Hi all. Anyone tiled their forge area walls? I'm considering doing mine with large fairly utility wall tiles with a glazed finish to keep the area clean and tidy. Wooden walls already have fireproof boards fitted which will make a good backing for them.

Tom.

How do you replace the tiles if one were to get damaged or broken?  Just a thought.

Would the tiles be attached with mortar or with some kind of (possibly thermoplastic) adhesive?

I think any repair would be the same as any other tiled wall, obviously the chances of that happening are somewhat higher than if it were a bathroom or kitchen-dig out the broken one/s and replace. The fixing adhesive and grout will be the same as for around log burners and kitchen ranges i.e. heatproof to around 750F which is available at most stores. The grout will contain silicon and be quite flexible to allow for heat expansion..and contraction. If my coal forge throws out anywhere near that to a wall a foot away(it will have a sidesucker chimney in front of the firepot as well) I will be most surprised. Nearest thing to a tiled part of the wall will be the coal forge, whereas the anvil and post vice will be further away-around 5/6 feet. I think overall there should be less heat than from a log burner so I don't think overheating the wall will be a problem-unless anyone knows different that is!

I would not do it because it makes mounting anything to the wall harder if you have to drill trough it.

I have sheet metal behind the firepot, not tidy nor clean but rusty and dirty

Edit: a former neighbour of mine had tiles on his concrete floor without expansion gaps. those that had contact to the wall shattered all around after a few years

Edited March 8, 20179 yr by KRS
let me tell you a story

Have you considered the collection of dust on each horizontal grout line? This may be a cosmetic or appearance issue to some folks.

The other consideration of using tile is the shop noise being reflected rather than absorbed. 

If I were covering a wall near a forge I would go with sheetmetal as it's not only fireproof it takes impact, scratching, abuse well and that's what I expect around the forge.

I would need some sort of protection for that piece that did not "Work out" and was somehow "flung" against the nearest wall in frustration.  I understand that not everyone needs that buffer but I sure do. 

 

Thanks for all your input guys. I am going to go with the tiles but I take your point Thomas. I will incorporate a movable stand made of suitable sheet metal for directly behind the forge. As for sound issues, I will be wearing ear ppe when working there and as I am not given to fits of pique in frustration at some thing going wrong, I think any 'parts' are just going to hit the concrete floor. Grouting the tiles will be done flush so there wont be any ledge there for detritus to accumulate. No problem to drill through tiles for anything that needs mounting on a wall there.

thanks again folks

Tom.

I recently lined the walls around my forge with concrete backer board. I believe its called "rocksett." It's used as a backing for tile application. It was applied in a cabin I owned around the corner in which the woodstove was located. I pulled out the woodstove and re-purposed the rocksett. I applied it to the studs with drywall screws.We'll see how it works.
It is completely fireproof but it really made a mess cutting it!

14 minutes ago, GrandfatherForge said:

I recently lined the walls around my forge with concrete backer board. I believe its called "rocksett." It's used as a backing for tile application. It was applied in a cabin I owned around the corner in which the woodstove was located. I pulled out the woodstove and re-purposed the rocksett. I applied it to the studs with drywall screws.We'll see how it works.
It is completely fireproof but it really made a mess cutting it!

That'll work just fine, it's what it's for. Did you mount it with stand offs? a gap between the rocksett and the wall gives something like a minimum half hour fire stop. Flames and fire in direct contact on one side and wood on the other side of the gap doesn't catch, fire stop.

However very few forges ever put out that kind of heat outside the fire pot so even 1/2" sheet rock is decent fire protection. 

Unless there's something hidden or weird going on you've got it.

Frosty The Lucky.

At first it's rather odd that woodstoves put out a lot of heat and forges do not---though propane forges do act like a salamander in cold weather---important to remember that ventilation is MANDATORY!  

However when you think about woodstoves are designed to throw off heat and forges are designed to heat steel placed in them.

However when dealing with folks like the Fire Dept inspectors or even SO's; over protecting is a good thing!

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

That'll work just fine, it's what it's for. Did you mount it with stand offs? a gap between the rocksett and the wall gives something like a minimum half hour fire stop. Flames and fire in direct contact on one side and wood on the other side of the gap doesn't catch, fire stop.

However very few forges ever put out that kind of heat outside the fire pot so even 1/2" sheet rock is decent fire protection. 

Unless there's something hidden or weird going on you've got it.

Frosty The Lucky.

I didn't use standoffs but I do have a layer of firebrick stacked in the area where the "dragons breath" occurs in the back of the propane forge.(Around 2 feet of space/3 inches of firebrick/layer of Rocksett/ then the studs.) I want to mount an exhaust fan in the peak of the eave of the roof to pull away some of the heat. I've already pre-wired a line to run the fan. Just have to get one and mount it.

How are you venting it currently to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning?

That sounds like a properly blacksmitherly level of overkill. Be positive about clearing the CO from the forge, they're serious CO generators.

Frosty The Lucky.