Casa 90 corner build (and outdoor kitchen) begins....

[Gulf]

I have a heat break in the floor between my fire brick and the polished concrete. But, I went about it a little differently. I did the concrete pour in two stages. The first stage brings the concrete up to the level of the floor brick. That left 2" for a polished concrete oven entry landing. I have a face brick arch in front of the outer arch. I cut and mortared in a 2” fire brick threshold. (They are the only floor brick in my oven that are set in mortar) The heat brake is on the oven side of that threshold. Those few brick complete the seal of the under floor insulation from the elements. I used flat ceramic fiber tape and allowed the top to fill in with ash. The polished concrete butts up to that firebrick threshold.

As for as heat transfer is concerned, I don’t know if a heat break is even necessary here. But, by doing the concrete in a two part pour and mortaring in a threshold, I did not have to seal the joint between the two. (Actually, I like the idea of wind driven water being allowed to drain through that joint, and away from my oven floor) I also use my oven entry for for the tuscan grill and for dirty steaks. I've had no problem with the polished concrete .

PS: Here is a Picasa link to it. It was all designed to work with a storm door.

[RandyJ]

Here is a picture I just found it kinda gives you a idea as to how hot the counter gets at the front of the oven. My hand is resting there on the concrete about 6"outside the vent. Hope this helps.

Randy

[terdferguson]

Fantastic info guys! Thank you.

Randy the tuscan grill looks freaking awesome. I didn't even know that was thing. Can't wait to cook with that!

Gulf, I'm mesmerized by your hot coals photo. It's like a lava flow coming out of your oven. I can't stop starting at it, amazing.

[Gulf]

....................I'm mesmerized by your hot coals photo. It's like a lava flow coming out of your oven. I can't stop staring at it,................

That is the first step .................. We all have a problem ...................However, admitting it does not necessarily lead to recovery ..................At least, it hasn't for me .

[terdferguson]

Got a lot done the past two weeks. Poured my concrete slab for my counters:



I rented the concrete mixer from home depot. I'm not gonna lie. That might be the best decision I've made in my entire life.

Then I did my framing for the wfo:



And the framing for my first counter:



And the second counter...eh...not there yet:

[RandyJ]

Looks like it is all comming togather nicely. It really feels good when things start to look like they might actually get finnished. Keep up the good work. It is looking great.

Randy

[myke]

Build is looking good like the fact you got the kids involved too bet thats a memory they remember all there lives. Will be back to see your progress not seen this framing before so it s another bonus.

[terdferguson]

As mentioned before, I'm concerned about the counter and brick arch in front of the oven getting hot. I'm insulating the brick arch. What I've done is taken some of my insulation board that goes under the oven and cut it into 3/4" pieces. Then I attached those pieces to the front face of the oven with some high temp silicone (750 degree). Now it looks like this:



I'll have my brick arch butt right up against the insulation. You may notice that the insulation doesn't come all the way to the edge of the oven opening. I left about 1/2" all the way around. There will be a gap there between the brick and oven face. I'll fill the gap with a product called insulstick (an insulating high temp mortar).

[deejayoh]

Well, I mortared my decorative brick right to the fire brick and I haven't ever even noticed it getting hot. I used regular mortar too. I think maybe you are anticipating a problem where there isn't one. At least not where it has been experienced by other builders.

But since you decided to go this way, make sure you fill the gap between your vent brick and your decorative arch, or you are going to wind up with an oven house full of smoke and soot

[terdferguson]

Oh wow, really? The guys at forno bravo told me the brick arch would be too hot to touch if I mortared it right onto the front of the oven. So I was going off of that. But if you guys say it'll be safe to touch then I'll remove the insulation pieces and mortar it right on there.

[terdferguson]

I wonder if there is any difference in the amount of heat transferred to the brick arch via a dome made out of refractory cement (like mine) vs fire brick?

[deejayoh]

My experience is that most of the heat that escapes the oven is going up the chimney.

Now, I do have a heat break between my vent and my dome - which probably reduces the temps somewhat - but I think this comes more into play after the oven is closed up. When it's lit - you have 800 degree gasses passing through the vent, which pretty much cancels out the heat break.

IIRC, I think I've hit those bricks with my IR gun before and they're in the 120-150 range. Not too hot to touch, by any stretch.

[david s]

I wonder if there is any difference in the amount of heat transferred to the brick arch via a dome made out of refractory cement (like mine) vs fire brick?

The thermal conductivity of most dense castables is the same as that of most dense firebrick.

[terdferguson]

Got all my durock up last weekend.




At the same time, I had the flue installed. I had my contractor who built my roof come out to do it. The flue goes through the ceiling.

[terdferguson]

Yesterday I got all my seams taped and covered with thinset.