Salv's WFO Build

[gjbingham]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

The Pro Render looks like the type of product I was referring to. I used this product in conjunction with my bagged stucco mix:

QUIKRETE - Concrete Acrylic Fortifier

The Marblecote looks interesting, but I'm not familiar with it at all.

[Salv B]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

Yep - The Pro Render has acrylic powder mixed in for extra strength and adhesion. I remember reading references to Quickrete a few times on this forum but a search for suppliers in Adelaide turned up empty.

I spoke to a retailer today and found out a number of other things. The pro Render should ideally be used as the render coat for the Marblecote (the texture coat) to go on top of. They have a number of other texture coats such as sandcote and some roll on products as well. Tim, if you are interested, the cost of the Pro Render is $15 a bag and you will probably need two bags. The Marblecote is around $60 for a 15 litre bucket and one bucket is enough.

I am going to have a look at the Marblecote samples and their other texture coats at the store on Saturday. They are out on Grange Road, Beverley.

[Tim F]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

Thanks for that, I'd be interested to hear what you think of it.

[glennb]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

I saw bags of acrylic render at the local Bunnings the other day, but i'm also keen to see what the finished texture actually looks like, so keep us posted Salv.

[Salv B]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

I managed to fire up the oven finally and cook a few pizzas - did eight in total but was so busy that only took one pic. I still haven't got the hearth temperature quite right. I should have heated the oven longer and then I ran out of smaller sized wood to add to the coals on the side to keep a flame going. That's what happens when you are in a rush and there are hungry kids to feed. I noticed that the pizzas cooked really well on top but the bottoms were not browned enough. Heres the only pic I took



I am determined to get it right this weekend!

I also noticed that there was still some wet patches on the outside of the vermiculite insulation (6 or 7 hand sized areas) and they were fairly hot to touch. Reading other posts I assume this is normal. I also noticed that the very top of the dome was cool to touch. It just shows how much water is in that 4 inch layer of vermiculite - it has been baking in regular 40 degree celsius weather for the past two weeks!

I think that I probably didn't add the vermiculite at a uniform thickness and I definitely added more to the top of the dome. Given that you cant have too much insulation I am thinking of putting a final coat of coolcast over the vermiculite. I got the idea of the coolcast from Tim's build. Any thoughts would be welcome.

Tim and Glenn - I Will post some details of the render and texture finish on the weekend.

[carloswlkr]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

Congratulations, Salv! Well done! I look forward to my first pizzas next weekend. Hope you work out the bugs in the hearth temperature. I'm sure you'll resolve it this weekend!

[Tim F]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

The coolcast was fairly difficult to work with - if you are only thinking of a thin layer, I think it could be fairly difficult to get it to stick! It was more of a crumbly/gritty texture than sticky. you'd probably want to make it least 30 mm thick I reckon, which could be fairly expensive.

[Salv B]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

Congratulations, Salv! Well done! I look forward to my first pizzas next weekend. Hope you work out the bugs in the hearth temperature. I'm sure you'll resolve it this weekend!

Thanks Carlos. I bet you cant wait to cook those first pizzas! Make sure you post pictures of your pizzas and your raging fires - no doubt the fires will look great framed by those elegant vent and entry arches.

[Salv B]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

The coolcast was fairly difficult to work with - if you are only thinking of a thin layer, I think it could be fairly difficult to get it to stick! It was more of a crumbly/gritty texture than sticky. you'd probably want to make it least 30 mm thick I reckon, which could be fairly expensive.

Thanks for the info Tim. I bought some coolcast to use on my next project of building a grill pit after reading about it on your build. I managed to get some 20 kg bags that were seconds at a good price because the fire rating didn't work out quite right. I am going to have a go to see what sort of layer I can get over the vermiculite.

[Salv B]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

A quick update on the render and texture coats. I ended up buying two bags of the pro render (at $15 each) and a 15 litre bucket of the Marblecote. Out of all the texture coats I think this one looked the most interesting -a kind of speckled rough finish. The Marblecote cost $60 and 15 litres is way more than you need for the dome but I was told that they didn't have any 5 litre buckets in stock. I went with the larger bucket as I will probably use it on my base as well. I am going with the natural white colour but you can have it tinted as part of the purchase. You can also paint over the finish. I also bought a bucket of prime seal - they recommeded that this go on top of the render before applying the marblecote. Now I have the products I just have to find some time to actually do the work! Not too sure when this will get done at this stage - too busy trying to cook a good pizza

[Salv B]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

I finally managed to get some decent browning on the bottom of my pizzas. I realised that I really wasn't getting a big enough fire going. So this time I burnt longer and bigger



I also added smaller pieces of wood more regularly to the fire once I had raked it to the side to keep a bigger flame going than I had previously.

This worked great and the six pizzas we did all came out well cooked underneath. I am not too sure if I could have browned then a litle more - this is generally how they came out



A couple of final pics of the finished product



I think I still need to get them a little thinner - something to sort out for the next firing!

[carloswlkr]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

Looks great to me! I'm hungry!

[drogers]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

Salv,
Those are very mouth watering pizzas. They look delicious!
Don

[gjbingham]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

The pizzas look perfect to me. Nice work!

[exceloven]

Re: Salv's WFO Build

The bottom of the pizza looks perfect, you nailed it!

Mark