36" in Provo, UT, USA

[paulkjrobbins]

A milling shop just opened up a block away which means an endless supply of hardwood offcuts! I just cut a couple loads up and filled the bottom of my oven. It fires my 36" up to 1200 degrees in 25 minutes!

[Shawnr]

paulkjrobbins I just posted, in my thread, about my first cooking fires yesterday and today too. It sounds like your oven might have been hotter than mine. My thin crust was in for 3 minutes total going by the camera time stamps but I think the crust was burnt in about 20 seconds! I tried rotating, moving around and lifting off the floor a bit but still managed to char each of 3 pizzas. I found the exact same as you when I tried a thicker crust....middle not done enough.

Cheers,

[paulkjrobbins]

Fired up the oven for pizza for the first time this weekend. Last fire was at 900 degrees This one was well over 1000. I think it was too hot. A thin crust cooked well in about 45 seconds. A thicker crust I took out at 50 seconds (25 seconds with a turn). They were starting to char if I left them in longer but the thicker crusts weren't cooked all the way through. I have read on the forum that 90 seconds is pretty standard for pizza so I am guessing it was too hot. 24 hours after the fire the oven was still at 300 degrees without a door. I am guessing this is a good sign since the nights are getting colder here.

[paulkjrobbins]

Thank you Russell. I may take you up on the copper. I was wondering about the corrosion issue where they meet as well but I think it will be ok since the aluminum flashing will be covered in rustoleum paint. I have also been looking into copper finials which are very expensive. I may just do the entire cap in wood and then waterproof and paint with a copper metallic paint. I can wood lathe finials a lot fancier than anything I can buy. I am also thinking a wood top will be easier to make removable so that I can add more perlite after it settles.
I have some leftover SS fine mesh that I think I might use to cover some holes or arches in the finial so that it gives the roof some breathing ability at the top.
The PM says you are not receiving messages, I may have the wrong settings.
I have a 24" folding tool that should work for almost everything I have to do. But just out of curiosity, how much would you want for your 48" break? You can email me if that works (paulkjrobbins@gmail.com)

Thank you for all your advice.
Best,
Paul

[UtahBeehiver]

You might want so look at galvanic issues between aluminum and copper. They are usually not compatible.(ie valley flashing and copper roofing). Have you gotten you copper yet? Typically 16 oz copper is used for roofing. I do have some 24" x 12' (might be longer) copper sheeting, hand break, and a 48" Malco break left over from my build and may want to sell at a reasonable price. PM me if interested.

[paulkjrobbins]

Ok, so I had a slow day at work and did a little more planning. I am a little unsure about a few points of it. I am thinking of sealing my roof (hardie board on metal studs) with roof cement and then apply aluminum flashing as a decorative roof that I will paint with rustoleum for color. Here are my plans right now. I am going for a castle theme. I have a hexagonal roof on top of a cylindrical ferrocement enclosure that will be filled with perlite.

[paulkjrobbins]

Hello everyone,
It has been a little while since I posted. My oven is cured and mostly dried out. Got it up to 950 degrees F last night. I can't see any cracks but from what I've read they are probably there or will be with time. I am currently building a hexagonal roof out of metal studs with 1/4" hardie board for sheathing. The walls are made of ferrocement and make a column around the oven that breaks at the gallery. I wanted to shingle the roof but am wondering about nailing through 1/4" hardie board. It seems like it might break. Does anyone have any experience with this? The alternative would be Thank you for your help.

Best,
Paul

[paulkjrobbins]

Just took the syran wrap off the dome today (4.5" firebrick + 1" homebrew). I've had a 500W halogen inside with a thick greenhouse film over it for the last 4 days. The steam poured off of it! It was a sauna inside. No cracks after 4 days. I am going to put the fiber blanket on tonight. Been going back and forth on what the final layer is going to look like. Been waffling between an enclosure and a pebble finish with a roof over it. I am thinking I might do an enclosure out of river rock which is plentiful nearby then put metal roofing over it.

[CoastalPizza]

I used Seal-Krete concrete sealer to waterproof my rendered dome. I used Quikwall for the first layer of render — it is a stucco mix with fiberglass fibers so it resists cracking a bit better than regular stucco. I've had to reapply the Seal-Krete each year. Also, I had to fill some small cracks that appeared after about two and a half years; I did this when the oven was warm so that the cracks were as open as possible.

The advantage of the Seal-Krete is that it is clear so the color I added to the render is maintained.

[paulkjrobbins]

I have been thinking about rendering my dome and not enclosing it as originally planned. I know I will need to drill a hole through the hearth for drainage and I will be flashing and sealing around the bottom of the oven before the final render. I am not sure what the final finish will be so I am really just wanting to protect it for the winter here. I am thinking of coating it in either thoroseal or flexseal. Flexseal is significantly cheaper and easier to use but I don't see anyone using it on the forum. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you for your help.

[paulkjrobbins]

I have been looking at photos of other's outer arch and some of them look like the brick is pretty thin. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to tell me how thick their outer arch was? Was there a reason for making it thinner outside of not using as many bricks? Did you want it to meet the inner dome on the outside so that the FB wrapped across them nicely?
I am thinking of doing either a 1 1/2" or 2" reveal between the inner or outer arch. If I were to make it thinner to match the outside of the inner arch, this would make the bricks 3" or 2 1/2" thick. Of course, If I continue down this rabbit hole and make it 2 1/4" thick then that would save some bricks (almost out and need to get more) as I could just place them on end. Does anyone see any problem with this?

Thank you for your help! Tonight I'll see if I can't close the dome and then start on an outer arch template.


Best Regards,
Paul

[paulkjrobbins]

Hi Everyone,
I haven't been on in a while. I've trying to steal minutes here and there to lay my dome courses. When I got nearer the top I found that I needed to cut some lengths of wood to support the bricks for a while after I removed the IT. It got hard after the 45-degree mark. For the last courses I ended up making something to form the bricks on, partially inspired by how Russell did his with a carjack. I used piece of foam board from the dollar tree to cut out some ribs that matched my radius and a piece of pvc I had lying around and a hot glue gun to stick everything together on a some plywood. I still have a little more to go. My hole is about 6" wide so I'm hoping I'll get a little time tonight to finish the job.

[paulkjrobbins]

Thanks Russell,
I cut a few bricks thinner than 2 1/4" to get them to fit snuggly across the top of the arch. Since they are not tapered I am planning on them meeting without visible joints as seen from the bottom of the arch then having a wedge-shaped joint as they go to the outside of the arch, similar to the dome bricks (not tapered). If my plan is right, then I'll just be marking the brick joints on the arch form and follow those as I work my way up.
I heard northern Utah may get snow this week and we had some crazy rainstorms this week. I had a canopy over the oven but it blew away and everything got caught in the rain. My FB got wet but appears to be firm, hoping it will dry off and be ok.
I tried pre-scoring brick faces with my angle grinder before mortaring. I can't pull the bricks apart after a day of setting. Unless there is some other factor that I am not accounting for the scoring seems to add some strength to the joint. I was able to mortar my first two courses which brought me to the top of the cooking hearth and the majority of the third course. So far so good, I think. I'll upload some pictures soon. Thanks for all your help and advice.

Best,
Paul

[UtahBeehiver]

You just need to mark on you arch template where the mortar joints are at each arch brick so you do not get mortar creep and get out of alignment and the the TDC brick not fitting.

[paulkjrobbins]

Hi everyone,
Feels like it has been a while since I've updated. Not much of an update. Work, Rain, and the flu have been getting in the way. Still haven't mortared anything. I have started to cut out arch bricks. my inner arch form is 5" which I've found is giving me plenty of room on the backside for all the bricks, including the TDC which is the biggest cut. I think I am going to build the arch one step up at a time while I build the dome as I see others have done. Has anyone noticed a benefit to building the arch first?
I also had the idea of scoring the firebrick a little with my angle grinder on surfaces that are going to be mortared to give it better adhesion. I've done some tests with homebrew on scraps and seems to have ok adhesion. 24 hours after mortaring, I can pull it apart with some muscle, the thing that bothers me is that it pulls apart very clean on the brick surface. Maybe I am just used to metal and wood where the joint is stronger than the homogenous part when done correctly. Pre-scoring seems like a pretty quick thing to do to give it some better bonding. Has anyone heard of anyone doing this or see any negatives to it? Thanks in advance for any advice you have.