'Nother Michigan guy

[LKJR]

Hi guys,

Wife and I are looking to build an oven here in Farmington, MI. Glad I found the site, a wealth of information. Now it's just planning like crazy and trying to figure out how small of an oven I can deal with for my little back yard.

Thanks for all the contributions.

[mfiore]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

Best of lucK! Looking forward to your build.

[shuboyje]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

Let me know if you need any guidance or help finding local materials. More then happy to help.

[kingcha]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

Northern Michigan here......I just finished my oven 2-3 weeks ago and I am loving it

[LKJR]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

Where did you guys source your refrac. bricks?

[mfiore]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

Theut Products in Bruce Twp had some, but frankly I found them to be very rude and difficult to work with. They clearly wanted to deal only with bigger customers and didn't give me the time of day. Wouldn't sell brick by the number, only palette, etc.

I finally found a brickyard much more local (and friendly) in the Saginaw/Midland area.

[shuboyje]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

Theut does carry them. They have multiple locations and I have also found some of the locations to be lacking in the customer service department, but others are very nice to work with. Never had them deny to sell me single bricks.

I personally like Sabiston Building supplies in warren. Although they aren't in the greatest neighborhood they are very friendly, knowledgable, have good prices for the area, and it's just a few miles off 696 down hoover. If you are building a house style enclosure they also sell loose fill vermiculite insulation under the zonolite name for $12 for 4 cubic foot. Cheapest you will find in town, sadly it doesn't work well for vermicrete, but as loose fills works great.

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

I really like these folks in MI Riverview Refractory - Refractory Crucibles, Ladles, Thermocouples, and Firebrick Sales and Installation. Boiler Maintenance and Construction. If you call them...say hello for me. Super nice people.

[kingcha]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

I got my firebricks at Concrete Service in Traverse City

[LKJR]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

Not sure if anyone is watching this thread, for the Michigan crew how deep are your footers? I'm seriously looking at building this next to the detached garage, so I"m debating if I can get away with a 12" deep footer or if I need to dig deep.

[ATK406]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

It really depends on the type of soil and the drainage that you are dealing with. I went about 28" inches deep (which isn't even "code" here - but I said "far enough"). I also removed about 12 inches of topsoil, from the slab location, until I hit something that seemed a bit more solid (my yard is pretty sandy and I also had roots to contend with).

I poured the footers (6" thick) and then layed 3 courses of block for my foundation. I back filled and packed the area under the slab with sand and crushed concrete (about 10"). I poured a 6" slab.

Yes it was a ton of work, but the joy of the rest of the build and owning our own WFO was totally worth it.

Regards,
AT

PS If you are still looking for building materials let me know. I have a list of sources/prices that might help you out. I'm located in North Oakland county.

[Capt]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

I sent you another PM.

Ryan

[mfiore]

Re: 'Nother Michigan guy

I still don't know if it was necessary, but I dug all the way to the frost line (48 inches here). Having said that, I've had zero problems with frost heaves, cracks, shifts, etc