Hi! & Question about shipping bricks

[RuthAndScott]

Hi all,
what a great site. I have spent so many hours studying the builds and the plans.
It's a great way to spend these cold NW Ontario, days and nights.
I have looked on the net and see that there is no supplier of materials needed in our area. (I'm not overly surprised)
Do fire bricks travel well if they need to be shipped, or if we drove 4-7 hours to go pick up the supplies?
We would take extra precaution to stack them properly, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much!
Sincerely,
Ruth and Scott

[Rastys]

Re: Hi! & Question about shipping bricks

Ruth and Scott,
the firebricks over here are not much different to the conventional house brick in toughness and durability.
I would ensure that they were tightly stacked with little or no space between the bricks and wrapped with shrink wrap, (a tough plastic similar to "glad wrap"as used in food wrapping) to hold them secure.
Not knowing what your roads are like, but a vehicle with reasonable suspension will not damage them at all.

Rastys

[CanuckJim]

Re: Hi! & Question about shipping bricks

Ruth & Scott,

I'd ask the supplier to put the bricks on a skid for you and wrap the whole thing in shrink wrap. Here, we've gotten skids of bricks, flagstone and veneer stone delivered this way with few if any problems.

Jim

[RuthAndScott]

Re: Hi! & Question about shipping bricks

Thanks Rastys,
Well, our roads are asphalt, but riddled with frost heaves and pot holes.
Our truck - a 3/4 ton that rides like an old hay wagon when empty, but smooths out when under load. We'll more than likely be picking up roofing material for a few of our cabins, so it should run smoothly.
Another option is to have a hardware store order it in. I'll ask them for a quote, compare it to the fuel costs and time it would take us to go pick them up.
Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Ruth

[RuthAndScott]

Re: Hi! & Question about shipping bricks

OK, I'll remember that.
Thanks!

It'll be sometime before we can build. As soon as the ice goes out on Lake of the Woods, we move out to our island. You're thinking, "well why not build one on the island?"

The answer: We currently have it for sale and I'd hate to go to all of that expense & work, only to have to leave it behind if we get a sale. But the way things are going with real estate sales, it looks as though we'll be there for some time.

OR if we built a stand that would allow it to be moved.... we could gently bring it back to our winter home? Either across the ice or on our pontoon boat, it could work, I think....
Let me know what you think... I'm sure there are other thread that discuss this. I'll have a look around.

Ruth

[tombomb]

Re: Hi! & Question about shipping bricks

the bricks i used weighed 9 lbs each, 5 foot oven, aprox 1000 bricks, adds up quick. dont forget the morter mine came in 3 gallon buckets used 12. then the soft brick for mass, and insulation. maybe look for a fireplace builder, or wood stove manufacter to buy brick. when i was looking there were lots of brick suppliers but when i asked for just a 1000 they only talked in terms of 10000 . finally found local masonary supply that kept on hand for fireplace builders. good luck