Bricking Question

[LawnSite]

I recently purchased a 2 x 4 Mason and must board and brick.
Do I cover the arch bottom and walls with refractory cement and apply brick
as I go ? Or should I also cement the seams where the bricks butt up against eachother
as well ?

[GramaCindy]

Hello again LawnSite, here's what I did on my Mason 2x4. Last year I just bricked, this year, in the new shack, I added archboard first, all over the entire inside. I actually used a bit of refractory cement to help it adhere to the metal. Then I added my half bricks, or splits and cemented ALL of the seams. Where ever they butted up against each other. The seams are the most important part I thought. my 2cents

[christopherh]

I mixed my cement a little soupy, then dipped the brick into the mortar. It worked quite well.

[LawnSite]

That's what I suspected. Thanks

[packrat]

Can this cement be taken apart if you want to use them in a different evaporator later?

[christopherh]

I was able to reuse my bricks after modifying my arch this year. I used a pressure washer to clean and remove all the soot.

[Stamford sugarmaker]

I believe that once you use refractory cement with your bricks it would be difficult to remove them and reuse them. Fortunately I do not have any first hand knowledge of this. One thing I do know is that trying to cut splits that have been fired is extremely difficult. I found that the process ruined my diamond tipped blades.

Peter

[christopherh]

Yes, alot of the cement does stick to the brick. You can chip at it or cut it off and make your joints a bit bigger. When I did this I knew I was moving the evaporator out the sugarhouse after season was over, so a went a bit thin with the cement.