36" in Seattle

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Keith, did the SBC have the fortifier in it or do you buy it separately and add it? And do you know if it's regular "stucco" or cement coloring you add to it or is it some other kind of color? (btw: sorry about your expensive ebay transaction, I agree, support the local company when you can). Now that I've put most of my stone facade on my oven, the concrete blocks visible in the storage areas looking particularly ugly and I want to cover it.

Also: 4 posts ago you mentioned something about the pizza temps and the floor: Do you find that the oven floor charges better when the logs are burning to the side and facing the oven floor? Is the oven floor actually cooler directly under the pile of coals vs the fire to the side? I'm really appreciating the details you keep on your build and firing techniques. Enclosure is looking pretty good.

Thanks, Dino

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Did the SBC have the fortifier in it or do you buy it separately and add it?

No, I used Quikrete Quikwall SBC, which comes in gray and white. I got white thinking it would be easier to color. The fortifier is a liquid which you dilute 50/50 and then use as the water...although I had to add additional water over the directions...I admit, it does prescribe some leeway in the water, perhaps I was within the margin, but at the upper end for some reason.

And do you know if it's regular "stucco" or cement coloring you add to it or is it some other kind of color?

Well, I have two now: 1lb from a guy on ebay and 3.5lbs (I haven't actually measured that, it's just what they say they gave me) from Salmon Bay. In both cases it generic iron oxide powder "cement coloring". I'm not sure there is such a thing as stucco color. Anything that is portland based is pretty much all the same substance from a chemical point of view. Quikwall is 18lbs portland in a 50lbs bag, important to know for estimating color needs since it is a function of the portland, not the entire mix, usually 5%-10% color to portland by weight, so .9lbs-1.8lbs color per 50lbs Quikwall bag.

Also: 4 posts ago you mentioned something about the pizza temps and the floor: Do you find that the oven floor charges better when the logs are burning to the side and facing the oven floor? Is the oven floor actually cooler directly under the pile of coals vs the fire to the side? I'm really appreciating the details you keep on your build and firing techniques.

I have had a very hard time "profiling" my oven's behavior. I can't say that at X minutes the dome is A degrees, the side is B degrees and the floor is C degrees. I just haven't been that good about it. I fire the oven till the dome clears (90-120 minutes), long before which my IR thermometer consistently maxes out (>1000F) on the dome and the sides. I shove the fire to the side, rake and brush the floor, and take a reading, usually revealing 650-800. I admit, it's a very loose figure, I really haven't learned what temperature the floor is at when I first clear the fire to the side. There remains the question of whether I can confidently get the floor up to a really high temperature by exposing it and keeping the fire hot on the side (to press heat down into the newly exposed floor). I must confess that when I tried this last weekend I either forgot to measure the floor before starting the pizzas, or forgot what the result was, so I don't know what temperature the floor was at when I started cooking (heck, maybe it cooled off, I don't remember!). Since I have only tried that technique once (continuing to fire from the side with the floor bare before starting to cook) I can't say I have established much of a pattern yet.

What I can say is that having experimented with that technique once, the pizzas cooked more quickly and the crust was less tough...but I am also getting better at shaping the dough, so maybe the crust was only less tough because it was less overworked.

Bottom line, my data set is small and my variance it too high to state any conclusions yet. I intend to continue with this method however. I believe the coals, despite being 1000, are simultaneously insulating the hearth. Coals are a very good insulator, which is why you can walk on them bare foot and can hold them in your bare hand. So I can easily believe that while the top of a chunk of coal is 1000, the bottom might be 600.

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Uuuuuuuuugh. I worked my ass off this weekend, probably put in 8-10 hours each day trying to finish the oven and in the end I didn't quite make it. I expect I'll have the third and final stucco coat done tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest.

No in-progress pics because the partially done second coat "looks done" and I want to unveil it.

Cheers!

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Finished the third and final stucco coat this evening (minus some touching up I'll do this weekend). Too dark for photos unfortunately.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Good Work Keb,,

I always said it was easy,,,, Just still is a lot of work, especially with all the ins and outs of your build... Did you finish smooth ? or Sponge ?? Looking forward to seeing the pics
Cheers
Mark

[Raffy]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Uuuuuuuuugh. I worked my ass off this weekend, probably put in 8-10 hours each day trying to finish the oven and in the end I didn't quite make it. I expect I'll have the third and final stucco coat done tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest.

No in-progress pics because the partially done second coat "looks done" and I want to unveil it.

Cheers!

Very eager to see the finished oven. Hope you can post the pics soon

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" in Seattle

...I admit, it does prescribe some leeway in the water, perhaps I was within the margin, but at the upper end for some reason.

Keb, One more note,, I think I read it on their website, They recommended adding more water ie: for basement waterproofing so you could apply one or two thin coats, thus "making it easier to spread and performing more as waterproofing as in a basement rather than as a structural supplement"

though they are very "loose" with a lot of their descriptions and terms
Cheers
Mark

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Did you finish smooth ? or Sponge ??

Troweled, and not with particularly zealous precision. It has little "dunes" and other textual marks in it. I like that slightly noisy look...plus it's the easiest to achieve. HA!

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" in Seattle

I like that slightly noisy look.

Hey Keb,,

Sounds great,, then you did a great job,, At the time I was too unsure to put any kind of texture in,, Im thinking now about some mosaic,, Love those tiles you put in...

Cheers
Mark

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

As to those tiles, Liquid Nails is the bees knees dude! That stuff would glue jello to jelly.

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Here are some shots of the finished oven, 8.5 months from project inception (8 months from first ground broken). Some significant work remains, namely: planting plants in the three terraces of planters on top of the oven, surfacing the concrete counter with granite, covering the block stand with ledgestone, and covering the concrete foundation with flagstone. In addition, I will have to install doors on both of the exposed sides of the stand to keep the rain out.

Photos continued in next post.

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Continuation of previous post.

Some of these photos show the detail of the weep-hole drains and runoffs. They started as trapezoidal brick pieces (see photos in earlier posts). I then added thin walls to the trapezoids during stuccoing. Some of my weep-holes would miss the level below so I ran a short trough for the water to follow to the next level. They'll probably gunk up with soil and not work, oh well.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Hey Keb,,
Really looks good... gonna look great with the plants on it...
Good luck and congrats
Mark

[Tscarborough]

Re: 36" in Seattle

There is something wrong with that oven...It doesn't have a fire in it.


Looks great, get those herbs planted.

[eprante]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Keith,
Great job with the oven!! I have to admit I had some trouble seeing what the final vision was during the construction, but you did a beautiful job tying it all together. Now to invite some people over and cook!!!! That is why we do this thing- to share with friends.
Eric