9 X 18X4.5 inch firebrick

[Garlic Breath]

I have the oppotunity to buy 9 X 18X4.5 inch firebrick, Is there a reason to avoid this or would it actually be better than creating a 4.5 inch thick floor with standard fire bricks. Seems like fewer seams in the floor would be a good thing, but I'd appreciate your thoughts on pros & cons.

Thanks

[Derkp]

Re: 9 X 18X4.5 inch firebrick

That is about the exact measurements of the the bricks we used on our floor and back of our barrel. They all high duty, 3000 degrees, new, from a now destroyed steel mill in Utah. They are great, I used them for the exact reason you are considering. I doubled them so my floor width was 36 inches wide. I have had no problems with them so far, about 2 years. Go for it if the price is right, mine were basically free, we bartered for them.

Derk

[Garlic Breath]

Re: 9 X 18X4.5 inch firebrick

Thanks. Did you do side walls also? Is there any concern with cracking since they are larger castings?

[Derkp]

Re: 9 X 18X4.5 inch firebrick

No we did not do the sidewalls, just the floor and the back wall of the vault. the seem to be just fine even though they are larger. They look the same, just supersized regular bricks. We used the whole bricks layed flat for the first course(three high I think), and we were able to find regular sized firebrick, but tapered for the barrel. We had to do very little cutting.

[Derkp]

Re: 9 X 18X4.5 inch firebrick

Oh, also, no cracking or spalling so far. Cutting would be the most difficult thing. We designed around the size of the bricks. We were also lucky to find 4 large half arches, perfect for our two openings. Do a search for my posts, there a few good pictures of our initial design.