one season and the firebrick is cracking... help!!!

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knifehead

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Jan 2, 2008
2
upstate n.y.
i noticed that my firebricks been cracking after only a couple dozen fires. i know your not supposed to have the fire directly on the brick but after the wood has been burning for a while it just falls off the andirons....and i dont like the look of grates so here is my question.... could i possibly get a thick slab of bluestone and place it over the hearth floor and have the fire on that??? any ideas or suggestions will be much appriciated.
mark
 
The blue stone is an awful idea.

Cracking firebricks on the floor of the firebox sounds like a problem because they should be fully supported from underneath and almost shouldn't be able to crack, except due to heat cycling.

Andirons? Grates? What stove are you burning?
 
Sounds like an open fireplace to me?
 
How old is the fireplace? Recently built and cracking after only 24 fires?

A couple possibilities:
1. They're not firebricks.
2. The firebricks were improperly installed.

Your problem has a couple of solutions, but it'd be wise to first find out why they're cracking. Perhaps there are other issues with your fireplace that need to be corrected.
 
Is this a new fireplace? If so it sounds like you might not have done proper break-in burns to finalize the curing of the firebox and chimney. If you had a large fire as one of your first few fires that would probably do it. I think the bluestone would probably be OK but another option would be to buy some castable refractory cement and pour a small slab. You could probably easily make it form fitting to the fireplace floor. A fireback might help if you have some craks in the back section of the firebox.
 
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