getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

[woods witch]

Hi everyone! we have finished installing vent and chimney and have had one little newspaper fire
we are getting ready to start the frame and we're hoping for some advice. What are the benefits of using metal studs versus wood? We will be building a decorative brick arch to cover the firebrick and will continue up around the chimney. We plan on continuing with the natural stone for the wall and leaving a brick landing area (I just dry-laid some bricks to get a feel for how it will look.)
Then we want to finish with a slate roof. I have seen some suggestions about leaving access points to the inside of the oven, but I don't know how we could do that with slate??? We will be covering the dome with kaowool and then vermiculite or perlite poured into the enclosure. I have tried to search the forum to find answers but haven't seem to come up with the right ones....so thanks in advance to anyone who can offer advice!!


Picasa Web Albums - carolyn - wood fired oven

[egalecki]

I think the advantage of the metal studs is that they don't burn. Somewhere on here is a picture of someone's oven (I think it was in England) where part of the enclosure burned overnight... I don't remember what the insulation was, but if you're enclosing the whole thing, I'd use the metal studs. Just for safety's sake...

I have no ideas about ways of leaving access to the inside. If you've already done your cure and used the oven some, and you are sure you have no real issues with cracks, I don't know why you'd need access. I do think I'd put the kaowool on and use it some, peel it back to check for smoke discoloration, and only then close it all up...

Your oven looks great. Nice work.

[woods witch]

thanks for your help Elizabeth. I have only just begun the curing fires. We waited to fire up until the vent and chimney were done, hoping to get all mortar cured at once....
this may seem like a stupid question, but does the kaowool blanket have to be kept dry???

[Mojoe]

I think wood would look better with the stone, more rustic. As for setting the enclosure on fire, I've been cooking for almost a year and haven't succeeded in burning my to the ground.

[egalecki]

I used the FB blanket, so I don't know about kaowool. I expect that a tarp to keep the rain off is enough, that's what I did with mine. It did get a little wet a couple of times, but dried out ok.

[james]

Hey woods witch,

Looking very, very nice. Way to go.

I would strongly recommend framing with metal and hardibacker -- and facing that with stone. I know it's a little more work, but there are two good reasons. First, the metal framing will never warp or bow in the damp, and you will not have to worry quite as much about sealing your enclosure completely to keep water from reaching your frame.

Also, you really should not have combustible wood framing around a hot oven, and the potential for fire.

Also, you should keep any ceramic insulating blanket dry -- so make sure you do a good job of tarping it. A lot of rain will ruin it.

Let us know what you think. Any input from other builders?
James

[Ken524]

James,

I agree completely on all accounts.

After working quite a bit with pine 2x4's, making the switch to steel studs required a learning curve along with some cuts and scrapes. After a few hours of monkeying with the metal, I started liking it. It is VERY easy to fix mistakes made with the steel studs (minutes vs. hours).

I used Kaowool blankets for my insulation (2"-4") followed by 3"-4" of vermiculite cement. Works great. My oven can smoke a brisket or butt 2 days after a pizza bake. Yummmmm!

[sarah h]

Great work on both the dome and the stonework! The brick looks good too.
I'm with James and Ken on the framing (even though mine didn't end up framed) - better safe with steel than sorry with wood.

[krosskraft]

I had trouble knowing how to frame mine in also (you might see my finished oven under krosskraft somewhere) I finally went with the steel framing and the hardybacker. I did not get along at all with the man that did the framing for me, but at the end of the day, I could not have done it by myself....those metal shavings looked so dangerous and unpleasant. I too finished mine with the stone. You have some great rocks on the bottom!. Another suggestion would be to use that stucco-ish product and perhaps put some of your stones in here and there.....you are the artist!

[woods witch]

thank you everyone for your input and the compliments We take your advice seriously and will go the route of metal. But can anyone explain to me what we have to do for material for accomplishing our goal of a slate roof if we cannot use wood?