Breven's Outdoor Kitchen Progress Brick Oven Photos Discuss Breven's Outdoor Kitchen Progress in the Good Background Information forums; thanks for the info. I'll try home depot,again fantastic job on your project....

[MAVANO]

thanks for the info. I'll try home depot,again fantastic job on your project.

[Breven]

Made some nice progress with the brickwork over the holidays...the rounded back end of the oven enclosure is coming out great. The only problem I'm running into is the slow progress. I can only knock out about 40 bricks in a full day- with 800 or 900 bricks in total, it's taking forever! I also ran into a big problem with my tile counters. I think I grouted while the weather was too cold, I have cracks everywhere. Looks like I'll need to take it all out and try again. Maybe a latex additive will help keep it from cracking?
Also have a pic here of a pizza I made over new years...black beans, rice, guac, sour cream, chorizo and white cheddar. Sounds gross, but it was actually great!

[bturton]

The brickwork and the pizza both look great! Good job!

[Les]

Looks Great. I know what you mean about taking forever - I think that if you don't do it everyday, it is a slow process. Very clever on your lines. I was able to stretch string, don't think that is possible on a radius.

[Breven]

Hey Les...I gotta say, brickwork is tough. Since I have no clue what I am doing, I constantly run into little problems. Turning the bricks on end over the counter to avoid cutting a little sliver of brick at the bottom only took about an hour of staring at it to figure that out! I'm going to scratch mason off of my list of possible career changes- no way could I do this everyday.

[exceloven]

Breven,
You may not want to do brickwork for a living but you are certainly doing a great job. How are you bending those bricks around the radius.

Mark

[asudavew]

Nice Man!

One of these days I need to finish mine........

Good work bro!

Add that kegerator yet?

[Breven]

Hey Mark....thanks for the compliment, it is turning out pretty good. The full size of the brick split is about 7 3/4" long...which is a little to long to turn that corner cleanly. I've been cutting 3/4" off of each edge at a 10 degree angle. A shorter brick and the angled edge helps me to get a tighter turn. It's not completley rounded off, if I take a close picture you'll see the corners sticking out a little...but it's uniform and looks clean enough. If I could only speed up my 1 brick every 15 minutes...maybe I'll actually finish!

[Breven]

Oh Dave...it ain't done yet, not even close. I think still have about 300 or so bricks and then the stone roof to contend with. Not to mention the fact that I have to rip out and re-do all of the grout work on the unter tops. I'm hoping to throw the "it's finally done" party next summer! And no kegorator...I wish. Just didn't have the room. I went practical and put a sink in (but it's a double sink, which will hold a 12 pack in ice just fine!)

[Frances]

Hey Breven,

I recently ran into a product which you can paint on grouting to seal up small cracks - I dunno, but maybe it'd be worth looking into something that before you rip everything out.

My limited experience with grout seems to show that the cracks will develop sooner or later, but can be kept in check if you apply a sealant each autumn. Just an idea....

I love the brickwork btw, its looking great!