Ottawa Oven - Onward Once More!

[Les]

Sarah, it is nasty stuff so dress appropriately. Always add the acid to water. Some recommend a 10/1 solution. I found that a waste of time and went the stronger route. Use some really good house cleaning gloves and a sponge. Soak the sponge and just start wiping the area you want clean – the mortar will simply dissolve. You may want some water in the area so you can do a quick neutralize if needed. One more thing – AVOID breathing the gasses that it will emit.

It's really not that bad and well worth the look when it's done.

Les...

[sarah h]

Wow that muriatic acid works wonders - thanks Les!

I very cautiously tried some out tonight on some of the decking stones that have been set for a while, scrubbing with a toothbrush so I wouldn't get any in the mortar joints since I'm not sure if that would be a bad thing, then wiping several times with a wet cloth.

You can see the difference in the photo below - both of the dark stones looked like the top middle one before getting 'the treatment'. (As you can see too, I was dodging raindrops; that meant no new stonework tonight. )

The problem, however, is this - to finish the job, am I going to have to scrub my entire oven with a toothbrush??!!

[Les]

Looks like night and day, good job. Use a sponge. If it does get to an area you don't want - hit it with water. It may compromise your joints a little, but not as much as you think. And in the end of the day - I am scraping 1/4 to 3/8 inch out of my joints for the "rake look". You are good to go!

Les...

[sarah h]

More progress today - I'm almost finished with the chimney, just one more very small bit to do there. As for the dome, if all goes well, it'll be done tomorrow! Then what's left is to clean the brick, cap the chimney and do something to finish the base. I think I may just stucco the base for now to make it waterproof and apply some stone at a later point. Oh yeah, and doors for the wood storage, at least for the side opening. Still, I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel ...

... except for one thing ... I keep looking at the surrounding area and thinking enhancements are now needed to do justice to the oven - a flagstone patio, a stone 'outdoor kitchen' counter, a water feature, plants, new fence ... and so it goes, I guess - that tunnel light is fading ...

[christo]

It looks great!

That's what I should have done was finish the oven totally before going on to the patio, lighting, plumbing...

I really like the stone on the oven and chimney, too.

Must feel good that i'ts now at a point where you can show it off and enjoy it.

Christo

[sarah h]

The dome is done!

Well, almost - there are still some finishing touches, like cleaning the stone (you can see where I started, on the chimney) and putting some kind of finish on the firebrick ends. I also need to mortar the chimney cap support stones and centre the cap. Then there's stucco (sooner) & stone (later) for the base.

It feels good though to finally have all the dome stones in place - I was SOOO ready to be done with this phase!

Lit a small fire tonight to see how it draws now that there's an extra foot of pipe and a new cap - works just fine and no more smoke in the eyes.

Tomorrow, it's off to the lake for a couple of days. When I come back I plan to do some cooking!

[Modthyrth]

Oooh, I love how you did the chimney cap. I'm going to remember that.

[egalecki]

It looks wonderful, Sarah. The way you did the cap is terrific.

Was it terribly tedious to do the stone on the dome? I'm leaning toward colored stucco with maybe bands of tile or stone on mine. I still haven't had the final "aha" moment in my head about that...

[sarah h]

Thanks for the kind comments. I’m really pleased with the cap – I think it suits the style of the oven. Where the style is concerned, I wanted something that didn’t look too ‘new’, sort of like it could have been there forever, which is why I went with the stone.

To answer the question about whether it was tedious to stone the dome - I suppose I could have spent a whole lot more time and/or money looking for just the perfect natural, rounder-shaped stones but these fell into my lap from a neighbour’s project and, all in all, I’m quite pleased. There are a few things it might help others considering natural stone to know though … I did want flat stones so the overall profile wouldn’t end up looking too knobbly but if I’d had more patience and better masonry skills, I might have softened the edges for a less angular look to the stones. The actual laying of the stones was much easier in some regards than doing the bricks for the dome but trying to fit random-sized pieces together well, without having an endless supply to pick from, and without having the ability to hand-shape them to my satisfaction, was a challenge in spots. I wanted a softer natural edge to them but often they would just break in clean lines. Thickness varied too, anywhere from an inch-and-a-half to less than a half-inch – not a big deal, just another thing to contend with. Then there was the fact that there are two of us involved in this project - my husband, whose approach was ‘Just slap ‘em on and get it done!’, and me, with a tendency to agonize over the placement of every stone, according to it’s shape colour, thickness. It would likely be best ideally to have just one person’s vision and style applied to this part of the job. (Mine! )

Whew, that was lengthy and probably sounds pretty negative though I don’t mean it to be. I’m glad we went with the stone and really pleased with its rustic appeal. It’s a strong look that is just begging to be the backdrop for some finishing touches, like a big basket of red geraniums (good luck to me in finding such a thing around here at the end of July!) or some iron pieces like the one in the photo below. The stonework was, for me, the mountain to be conquered. Now, I’m really enthusiastic again about finishing it up and am already planning an additional wing on the right side – worktop, storage and camp-style Dutch oven trough, so I can cook in it (using charcoal briquets) and do other things in the WFO at the same time!

[Ken524]

Sarah, Your chimney rocks!