The Morgan's WFO build Brick Oven Photos Discuss The Morgan's WFO build in the Good Background Information forums; That is one outstanding patio area. You are going to love having all of that counter space around the oven. ...

[DrakeRemoray]

That is one outstanding patio area. You are going to love having all of that counter space around the oven.

Drake

[vintagemx0]

Thanks for the kind words on our patio. We can't wait to actually use it in leisure.

Last weekend we poured the insulation slab. It's 1:6 portland cement-to-perlite. We had errored when we poured our structural slab and made it an inch lower than what we really wanted, so the insulation slab is 5 inches thick. Oh well, better than being too thin...

This weekend we cut all the hearth bricks and got them installed. They are levelled on a thin film of sand mixed with the sediment from the brick saw. After we were satisfied with the level, we watered it down and continued tapping with a mallet.

So, now we're waiting for the mortar and perhaps will work a little more on patio details.




Dixie and Ken Morgan

[vintagemx0]

Hello all,

We recieved our ReMix mortar today (was exceptionally fast!!!), but I had thought each bag was around 30 pounds. They are 22 pounds (10 kilos), so instead of what I (mistakenly) thought was a total of 90 pounds of dry mix, we have 66 pounds of dry mix.

We're building a 36" pompeii style dome, and we're wondering how much mortar some of you guys that have "been there, done that" think we should have on hand. Is 66 pounds enough?

Thanks in advance,

Dixie and Ken

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

hi Dixie and ken,
i have a 42 inch dome, (measured inside) i used 2 1/2 50 lb bags of heat stop, I laid 220 bricks including the floor and chimney. But I am sure i used more than necessary and had a bunch of spillage, as well as mixing too much at once and then not being able to use it.

I think if your very neat, keep your joints tight, dont drop half of it or mix too much you should be fine,,, I am glad when some one else can learn from my misteaks.

Check your local masonry supply for heat stop 50 dry mix, In case you run out you can pick up another bag quiickly if you need to.

One More Question

are you considering polishing the concrete coutertops ? I started buying the equipment for it, just havent had time to do it yet,

GREAT JOB on your build I hope you are both very proud
Good luck and welcome to the club
Mark

[vintagemx0]

Hello Mark,

Thanks for the response. Did some of those 2-1/2 bags go into putting a layer over the finished dome? If so, how thick of a layer did you use?

We have been talking about polishing, staining, and sealing the large, lower counter top. The small upper one we are going to tile. The remainder of the structure will be stucco. We'd be very interested hearing your experience and seeing photos of the process and tools you use to polish your concrete.

Thanks again,

Dixie and ken

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

hi dixie & ken

I used whatever heat stop was left over after i was done laying bricks for the day and applied it to the dome. I would say I have about a 1/2 inch layer at the most over the whole dome, after i applied it to the dome i would smooth it out with a wet tile sponge.

i bought a cement polishing kit from an importer on ebay because the price was good and never received it. I finally got my money back from paypal.

I just bought the other day a pack of 4" grinder discs from harbor freight for polishing concrete (they claim) I am planning on doing it soon. it was cheap (12.95) so I figured it wouldnt hurt to try it. I will let you know how it goes.....

ebay has tons of nice polishing stuff, just stay away from the importers,,,,,

good luck,,
Mark

[vintagemx0]

This weekend we began on the dome. Friday night, I decided I did not like the hearth we had layed-out. I thought it was too uneven and had some pretty large gaps. So, we tore it out and re-screeded and reset on Saturday morning. Shortly afterward, we put in the soldier coarse and one 1/2 brick coarse.



That ugly mug is me The re-installation of the hearth was a major improvement. There were still a few edges that were high and I wanted to fix them. I read on here where some people sand them down, and just the other night I read a comment where some asked "Can you imagine rubbing bricks together to obtain a good fit?" - referring to an old-world way that craftsmen would work. I chose a brick with a chipped corner, and layed it on the hearth and began rubbing (grinding) the hearth by hand. It actually works very well! I found if the bricks are moist and the dust (mud) cleaned-off from time to time, it actually goes pretty fast. I spent about 10 minutes doing this and will probably do about another 10 minutes before the door arch goes up. The hearth is really smooth and slick!

We put in the beginnings of the door opening arch buttress and packed all the gaps with mortar after the whole thing set-up. We used 20 kg of RefMix up to this point, leaving us with only 10 more kg, so we are going to need to get some more before next weekend.

The first coarse of 1/2 bricks were "eyeballed" - all subsequent courses will be set using a pivot arm and incline indicator.



Living the dream! We're stoked to be to this point.

Dixie and Ken

[Dino_Pizza]

Ken, that looks great for eyeballing! Also, those soldiers do take up a lot of Refixm, it scared me too but it went farther with the brick rings.

I see you're doing the "wedge-and-fill" method for mortaring. Looks good. And if the rest of your build looks as good as your floor, your oven will be a work of art. Good job, Dino

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Great Job Dixie & Ken,

After its done you will be consumed with cooking in it, Sunday Night I roasted a beer can chicken in a pot with potato's around it, and cooked a few loaves of bread while it was in there. Great dinner with no mess or heat in the house

Mark

[vintagemx0]

Dino, thanks for the kind words. We're finding that we're really "winging-it", and having reference to all the great builds on this forum is what's letting us proceed.

Mark - That chicken looks sooo good!

We spent the weekend building-up the dome. It's a little sloppy where the rings meet the arch, but it will be strong and will work-out with some fanciful cuts.









So, we'll try to keep plugging on it as time permits on the week nights, but will definately get much further ahead by the end of next weekend.

Dixie and Ken