Tims oven - early days! Brick Oven Photos Discuss Tims oven - early days! in the Good Background Information forums; Looking good Tim. Can I ask what size WFO you are aiming for?...

[glennb]

Looking good Tim.
Can I ask what size WFO you are aiming for?

[Tim F]

I finished off the stand after I picked up the last few blocks I needed. Tomorrow I'm going to get some rebar and then fill the cores, and I'm hoping to get the forms set up ready to pour the next slab by Sunday!

[Dutchoven]

Originally Posted by Frances

Impressive (hhuuuhSHAAAA... hhuuuSHAAAA...*)... very impressive..., but its not an oven stand yet...


*this of course would be the heavy breathing.

Oh, behave!!!

Tim
Looking good man! I did that for a frien of ours the other day(laid the block walls I mean)...yes Frances I will be getting to build yet another oven!
Best
Dutch

[Tim F]

Originally Posted by glennb

Looking good Tim.
Can I ask what size WFO you are aiming for?

I'm planning an internal diameter of 105cm, although that is subject to slight variation when I decide on my final insulation option. At the moment I'm thinking I can squeeze in the 105cm if I use 3 layers of insulating blanket with maybe a tiny layer of either verm-crete or a castable insulation plus the render.

[egalecki]

I don't know how practical a "tiny layer" of vermcrete will be- I think it might be hard to get on there that way. I laid mine up in vertical layers- it's about as thick as my hand in most places. I did stick it on in a thinner layer on the front of the vent- it's about 1 1/2 inches there, but that was a hard surface, not the softer blanket, and it was still tricky to get it to stick. It wanted to separate from the brick under it.

Do you need to have it stuccoed? Maybe using metal studs and building an enclosure might work better for the finish? You could space the studs to miss the really narrow area on the sides of the dome. Enclosures can look really cool. I didn't do one because I was worried about how big it would look in my yard, but hey, now that I'm almost finished, it's freaking humongous anyway!

You can't skimp on insulation, so don't even think it. I would either rethink your size or your finish options.

[egalecki]

thinking some more- you could actually extend your form past the edges of your stand a bit- if you use enough rebar you'd be fine- that would maybe give you enough room to fit what you want on there without it being a problem. A couple of inches on each side is all you'd need- I'd build a form with legs, using concrete backer board to support the extended part. You could just leave the backer board in place later.

[Frances]

Originally Posted by Dutchoven

Oh, behave!!!

...erm, that was heavy breathing like Darth Vadar does... You know, his scuba diving impression? And then he goes "impressive, very impressive, but you're not a Jedi yet." One of my favourite scenes, that is.

However, I will admit you could well have been right, Dutch.

[Dutchoven]

Originally Posted by Frances

...erm, that was heavy breathing like Darth Vadar does... You know, his scuba diving impression? And then he goes "impressive, very impressive, but you're not a Jedi yet." One of my favourite scenes, that is.

However, I will admit you could well have been right, Dutch.

I knew the scene...I have just been a bit playful these days
Best

[Tim F]

Originally Posted by egalecki

thinking some more- you could actually extend your form past the edges of your stand a bit- if you use enough rebar you'd be fine- that would maybe give you enough room to fit what you want on there without it being a problem. A couple of inches on each side is all you'd need- I'd build a form with legs, using concrete backer board to support the extended part. You could just leave the backer board in place later.

All interesting ideas. I have mulled over extending the slab beyond the stand a little bit but it is in a pretty tight spot already. I was kind of thinking that 3 layers of blanket might almost be enough on it's own - am I wrong? The other alternative would be to put a thicker layer of castable insulation straight on top of the brick. The one I'm looking at has very similar insulating properties to the blanket, and I'd have room for 40mm or so of it. Then I'd use 2 layers of blanket. I'm just not sure about how easy the castable will be to work with - I will find out soon though, as I've decided to use it as the insulation underneath the oven.

I have also thought about an enclosure as opposed to a dome but I really like the look of the dome and want to keep it if at all possible. It's difficult to find the right compromise between form and function sometimes!

[egalecki]

It's not the amount of insulation you have planned that's the problem, it's getting the dome successfully covered in something hard enough to stucco that's the problem... I don't know if you can stucco directly on the blanket, and I don't know if you can put on a layer of vermicrete as thin as you're talking about.

I think there may be a product you can use to harden blanket, but I am not sure, and I don't know if it changes its effectiveness if you use it. If it exists.