cracks and seepage.

[testadom]

I live in the Boston area and after the winter, went out to warm up my oven only to find that the floor and insulation below were soaked from melting snow and rain. There seems to be a few cracks along the bottom and around the chimney in the concrete covering on the outside of the dome. I plan to chip out the cracked areas and re-surface the entire dome with a new, thicker coating of concrete. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you deal with it? Thanks for any help you can give me.

[Les]

Concrete in itself is going to absorb water. Don't you have some type of weather proofing over the concrete?

[oventhusiast]

Where near Boston? I'm in Melrose. Is your oven a dome (cover) or a
dog house?
Rick

[testadom]

The oven is an igloo. When I mixed the concrete, actually cement with some sand added for texture, I added a treatment to make it waterproof along with a coloring agent to give it a terra cotta look. That was almost two years ago and I can't remember what it was exactly. I bought it at Lowes, along with the cement. As for where I am, I live on the Revere/Malden line behind Kappy's liquor off of route one.

Right now, resurfacing it seems the best way to go. I just need to find out if there is any special technique of coating I can apply to make it water proof.

[Les]

Originally Posted by testadom

Right now, resurfacing it seems the best way to go. I just need to find out if there is any special technique of coating I can apply to make it water proof.

I used a product made by Dryvit - it's acrylic based and it's working for me.

[Neil2]

"special technique of coating I can apply to make it water proof."

I agree with Les, an acrylic based product is your best bet. There is some flexibility in the acrylic that minimizes cracking for the heating/cooling cycles.

Having said that, it is very difficult to make any concrete covering totally waterproof. Moisture will get it. This can be managed by tarping the dome in real wet weather and re-curing after periods of non use.

Design features such as sloping the structural slab and venting the insulation layer will also help.

[testadom]

Thanks guys, I'll start at Lowes and see if they have something like that. I think I may have put the coat on a little thin when I did it. This time I'll weld-o-bond it and put it on a bit thicker. As for covering it with a tarp, I've already thought of that and will definitely do it at the end of the season. when I built the stand, I carried it over to make a counter area and a wood fired grill. It's a fairly big structure to cover and uncover often. Still, if it comes to that, I will.

Thank you again for your input.