Ottawa Oven - Onward Once More!

[SpringJim]

Nice Sarah....

Looks like a lighthouse on the rocks, just add a light at the top

[sarah h]

Some spare time and sunny weather allowed us to construct a flue box out of cement board. The plan is to mortar it in place, fill it with vermicrete insulation, which will help anchor it better, finish it with the same stone as the dome and add a stone cap.

If anyone out there sees any problem with these plans, let me know ... soon ...

I'm sort of at a point where ... I . just . want. to be DONE!

[sarah h]

PS - part of that 'want to be DONE' is so I can clean up the total mess that is my yard right now!

[karl]

GJ,

I'm probably wrong, but I don't see any great reason in insulating the arched entryway. You will loose most of your heat from the floor of the oven. The arch to chimney section probably gets as hot as any part of the dome. You're not cooking there (normally) unless the oven is too hot. I didn't insulate mine.

Maybe you should insulate this part and the lower part of the stack for protection?

regards from karl

[biondoli]

Agree with Karl, I would insulate any exposed part for 2 reasons: dissipation of heat and protection of your finish otherwise will crack.

[sarah h]

I’m sure I’ve broken a bunch of masonry rules over the past few days but here’s the latest …

The inside of the chimney is full of vermicrete - hopefully enough to prevent cracking of the stonework , as doing this once will be plenty for me!

Up to now, I had thought the brick part of the dome was the tough part but trying to find just the right bits of stone to fit into various spaces and look good too is a real job. At least it’s moving along though, and I think we’ve reached a point where we should be able to complete the exterior of the dome and chimney fairly quickly … if it doesn’t keep raining (it’s been wetter than normal around here for months).

The cast iron bird on the right side of the mantle may find his final perch on top of the chimney once it’s done. Harder to see, on the left, is the turtle. Both are symbolic: the turtle, because it really does look sort of like one, as Neill suggested (easier than wiring it to look like a lighthouse, as suggested by Jim …maybe for the next one, at the lake though!) and because I feel like I’m moving about as fast as one in getting this thing done. I guess my oven can now officially be known as … the TurtleDome!
As for the bird, once the dome is waterproof and I don’t need to keep wrapping it up, that’s when we can really take off and cook in this thing, soaring to new culinary heights, so to speak … or so we hope!

As for the basketball, its final resting place will be well away from the oven.

My target date for finishing the dome is Friday - after that, I’m on holidays for two weeks. Once I'm back, I'll need to see about cleaning up the stone. Right now, it has a whitish haze all over it which I tried to clean as I went along but it didn't seem to matter what I tried!

[Les]

Looks like a fine oven to me. In regard to cleaning - I'm a HUGE proponent of muriatic acid. Start with a 25% solution - go up from there. It does miracles.

Les...

[sarah h]

OK Les, I now have a bottle of muriatic acid - do you just slosh it on?
Then do you let it sit or rub & scrub?? I'm assuming I only use it on parts where the mortar is already well cured but I'm worried about what it will do to the mortar - I really only want to clean the stone bits.This stuff kind of scares me!

[sarah h]

I just realized - I didn't indicate it in my last post but I know ... I need to dilute it first!

[berryst]

Sarah
I can totally agree with getting the mess gone. Though I read about projects that go on and on after you live with it for a while its kinda hard to take. It's not that I'm a neat freak I'm just tired of the construction zone.

I'm about where you are. I've started the curing process. The second small fire is going as we speak. Its a little slow as I don't want to ignite the still-intact forms.

I still have to Finnish berming the earth
Berryst