How to make a cast iron bath oven? Advantages of a cast iron bath stove and the rules for its self-creation Cast iron bath stove in a bath drawing

An old cast-iron bath is a very heavy and solid thing. The product of the Soviet industry is famous for its fundamentality and durability. But over time, snow-white enamel loses its luster and cannot be restored. Then the bath goes to the landfill. But many summer residents and owners of private houses use cast-iron construction more rationally. The stove from the bath not only allows you to cook amazing dishes, but also becomes a decoration of the estate.

Building a stove from a cast-iron bath with your own hands will require the use of the following tools:

  1. angle grinder (Bulgarian);
  2. Cutting and cleaning discs for angle grinders;
  3. Electric drill, drills;
  4. Pliers, wrenches;
  5. If available - equipment for gas cutting of metal;
  6. Trench tool - shovels, scrap;
  7. A hammer;
  8. Trowel, spatula;
  9. A container for preparing a solution;
  10. Measuring tool - tape measure, plumb line, metal corner, building level;
  11. Welding machine for mounting the chimney, mask, electrodes;
  12. Hacksaw for wood (for the construction of formwork).

The beginning of construction implies the presence of a cast-iron bath. The furnace from the bath has a foundation, since the total weight of the structure takes on a decent value. In addition to the bathroom, you will need the following materials:

  • Cement;
  • Sand;
  • Red brick;
  • Water;
  • Clay;
  • Sheet of metal with a thickness of 4 mm;
  • Metal corner;
  • Homemade or factory grill of the appropriate size;
  • Metal and hinges for doors;
  • Chimney pipe with a wall thickness of at least 3.5 mm, a diameter of 100 - 125 mm, a length of 2.5 - 3 meters;
  • Foundation waterproofing material - polyethylene film;
  • Rabitz;
  • Boards 20 - 25 mm thick, nails, slats 20x20 mm.


The first stage of construction is cutting the old bathroom across into two equal parts. This operation is performed using a grinder. First, the cutting line is marked - the line is applied with a marker on the enamel or with chalk on the outer part of the bowl. Cutting is best done on the outside of the bowl, but if this is not possible, you can cut on the inside.

Cutting iron products is a long and laborious job. For this work, a professional tool is used, in the absence of one, it is necessary to take breaks in work, otherwise the grinder may burn out.

When working, safety conditions must be observed. It is better to wear a protective mask on your face, otherwise the smallest particles of enamel can get into your eyes. When cutting cast iron, a large amount of dust is generated - breathing must be protected with a gauze bandage or a respirator. The room where the work is carried out must be isolated from adjacent rooms - dust cleaning will subsequently cause serious difficulties.

When cutting the bowl, the bath must be fixed so that the disc of the grinder does not pinch. Fragments of a disc that burst during operation can cause injury. Sawing a bathroom takes, on average, about 45 - 60 minutes (excluding breaks). The speed of work always depends on the level of ownership of the tool.

It is necessary to take into account the structure of cast iron - it has a low impact strength. Therefore, it is impossible to apply strong blows, to heavily load the bath with mechanical forces.

Furnace installation

The stove from an old bath, located on a summer cottage or land plot of a private house, consists of three main parts:

  1. Firebox from an old bathroom;
  2. Furnace foundation;
  3. Brickwork, cladding.

After preparing the bathroom (cut into two equal parts), they begin to build the foundation.

Foundation construction

With the help of pegs and a cord, the future foundation is marked. The foundation is made of concrete mortar or brickwork.

First, a rectangular trench is torn off, its depth should be at least 500 mm. A layer of sand and gravel is laid at the bottom of the trench, the layers are compacted. A layer of waterproofing is laid on top of the pillow - usually a plastic film. In the central part, a formwork is being constructed to raise the base of the foundation for the firebox. Most often, a common formwork is simply constructed and the foundation is poured to a height of at least 250 - 300 mm from the ground level.

The free volume is reinforced and filled with a solution of cement and sand in the proportion of 1 measure of cement to 3 measures of sand. In another case, the volume is filled with brickwork.

After completing the work on the construction of the foundation, he is given time for high-quality solidification.

Assembly work


After the foundation has solidified, assembly work begins. The first half of the bowl is installed on the base of the foundation (without drain holes). On top of the turn of the bowl, a sheet of metal cut according to the bathroom template is laid on a heat-resistant sealant.

Sometimes holes are cut into the sheet for use as a cooking surface.

A hole is cut in the ceiling sheet, corresponding to the diameter of the selected chimney pipe. The pipe is welded to the floor slab using electric arc welding.

The second half of the bathroom is laid on the floor sheet. The joint is preliminarily laid with heat-resistant sealant, instead of the drain (lower) hole, a passage for the chimney is cut. First, a hole is marked along the cross section of the pipe used, then holes are drilled according to the marking. It is dangerous to knock out a drilled element - cast iron is brittle - therefore, the holes are connected by slots in the grinder.

Holes are drilled along the perimeter of the junction of two hemispheres of the bathroom, the joint is pulled together with M10 or M12 bolts. Fasteners are installed in increments of 150 - 200 mm. When tightening the bolts, do not use excessive force - the cast iron may burst. In the lower hemisphere, at a height of 15 cm from the lower point of the vault, the supports for the grate are bolted. The installation of supports is mandatory, otherwise, when the grate is shifted, burning firewood will fall into the lower part of the firebox and the quality of combustion will be impaired. The main work on the construction of the firebox has been completed.

The front part of the firebox is equipped in two ways - from metal and into brickwork. In the case of using a sheet of metal, it is marked and cut to the appropriate size with a grinder. It is fastened to the split end of the firebox through metal corners attached to the bowl and sheet through holes with bolts. Openings are cut in the plane of the sheet for the small (lower) door of the blower and the large upper door of the furnace (used to load fuel). Doors are usually installed on welded hinges.

The cost of metal and the amount of work in such an implementation of the front part of the furnace exceed the option of installing brickwork. When laying from the end of the firebox, mortgages and openings are left in it for installing doors.

After assembling the front part, the lower hemisphere of the firebox is lined with bricks. First, the first corner is displayed (along the plumb line), then the laying is continued along the perimeter of the furnace.

After the masonry has hardened, work begins on the thermal insulation of the upper hemisphere. To do this, a chain-link mesh is laid on it. The grid should fit snugly against the surface of the furnace - for this it is fixed to the brickwork around the perimeter. The chain-link serves as a frame, a supporting structure for the clay layer. The first layer of a pre-prepared clay solution of medium viscosity is tightly clogged into the grid. After partial hardening, the finishing layer of clay is applied and leveled.

Clay should harden - it must be covered from precipitation with a film, without restricting access to air. After hardening, the clay is most often covered with several layers of lime whitewash.

A fungus must be installed on the chimney pipe to protect against precipitation.

Some craftsmen recommend using cast iron bathtubs for the construction of a sauna stove. Moreover, the cast-iron bath acts as the basis of the heater and at the same time serves as the upper vault of the firebox, it can be splashed with ice water in a hot state. Cast iron in this case may crack. To make a bath stove from a cast-iron bath - count on a certain amount of luck, not to know the properties of cast iron.

Decoration of the external facade

The external design of the furnace depends on the wishes of the owner. The masonry can be plastered and painted, various decorative mosaics, natural stone are applied to it. Decoration of the structure is not always necessary - the stove from the bathroom will always look like an amazing structure on the site.

Building a furnace from an old cast-iron bath is an event that requires equipment and some skills in installation work. But the construction of the stove is worth it - it has an excellent design and will serve its owner for many years, surprising with culinary delights and decorating the estate.

It is always a little pity when some old things that have served faithfully for many years become unusable. But the natural domestic ingenuity often allows you to breathe a second life into seemingly “veterans” who have served their time. For example, very often a sauna stove is made from an old cast-iron bath. The popularity of such a solution is added by the undoubted advantages that such a non-trivial material as cast iron has.

  • practically unlimited service life. Even the enamel that covered the baths is practically very difficult to destroy. This is explained quite simply. In Soviet times, the enamel coating was made in two layers using quartz sand, which, when baked, formed a heavy-duty composition;
  • a significant indicator of heat capacity, as well as the accumulation and release of heat;
  • high resistance to corrosion.

Necessary materials and tools

  • in fact, an old bath, preferably cast iron, although steel can be used with a slightly lesser effect;
  • steel sheet with a thickness of at least 6 mm;
  • steel pipe;
  • several bricks;
  • metal fasteners;
  • angle grinder, she is a grinder;
  • welding machine.

Option number 1, universal

Step #1

Cut the tub in half using a grinder. Cast iron is a brittle material (and this is perhaps one of its few drawbacks), so when making a cut, care must be taken to avoid chipping the material. It is necessary to ensure that the grinder does not heat up too much, for which technological breaks are arranged.


Step #2

Cut a metal sheet 6 mm thick. or more according to the size of the part of the bath prepared by the first step, which in the final design will be located below. Having previously outlined, cut a hole on the sheet according to the size of the existing pipe. Then weld it in place. Thus, a chimney is gradually formed.

Step #3

Make a hole in the upper part of the bath, then put both halves on top of each other with a layer of metal sheet. The pipe must be secured either by welding or using heat-resistant oven sealant. With the same sealant, it is necessary to process the junction of the metal sheet to the halves of the bath, which will avoid possible smoke. The edges of the bath must be securely connected with fasteners.

Step #4

The basis of the future furnace is almost ready. Now it must be installed on the brickwork to give the structure stability and ease of use. The ends of the future furnace, first of all, for decorative purposes, it is recommended to sheathe either with an ordinary iron sheet or with a corrugated one, which looks even more attractive.

Step #5

Make metal doors for the firebox and the chamber for stones. In order to improve the air supply and, as a result, better burning of firewood, it is necessary to make a number of holes in the firebox.

Step #6

The resulting universal oven can be used for a variety of purposes. In order to install it in the bath, it is necessary to make the most minor additions, namely, place stones in the upper part; connect to an existing chimney or bring an existing pipe outside the steam room.

Option number 2, specialized for a bath

When using the oven only for a bath, a simpler design solution is possible, which includes actually refusing to use the second part of the bath. In fact, the first half of the bath is used, which is lined with ceramic oven bricks.

Inside the bath, either a gas cylinder or a metal drum with a diameter of about 40 cm is used as a firebox. A chimney pipe is connected to it, welding it.

Stones (7-15 cm in diameter) are poured into the free space of the half of the bath, left from the firebox. As a rule, pink quartzite or granite is used for this.

Video review :

Masonry is carried out to the height of the bath using clay mortar. The main feature is the joining of two materials that are very different in terms of thermal expansion - brick and cast iron. To do this, it is necessary to provide for expansion joints, in which, as a rule, basalt cardboard or asbestos is used.

After performing masonry work for decorative purposes, you can tile the surface.

Making a universal stove from a cast-iron bath, and even with your own hands, is much cheaper than buying a finished one.

Moreover, a cast-iron bath stove will become not only an indispensable thing in a suburban area, but also a real source of pride. What is the purpose of such a device?

For preparing a variety of food, from fragrant homemade bread to any main dishes.

Thanks to its material, such a stove will perfectly retain heat. As practice shows, there are old cast-iron baths in almost any summer cottage.

It is a pity to throw them away, so most often they are used for some technical purposes, for example, as irrigation tanks.

We offer you step-by-step instructions on how to independently make an interesting stove for a summer residence.

The cast-iron bath stove is not only an original, but also an extremely economical device.

Plus, it does not require special materials, a lot of time, or special skills to create it.

As they say, everything ingenious is simple. However, the result exceeds any expectations.

Instructions for making a cast-iron bath stove

Be extremely careful, as cast iron is quite fragile - sharp, inaccurate movements can make it unsuitable for further work.

For cutting, an angle grinder (or, as it is also called, a grinder) is quite suitable.

Stock up on a few cutting discs and time, you can’t rush here - this is the most important part of the job.

Then take one half and set it on top so that you get a design that resembles a capsule with a cut.

For the next stage of do-it-yourself work, you will need a metal sheet, only too thin will not work for our purposes.

Ideally, the thickness of the metal should be more than 5 mm.

The stove will use both halves of the tub, and a sheet is needed to separate the top from the bottom (i.e., the cooking compartment from the fuel zone).

Thus, two chambers should be obtained - one for cooking, and the second for firewood.

Do not forget to make a hole in the sheet for the chimney. It is better to place it as close to the back wall as possible. It will run from the bottom chamber through the entire oven.

To fix the sheet and halves of the bath, it is best to use fasteners: clamp the edge of the sheet between the edges of both halves and put it on.

Use oven sealant to prevent smoke in the upper chamber. We attach the chimney to a metal sheet by welding.

Before cooking, cast iron should be heated a little, for example, by heating firewood in the lower chamber - this way the material will be better amenable to welding.

We close the front of the lower chamber with a metal sheet, first you need to make a large hole through which firewood will be placed.

Now you can make doors for both the firebox and the upper chamber, in which food will be cooked.

Easy to make with your own hands and at the same time, a functional oven for giving is ready. The matter remains small - to design the structure so that it becomes a real decoration of the yard.

If you or your friends have artistic abilities, then paint the stove, for example, with folk motifs.

It would not even occur to any neighbor or guest that such a device could be made from an old, unnecessary bathtub.

We make a stove for a bath

From an old cast-iron bath, you can get not only an excellent kitchen stove, but also a bathhouse. Why spend extra money on a device that you can make yourself?

First of all, it is worth noting that the construction of a bathhouse, as well as the equipment of a stove in it, requires a certain knowledge of the matter, therefore, for safety reasons, it makes sense to seek advice from a professional stove-maker.

Sauna stoves have a number of requirements.

So, all such units must have:

  • a sufficient amount of thermal power, as well as a wide range for its regulation;
  • steam generator and heat accumulator for changing the mode of moisture and heat;
  • regulation of the convention;
  • surfaces whose temperature will not exceed 150°C.

A simple two-tier bath stove that fully meets the listed requirements can be built from an old cast-iron bath.

The lower tier of the sauna stove is half a cast-iron bath, laid with the convex part up and cut to the wall. Outside, the entire structure is covered with bricks.

Steam generation is achieved with 8-10 buckets of stone covering one part of it. Heat is accumulated in the upper chamber (following the example of Kuznetsov furnaces).

The principle of operation is quite simple: the gas passes through the bath, heats the stones, reaches the bread chamber located on the opposite side, then the gas flow goes up and down (makes a "dive"), and then exits the pipe.

At the bottom there is a damper so that smoke does not escape.

A sauna stove made from an old cast-iron bathtub is an unusual design.

Most often, ready-made devices are bought to heat the room, but if you want to experiment, you can make such a unit with your own hands.

Advantages of cast iron stoves

Cast iron is considered one of the best materials, and factory furnaces from it are not cheap.

First of all, it gained popularity due to its strength, unpretentiousness in operation and resistance to high temperatures.

If we compare a cast-iron unit with a brick one, then the first one has better thermal conductivity. Since the temperature in the bath is not always maintained at a high temperature, the material must be insensitive to changes.

In winter, most often, the bathhouse in the country is not heated, as a result of which the brick may begin to crumble, and cast iron is not afraid of such problems. In terms of the rate of heating the room, cast iron is definitely the leader.

From a fire safety point of view, a brick oven does not pose a threat unless it is new. Cracks are dangerous because sparks can break through them.

For aesthetic purposes, it would still be better to overlay a home-made stove with bricks, however, in case of damage to individual blocks, they can be easily replaced.

Cast iron's main competitor is steel. Despite the fact that steel furnaces do not lag behind cast iron ones in terms of heating rate and strength, the former have a much shorter service life.

Another weakness is their susceptibility to corrosion. Cast iron has the same problem, but to a much lesser extent.

If you decide to make a bath unit from an old bath, the result will be an easy-to-use device that will perform its functions perfectly and last for many years.

Also, a cast-iron bath can be converted into an original country fireplace. This design is especially suitable for those who only make brickwork at home.

In this case, the fireplace "sinks" into the wall, which allows you to make the most of the space.

After repairing and replacing the old bathtub with a new one, it often happens that the hand does not rise to throw out another solid cast-iron product. But what to do with him next? People who have a dacha usually take out things that have become unnecessary to their suburban area, doing so with the expectation that they will definitely find some use for them in the future. We will tell you how to make a sauna stove from an old cast-iron bath.

A cast-iron bathtub that had to be replaced with a more modern version may no longer look very fresh on the outside. But it still remains a strong and durable container of a sufficiently large volume, which you want to somehow adapt to your household needs.


In the country, a cast-iron bathtub can find many uses.

Most often in the country, a bathtub is used as a reservoir for water used for irrigation, or as a container for making compost. But there are other ideas as well. For example, you can make original garden furniture from a bathtub or build a small artificial pond that will become a real decoration of the site. And here much depends on the imagination of the owner of the cottage. And viewing the photos of the options already implemented will help you navigate the situation and find something extraordinary for yourself. But you can also make a stove from a cast-iron bath, because in the store they are quite expensive. Cast iron is a perfectly suitable material for this purpose, which differs in:

  • high strength;
  • good thermal conductivity;
  • resistance to high temperatures;
  • unpretentiousness in operation.

Decorated cast iron bathtub for collecting water in the country

Of course, all cast iron products, despite their strength, are quite fragile. Therefore, they must be handled with care and avoid applying excessive mechanical forces to them. But still, a good furnace structure will turn out from an old bath. From it you can make one of several options for stoves for summer cottages:

  • street garden;
  • fireplace for a country house;
  • for a bath.

All these options are quite doable with your own hands, and watching a video on this topic will help you better understand the process of actions that will be required for the self-construction of the furnace. The bath itself will have to be cut into pieces. But sawing cast iron is not an easy task, requiring certain skills, effort and time.

How to cut a cast iron bath?

This operation must be approached with all responsibility. You need to act very carefully so as not to damage the cast iron product. For cutting, you will need a grinder and several metal discs. Work, if possible, is best done not indoors, but on the street, doing it in a respirator, goggles and construction gloves. It is necessary to follow the following sequence of actions:

  • first of all, the marking of the future section is made;

Sawing the tub carefully to avoid chipping
  • then, along the entire outlined line, a layer of enamel covering the cast-iron base of the bath is first incised to avoid the formation of chips along the edges;
  • after that, they begin to cut the cast iron itself with cuts of 10-12 cm, taking breaks when the tool overheats;
  • after sawing about half of the bath, you need to put supports under each of the parts, otherwise at the end of the work they can close and damage the tool.

Advice. It is desirable to cut the cast-iron base at an angle. In this case, as a result of the reverse stroke of the disc, the enamel will not peel off, and the cut itself will turn out to be even. With a good tool on hand, the job of cutting a cast iron tub apart can be done in about an hour.

A stove for a bath from a cast-iron bath: how to make it yourself?

It is much more difficult to build a sauna stove than to install an ordinary garden stove on the site. After all, it should be not only effective, but also safe. Therefore, you need to responsibly approach the installation of the stove in the room. And in order to quickly navigate the process of necessary actions, you can see a photo or familiarize yourself with the corresponding video material.

Attention! The construction of a bathhouse and any other stove requires compliance with fire safety rules. For its proper equipment, you need to have at least minimal knowledge and experience. Even before starting work, it is better to first consult on this issue with a specialist, finding out all the subtleties and nuances.

The furnace structure in the bathhouse must comply with the following parameters:

  • sufficient thermal power with the possibility of its change;
  • the ability to accumulate heat and produce steam;
  • the ability to regulate convection currents.

For the construction of the furnace, a cast-iron bath of standard sizes is suitable

After cutting the bath, you can begin to build a furnace structure. In this case, you can use only one half of the cast-iron container for the equipment of the furnace compartment. But they make bath stoves from two parts of the bath. The second half can go to the construction of a heater or to add a compartment for heating water.

Those who love to make everything with their own hands can build such an unusual sauna stove on their own. For this you need:

  1. Pour the foundation for the furnace structure from concrete mortar with or without filler. As a filler, you can use, for example, broken brick.
  2. Lay half of the cut bath on the foundation with the curved part up. With a cut, the cast-iron container must be built into the wall with removal to another room, from where the furnace will be fired. On this side, the hole is covered with a brick wall and a furnace and blower door is installed in it.
  3. Around the installed half of the bath, at a distance of about 10 cm, red brick walls are also erected, equal in height to the cast-iron container. The resulting space is filled with stones, which, when heated, will heat up, then giving off heat to the steam room.

Furnace construction

A fairly simple sauna stove can be built in two tiers. Heat will accumulate in the upper chamber. The principle of operation is as follows: the gas, passing through the bath, warms up the stones, goes to the opposite side, then goes down and then up, after which it exits the pipe.

Such a non-standard solution, like a sauna stove from an old bath, is not only original, but also quite simple. Its construction does not require the use of any special materials. A self-made furnace design will last as long as a purchased product. In addition, this option requires a significantly lower investment than the purchase of a furnace already in finished form.

Bath stove: video

Sooner or later, but still, there comes a time when you have to change the bathtub for a new one, and the old cast-iron vessel, still Soviet-made, as a rule, is sent to a landfill and to a ferrous metal collection point. However, do not rush - it is quite possible to use it a second time, giving it a "new life". Some owners of private houses make ponds out of bathtubs, others use them as garden benches, dividing the bowl in half lengthwise, processing the edges and adding legs to each of the halves.

But some craftsmen can make a stove from a cast-iron bath with their own hands, sawing it across. Such an original stove can be installed in a garden plot, or its cast-iron parts can be used for the combustion and cooking chamber of a large conventional stove or for arranging a fireplace.

If you have the skills to work with locksmith tools, which you cannot do without in this process, it is quite possible to save on some materials for the construction of the furnace.

Most often, an old cast-iron bath is used to make garden barbecue stoves, which, with the right design, become assistants in cooking for the entire warm season. Cast iron has a high heat capacity, so a chamber made from it will help not only prepare everyday meals, but also bake bread products, as well as make preparations for the winter.

Materials and tools for work

For the manufacture of such a furnace, you need to prepare the necessary tools and materials. Since sawing a cast-iron bath, especially Soviet-made, when metal was really not spared, is not so easy, and “disposable” Chinese appliances may not be able to cope with such a task. For this work, you need a reliable German or Russian tool.

Tools:

  • Small angle grinder - "Bulgarian".

"Bulgarian" must be reliable - a low-quality tool may not even be able to cope with such a task

  • Circles for cutting on metal, 1 mm thick and 125 mm in diameter, they will need 3 ÷ 4 pieces, depending on the thickness of the cast iron.
  • Grinding wheels - for processing the cut sides of metal, files.
  • Electric drill with metal drill Ø 9 or 11 m (depending on the selected bolts). It is necessary for drilling holes in the sides of the bath to connect its two parts with bolts.
  • Trowel and spatula for bricklaying and finishing work.
  • Construction gun for sealant.
  • Plumb and building level.
  • A hammer.

Prices for angle grinders

Materials:

  • The cast iron bath.
  • Sheet metal, at least 5 mm thick.
  • Cooking two-burner cast-iron stove. Instead, an ordinary metal sheet can be laid.
  • Brick for erecting walls that will close the lower part of the bath, which will be the combustion chamber, from three or even four sides.
  • Grate grate placed in the furnace.
  • Clay and sand for masonry mortar.
  • Ready-to-use heat-resistant adhesive mixture for exterior walls with ceramic tiles.
  • Heat-resistant sealant (material -).
  • Bolts with nuts and washers for fastening the structure.
  • Metal mesh "chain-link" for reinforcing the clay solution laid on the top of the bath, which will act as a cooking chamber.
  • Ceramic tiles (possibly broken) for decoration.
  • A metal corner that may be required for the manufacture of brackets - for installing a grate that separates the firebox and blower.
  • Chimney pipe with a diameter of about 110 ÷ 120 mm.

In order to ensure personal safety, work should be carried out in safety glasses, a respirator and construction gloves.

Prices for heat resistant sealant

heat resistant sealant

Cutting a cast iron bath

The most difficult and responsible process in the manufacture of a furnace is, perhaps, sawing a cast-iron bath, and many even believe that it is almost impossible to carry it out.

Perhaps the most crucial stage is a high-quality cut of a massive cast-iron bath

Masters who have already done this work more than once recommend doing it as follows:

  • If the cut of the bath will be carried out indoors, then first you need to carry out preparatory work, since the cast-iron dust, flying in all directions, can ruin the objects and things in it. Therefore, the room must be freed from them. If the apartment is being renovated, and the door from the bathroom has been removed, then the opening must be covered with plastic wrap or an unnecessary cloth (moistened is best), because cast iron dust is quite oily, and it will be extremely difficult to wash it from walls and furniture. It is better to take care in advance that she does not get into the living quarters.
  • Further, the marking of the future section is carried out on the bath, since it must be divided exactly in half.
  • The bath is covered with enamel, a layer 1.5 ÷ 2.5 mm thick, and first of all it is necessary to cut it along the entire line of the future cut, otherwise chips will form on the edge of the coating.
  • Then, the cast iron itself is carefully sawn, with small cuts of 100 ÷ 120 mm. Moreover, it is recommended to cut it at a slight angle so that the reverse motion of the disk does not peel off the enamel. It is necessary to ensure that the "grinder" does not overheat - if necessary, the work is interrupted, and the device is given time to cool down.
  • Having cut half of the bathtub, under each of the future halves it is necessary to put props, for example, from stacks of bricks. Otherwise, at the final stage of work, the halves of the tub along the sawn line may close, pinch or even break the disc (which is extremely dangerous) or damage the instrument.
  • With a quality tool, such work can be done in about an hour.

  • If the bath is taken out to the summer cottage in its entirety, then it is best to cut it on the street, turning it upside down in advance. In this position, work will be much easier.

You may be interested in information on what to guide when choosing

How to make a garden stove from a cast-iron bath?

When the cut bath is delivered to the installation site, you can proceed to the process of building the stove.

IllustrationBrief description of the operation to be performed
At the chosen location of the garden plot, a foundation is laid for the installation of the furnace. It is necessary, since the structure will turn out to be quite heavy, and without a reliable foundation it will constantly shrink, which means that the entire structure can be deformed.
Then the lower part of the bath is put on a ready, well-dried foundation. If you want the oven to be a little higher, then it is lifted onto supports and also fixed to the concrete solution.
While the concrete solution under the bottom of the bath will gain strength and mature, you can start preparing the rest of the structural elements.
It should be noted here that the oven can be made in two versions, and each master chooses the one that is more suitable for himself.
In the first version, the facade of the furnace is completely decorated with metal walls, and in the other case, the firebox and blower are closed with a brick wall, into which cast-iron or metal doors are built.
After the solution has hardened under the bottom of the furnace, it is best to immediately fix the brackets for installing the grate on the walls of the lower half-cylinder. This structural element separates the firebox and the blower, so it must be raised above the bottom of the bath by about 150 mm.
On the marked walls of the bath, metal corners are fixed, on which the grate is laid.
To assemble the furnace structure, a metal sheet is cut out, which will completely cover the lower furnace section.
The chimney can be welded into a metal sheet and led through the cooking chamber, i.e. the top of the tub, to the outside.
In order to cut a hole for a pipe in cast iron, first small holes are drilled along the marked contour of the circle, which are then carefully combined with a grinder, and then the resulting opening is brought to the desired configuration with a file.
Or you can choose another option, less laborious - this is the installation of a chimney pipe through the back wall of the furnace. In this case, the pipe will have to be connected to the bath hole intended for the "drain-overflow" system.
The next step is that the furnace part of the furnace is smeared along the contour with a fire-resistant sealant and covered with a sheet of metal with a chimney installed in it.
Some craftsmen make a cutout of the right size in a metal sheet and install a cast-iron, more heat-intensive, hob on it.
Next, you need to install the second part of the bath on top of the metal sheet, which has a hole for the pipe.
Before its installation, the sheet of metal in the places of future contact with the side of the bathtub is also smeared with sealant.
It turns out that the upper part is put on the pipe, and then the chimney is increased to a height of 1000 ÷ 2500 mm, depending on the openness of the space where the structure is installed.
The next step is to twist the upper and lower parts of the bath, as well as the metal sheet installed between them, using bolts with a diameter of 8 ÷ 10 mm.
To do this, through holes are drilled in the sides of the bathtub with a pitch of 150 ÷ ​​200 mm, through which all the elements assembled into a single structure are fastened.
In this figure, you can see how the structure should look from the side after it is fastened.
Here is a view of the cast-iron furnace body from the facade and it clearly shows how the chimney pipe should be installed in the metal sheet and in the "ceiling" of the combustion chamber.
Then, the combustion and blower chambers are separated by a grate.
The grate is laid on metal corners fixed on the walls.
But, in principle, it can also be placed in a cylindrical chamber without brackets - if a suitable size is chosen, providing a clearance at the bottom point of the order of 150 mm.
Next, you can move on to masonry work.
As mentioned above, the walls can be erected only on three sides of the structure - on the sides and behind, or around the entire perimeter of the cast-iron chambers.
First, the masonry line is marked along the foundation, and then the walls are removed.
If from the front side the firebox and the blower will be closed with a brick wall, then the blower door is mounted in the wall at the level of the bottom of the lower part of the bath, and the furnace door is at a level just above the grate.
Having folded the walls to the level of the cooking chamber, it is necessary to expand them inward so that the brick fits snugly against the outside of the bath.
Otherwise, the stove will not only look sloppy, but the heat created in the furnace will be blown out by a draft very quickly.
In this embodiment, to close the cooking chamber, which can serve as an excellent oven, a shutter is made of a metal sheet.
This structural element should close the oven as tightly as possible, otherwise it will be problematic to bake bread or a pie in it.
In order for the damper to tightly close the chamber, a metal corner must be fixed in front of the latter. The distance between it and the front cut of the bath should be 1 ÷ 2 mm more than the thickness of the metal sheet of the door.
The damper handle must be protected from overheating, otherwise you cannot do without burns, so most often its gripping part is made of wood.
The second design option for the front part is to cover the fuel part of the furnace with a metal sheet in which a hole is cut out for installing the furnace door.
To design the cooking chamber, a figured element of the desired shape is cut out from the same metal sheet, which is fixed from the outside to the walls of the cast-iron container using corners.
It should be noted that this method of closing the furnace chambers is more laborious and less efficient than the first one, and besides, it is unlikely that it will be possible to save money by using metal instead of brick.
After the lower furnace part of the furnace is partially or completely dressed in brickwork, you can proceed to the insulation of the cooking chamber.
Since clay mortar has low thermal conductivity and adheres well to surfaces, it is perfect for creating a "fur coat" for the top of the furnace.
For this, a thick and plastic clay mixture is prepared with the addition of sifted sand, in approximate proportions of 1:2 or 1:3, depending on the fat content of the clay. Sometimes, in order for the hardened solution to crack less after drying, a little lime is added to it.
While the solution is infused, the outer cast-iron surface of the brewing section is covered with a “chain-link” metal mesh with cells of 15 ÷ 20 mm - it reinforces the insulation layer well, and will also help retain the solution until it hardens on a fairly smooth surface.
The grid is fixed to the brickwork located on the sides and back of the combustion chamber.
Then, a clay solution is applied on top of the mesh. You can lay it in two layers, the first of which does not have to be smoothed to perfection, and the second is leveled with a trowel moistened with water, a wide spatula or trowel.
In total, the thickness of the layer after drying should be approximately 50÷70 mm.
When the stove is ready and insulated, it needs to be given the most aesthetic appearance, that is, to make it not only a functional appliance, but also a decorative decoration of landscape design.
Some owners of the plots prefer to leave the brickwork in its natural form, and cover the clay "fur coat" with whitewash in several layers.
Another option would be to finish the entire structure with ceramic tiles.
Moreover, for this case, leftovers and even a battle from tile materials of different colors are suitable, and this will help to significantly save on finishing.
If the tiles are broken into small pieces, then they will make an excellent original mosaic.
Sometimes finishing is also carried out with natural stone, cut into plates with a thickness of 10 ÷ 12 mm.
Finishing material should be laid on a special heat-resistant composition.
The result is an excellent stove in which you can cook every day in the summer, saving electricity or gas.
Moreover, food cooked in the oven is always more aromatic and tasty than food cooked on a gas or electric stove.

Thus, by building a stove from an old bath, you can get several benefits at once:

  • Attach an old thing with maximum benefit.
  • Decorate landscape design with an exclusive, and most importantly, a very functional accessory.
  • Save on building materials, and in the future - on fuel (energy source) when cooking.
  • Get the opportunity to cook a variety of, not only tasty, but also healthy dishes every day.

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How to use an old cast-iron bath in a different way?

In addition to a barbecue oven for a summer cottage, an old cast-iron bathtub can also be used to make a few more useful things.

  • Part of the cast-iron bath will make an excellent firebox for the fireplace. The convenience of such use lies in the fact that it is not necessary to remove complex semicircular shapes of the hearth from the brick. To fold a neat fireplace with a firebox with an arched vault, you will have to make a template from boards or plywood, and then do complex manipulations of lining it with bricks. The cut off part of the old bath already has the desired shape, moreover, it can easily withstand the weight of the masonry. It remains only to make a chimney hole in its “ceiling” and overlay the cast-iron firebox with brickwork, and then decorate it with a fireplace portal from the outside.

  • From a sawn cast-iron bath, you can also make a combustion chamber for a sauna stove. In this case, it is installed in the same way as in the manufacture of a fireplace - with a dome up. Part of the bath is installed on a concrete base located in the steam bath, and the edge, where the bathroom section is located, is built into the wall and taken out to another room, from where the furnace will be fired. Then, the cut hole is covered with a brick wall, into which a furnace and blower door is installed.

In the steam room, along the entire perimeter of the bath, at a distance of 80 ÷ 100 mm from it, a wall is also being erected, the height of which should be equal to the height of the cast-iron container. Further, all the resulting space around the bath and the brick wall is filled with stones, which will warm up during the heating of the stove and give the necessary heat to the steam room.

  • Another use of old cast-iron bathtubs is the manufacture of garden furniture, reliable and durable, which will last for decades. Carefully cutting the bath along, you can get a comfortable "sofa", which is installed in the gazebo or near the barbecue oven. In this case, you get a whole set to decorate the landscape design of the garden plot. Such a "sofa" is not afraid of rain, snow, high and low temperatures. It does not require special care - it is enough to wipe it with a damp and then dry cloth. The smooth surfaces of the sofa are easily painted, both inside and out, and by sewing soft pillows, you can relax on it not only while sitting, but also lying down, stretched out to your full height.

In addition to “sofas”, two comfortable “armchairs” can be made from any bath by cutting it across. Having equipped such “armchairs” with beautiful legs, you can get an exclusive and almost eternal thing. The only drawback of cast-iron "furniture" is its heavy weight, since it will be problematic to move it from place to place.

Some craftsmen manage to make a bath set consisting of a designer chair and an original coffee table with a built-in lamp or even a floor lamp.

  • Most often, old cast-iron bathtubs, taken out to suburban areas, are used as containers for constructing an artificial pond, which will certainly become an excellent decoration of the territory. The bowl is installed in a prepared pit, to which a sewer pipe is connected, and its ground part is designed to the taste of the owners of the cottage.

Another use case is an artificial pond in the garden.

In this case, you will not have to cut the bath, and the laboriousness of the work will consist only in excavation, lowering the tank into the pit and connecting it to the drain.

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Russian summer residents very often surprise with their ingenuity, and, it would seem, old things that have completely served out on their plots receive a “second life”. Perhaps, having studied the options presented, someone will have the desire and inspiration to come up with their own stove model or other things that are useful in country conditions. There will be slaves if such an inventor shares his achievements on the pages of our portal. study the link.