the first stucco coat on it, he's asking me if it looks okay, LOL. The hardest thing is to get used to the loss of visual texture that the bricks provided. If it stops the smoke leaks, though, it will be worth it. Currently trying to think of ways to decorate the stove.
Mr O, I so agree. We do a lot of brainstorming before any project and try to work it out in the long-run. We usually miss something though!
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