Refractory Materials Repairers, Except Brickmasons
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
Lining work on furnaces, kilns, boilers, and ladles means mixing sand, clay, and mortar to a specified recipe, then troweling refractory clay onto pouring spouts and worn interiors. When a lining is too far gone, slag and old material are chipped out with hammers and chisels so a new lining can go in. The work is physical and takes place around industrial heating equipment, often with teammates watching how the lining is holding up. It suits people who like hands-on repair, exact mix-and-rebuild steps, and keeping high-temperature vessels in service.
Typical education: High School Diploma or GED
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$61'290
Median Wage Market Position
$61'290
What you might do
- Repair furnace and kiln linings with clay
- Reline ladles and pouring spouts
- Chip slag off worn ladle walls
- Mix sand, clay, and water into mortar
- Tear out linings too damaged to keep
- Trowel fresh mortar into boilers and ovens
Skills that matter
- Trowel work on ladle linings
- Slag chipping when linings fail
- Mortar mixing from specified amounts
- Judging when a lining must come out
- Reading mix amounts from the specs
- Crew coordination on furnace repairs
AI & the future of this role
Rebuilding furnace linings and kiln interiors means working with heat-resistant materials in confined, hazardous spaces. Modeling tools might help plan repairs, yet demand for careful hands-on refractory work in high-temperature plants is likely to stay strong.
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Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details