Okay, so the other day I was thinking, my wood stove is getting old, and I should probably replace the fire bricks inside. I wasn’t really sure where to even start looking, so I hopped on my computer and just typed in “wood stove fire bricks near me.”
I started by just browsing through the results. I saw a few big box stores pop up, you know, the usual home improvement places. I figured they’d probably have some, but I wasn’t sure about the quality or if they’d have the right size.
Checking Out the Local Hardware Stores
- First, I called my local hardware store – the little one down the street. The guy who answered, I think his name was Bob, he said they had a few different sizes, but he wasn’t 100% sure if they were exactly what I needed.
- He suggested I bring in one of my old bricks so he could compare. I thought that’s not a bad idea.
- I grabbed a brick from my stove. I then drove to that hardware store and check.
Turns out, Bob was right. They had some that were close, but not quite the same. He suggested checking a specialty stove shop a few towns over.
Finding the Specialty Shop
So, back to the computer I went. I did another search, being a bit more specific this time, looking for “stove shops” and my general area.
One place popped up, it looked promising. They had pictures of all kinds of stoves and parts on their website. It will spend about 30mins driving so I gave them a ring to ask if they sell the fire bricks and got some general prices.
The lady on the phone, she was super helpful. She asked me about the make and model of my stove, which, luckily, I could find stamped on the back. She said they definitely carried bricks for my model and even had some in stock!
Getting the Bricks and Doing the Swap
I drove over there the next day. The shop was great, they had all sorts of stove stuff. The lady I talked to on the phone showed me the bricks, and they were a perfect match! I bought enough to replace all of the old ones.
That afternoon, I got to work. I took out the old, cracked bricks (wearing gloves, of course, they were pretty rough). Then I carefully fitted the new ones in. It was actually pretty easy, they just slid right into place.
Now my stove is looking good as new, and I’m ready for winter! It just goes to show, sometimes the best way to find something is to start with a simple search and then just follow the leads.