Mortar Joint Confusion

[Balty Knowles]

I am ready to start cutting my bricks & having been surprised at the ease & accuracy of my saw have decided to go the extra mile & taper cut the individual bricks But in order do do that I must calculate the joint thickness. I will be mixing my own mortar with fire clay & calcium aluminate.

Here's my confusion, The refrax instructions recommend a 10mm minimum mortar joint, (for some reason this makes sense to me.) while most of the posts are using or recomending minimal joint thickness 1/8 or less or even that the bricks touch.

I would like a thicker joint for a couple of reasons

1 I think it looks better, I noticed the thicker joint on the Artigiano & I like that. I intend to build a free standing dome so I can access the inside & chase the joints to a smooh transition between each brick.

2 When I match up the firebrick entry with the tudor brick facade there will be a major desrepency in the joint size & therefore difficulty in aligning the top arches. I guess I could design around this on the Facade.

Thanks for the input Chris & Christo, apologies for my ongoing confusion.

Regards

Balty

[dmun]

Re: Mortar Joint Confusion

Usually firebricks are bigger than domestic bricks so that in, say a fireplace, the bigger firebricks with a thin joint can line up with common bricks with a half inch joint. Wasn't an issue for me because I lay my entry bricks on edge.

I haven't used refrax, but heat-stop works like a champ with minimal joints, 1/8 (3mm) or less.

[Balty Knowles]

Re: Mortar Joint Confusion

Thanks Dmun,

I've been following your posts on line. Amazing work!

Rgds

Balty