[Bacterium]

ok the insulating bit. ...After much reading of posts on here (and as per plans here) the best option seemed to be a thermal blanket and some amount of perlite/vermiculite layer. I put on the cermic fiber blanket (1inch) and then some perlite (local landscape supplier) between 1 and 2 inches.

the perlite it weird....just as everyone says strange to put on and it makes you wonder if it will go hard at all. 1 week later (and keeping the kid away from peeling it off) it has now gone rock hard...while the pictures don't show it the whole dome - all the way down to the brick base is covered with the blanket and vermiculite.

I fired it up over a week later, just to see how it went. It amazing how more efficient the oven is. There were a couple spots where I could feel slight warmth but the rest of the dome was stone cold. The warm spots seem to be where I had trouble getting the perlite on thick.

Some days later I then read a post where james and others say "more is good" (insulation that is). I had some blanket left over (enough to cap the top half of the dome) so I put that on top of the vermiculite making sure it covered the two spots where there was some warmth when I fired it......probably not the ideal way but I'm hoping better than none at all.

I then put another layer of chicken wire over the whole lot with the idea this will tie it all down to the base for when I render over the whole insulated area. The wife has booked Sat. and Sun. night with people coming over so it looks like I won't get to do the render for another week......but I will get bread and pizza going....ok time I posted that in the cooking area.