Oven fired up, now we've decided to tile

[stellawood]

Have been using the oven for weeks now. Fires up quickly and the insulation on the dome seems to be working well. Even when the oven is pizza hot, the outside is very cool.
The oven has a stucco finish now (no cracks have shown up so far), but we've decided to put tile on the outside of the dome.
Since the outside doesn't get hot can I just place the tiles like a regular tile installation, or should I do any crack prevention membrane prep?
We're going to do tile mosaic, so there will be more grout lines than normal.
I still haven't figured out how I want to transition from the igloo to the chimney.
Any suggestions about that would be appreciated too.
Thanks
I love this forum

[Breven]

I don't know much about tiling the outside of a dome, but I do know that when you tile something that may move, even the slightest bit- they say to use a latex fortified thin set. It probably has the slightest amount of rubbery feel to it when dry so it can move slightly should any cracks appear. There are folks here who have tiled their dome...maybe they know better?

[james]

Frances has done a very nice job of tiling her oven (that's an understatement), and I will guess that she has some input. If you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely take a look. Did you see the Spasso commercial oven? It's tiled as well -- you can see it here:

Minneapolis Pizza Oven Photo | Commercial Pizza Oven Photograph

My last thought might be to tell you local tile company that you are going to be doing a mosaic on a non-flat surface, and see what they say.

Your oven is looking good -- good job on the installation. Glad to hear it's cooking well.
James

[Frances]

Originally Posted by james

My last thought might be to tell you local tile company that you are going to be doing a mosaic on a non-flat surface, and see what they say.

That's good advice - they will be able to tell you which products will work best for an outside setting. Another tip I got out of a book is to ask for products which will work for outdoor swimming pools - because sometimes sales people aren't very well versed on mosaics.

Personally I think if you've cured the oven and there aren't any cracks on the outside you should be safe to mosaic directly onto the oven surface. The tiles will actually give your oven some added protection.

Apparently there are some high temp silicon sealants out there which you can use for the chimney transition. Like the ones for sealing the edge of you bath, but heat resistant.

I love your entry arch - nice keystones! You're not going to cover that bit, are you?

[stellawood]

Originally Posted by Frances

I love your entry arch - nice keystones! You're not going to cover that bit, are you?

Thanks Frances for the compliment and for the advice.
The front archway is not going to be covered in tile.
As for the mortar, I have a tile professional helping me, so I was going with the modified thinset I just haven't decided which one. I think I am just over thinking this and got caught up in thinking I might need a crack membrane product.
Frances, your mosaic is fabulous. I took a mosaic class this past weekend with Sonia King and I worked on how I could try to knock out spirals. I spent the whole weekend keystoning tiles. This was before I saw your oven. I hope you don't mind if I stick with the spiral theme. It seems to go with the igloo shape. My color palate is definitely not as fantastic as yours. I a grey, green, blue kinda gal.
Again, thanks everyone for your help

[Frances]

Originally Posted by stellawood

I hope you don't mind if I stick with the spiral theme.

Not at all - the world cannot have too many spirals, I think.

And thank you very much. Î really look forward to seeing your finished oven!

[RTflorida]

More TWIRLY BITS??? Someone grab a sedative for PizzaPolice.....I don't think he can handle another.

RT

[Frances]

I was thinking... would you maybe prefer it if we refered to them as "twidly bits"...?

[RTflorida]

Twidly? :

I think thats the nickname we gave one of the goofy kids in high school.

RT