It begins!

[dbhansen]

Congrats, Mike! I had a 'heckuva' time with my copper tubes for the thermocouples. I kept bending them while I was screeding the hearth, I got a low spot around one, and then it was a real struggle to get them straight after the hearth dried. I hope you had more luck! There must be some other less-pliable tubing that would work better, or maybe just an oiled removable dowel.

[christo]

I wonder if the foam weather stripping would work - they make a few sizes of round foam rope that might do the trick. I presume it's for jamming into cracks.

Christo

[Breven]

Man...the things you guys have to do in a cold climate. No wonder there are so many of us living in California! Not sure about the foundation, since frost isn't anything I'll ever have to worry about- but as a guy with no experience either, I'd say dry staking your blocks and filling most of the cores is the easy way to go. Just make sure your foundation is level, go vertical with some rebar and tie in a course horizontally with a row of rebar.

[mfiore]

Christo, I am so glad to have the stand behind me. Probably over-engineered in every way, but I'm confident it will hold up to the winters

Darren, I also had a tricky time with the copper tubes. I'm still not sure what to do with them. I clearly just followed your lead. When ever I'm questioned, I just say "well that's how Daren did it"

Did you stick the thermocouples through the copper tube, or know them out and place the wires through the void left in the concrete?

Breven, it makes me wonder why any of us even live up here.

Thanks for all the help!

[dbhansen]

Originally Posted by mfiore

When ever I'm questioned, I just say "well that's how Daren did it"

Them I'm glad we have Lake Michigan between us! I forget whose lead I was following, but I do have to place the blame/credit with someone else....

Originally Posted by mfiore

Did you stick the thermocouples through the copper tube, or know them out and place the wires through the void left in the concrete?

For the one in the middle of my hearth, I cut it off about 1/8" above the hearth and shoved a rod through it to straighten it out. The thermocouple (encased in a stainless steel rod) will fit through the tube, so I'm leaving the copper tube in place.

My second tube is just for routing the above-mentioned thermocouple's wires to the outside of the dome, so I'll likely leave that copper tube in place as well.

If I had to do it over again, I'd look for some kind of plastic tube that's easy to remove. The copper was too pliable for me. Sorry I didn't warn you earlier!

[mfiore]

Progress is slow. I pulled the forms on my hearth. All stable.

Now just waiting for supplies. I've not been real happy with the quality of firebrick available locally. I picked some up, but it's real difficult to get a handful with no chips or chunks out of the edges to build the floor with. I drove down to the Detroit area and had even worse luck. I think I'm just going to have to work with what I have.

I debating using the KFAC-19 insulating board, but decided to fork over the cash and ordered the FB boards instead. This decision was based on several reasons. Cost was not one of them (unfortunately).

First, can't find enough info on KFAC-19. A few members have talked about it, but haven't heard from anyone that's used it. It has different specs than the insblock19, so I don't think they are the same. My supplier could not confidently tell me it holds up well if damp. Although it might be good enough for home use, it certainly does not have the compression strength or insulating properties of the FB board.

More importantly, I realized while these forums are mutually beneficial, I have posted almost 250 questions and or comments to the group and have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge but have contributed almost nothing. My contribution will be to purchase supplies from FB. While this benefits none of you, at least James gets rewarded minimally for his efforts.