New Build

[thevance53@gmail.com]

I ran out of fire brick to finish the vent arch, so jumped on to insulating, and starting the p-crete. Got the first course done before a pretty good rain shower and it didn't dry enough to do another one (pretty fragile stuff at 8:1). Have the halogen work light in the oven for a little warmth and start of the curing process. Hopefully this week I can spend a few evenings and complete the vent arch, start the chimney support, and get a few more p-crete courses up.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

Ooops, forgot the photos, if anyone is interested. The insulation was actually one of the easier parts of this process.

[crisp]

Very nice build :-)

[danjmath]

Look great Mike!
So you are going to do 8:1 pcrete directly over the cermaic blanket, then stucco over that?

Also, where did you get your chimney pieces? I need to get mine pronto if I want to get it up.
Winter is coming.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

Sorry Dan, for some reason I didn't see your post. I started with 8:1 pcrete, but had to shift over to the expanded perlite from Lehi Block, which is like flakes rather than little foam balls. I went to 10:1 and seems to work fine. I have been doing the pcrete without a form and it is doable. It is pretty easy to scrape high spots and fill flat spots. I almost finshed the prcrete today, but was about 1/4 of a bag short. I cut out the flue transition pieces and will mortar in the flue collar pieces tomorrow. I opened my high temp caulking to caulk the inside and outside of my arches, and it was red. That sucked, so I only caulked the outside and will have to get some grey for the inside.


I got my flue pieces from northlineexpress.com. I was running out of time and just bit the bullet and paid for them. Not cheap. I did find a dented double wall insulated stainless flue at the NPS store for cheap, but wasn't 100% sure it would fit to the adapter plate. I have been slow curing with smaller fires and the halogen light when I have wet mortar in the arch or wet pcrete, but my plan is to ramp that up this week and stucco the two scratch and brown next weekend, and finish coat before Halloween.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

Can anyone recommend a one way moisture vent for the top of my dome. This oven will be exposed to the elements, so I need a vent that lets any moisture out, but will not allow any moisture in. I found a few on line, but most are larger vents for membrane roofing. I am trying to stucco this weekend. Thanks for your help.

[Gulf]

I used a Donaldson gearbox breather. Wether or not you know exactly which breather you will end up with, you can still get your stucco ready for it. Get two threaded pvc bushings. One 1" to 3/4" and one 3/4" to 1/2". Also get a small piece of 1/4" hardware cloth (galvanized mesh wire) or something similar. You can cut the hardware cloth to about a 4" circle. Form it to the curvature of the dome. Cut a hole in the center and sandwich the wire in between the two bushings. You can install that contraption in the stuccco at the apex of the dome. It will anchor the bushing in the stucco and keep it from turning. A simple 1/2' pvc plug wiill seal that opening until you find a breather that you can source.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

That is what I needed. I left a beer bottle hole in the pcrete down to the insulation. Do I p-crete the bushings in, or should I just fill in the hole with stucco around the bushings? I assume I want to add a small piece of pipe from the bottom of the bushing contraption down to the insulation? Thanks again for the advice.

[underpendle]

Wouldn't a 15mm blowoff cover do this? Not sure what your call them in the states but we use a copper mushroom to cover the end of the blowoff pipe for a condensing boiler. about £5 at any plumbers merchant?

[Gulf]

You wont need any pcrete for this step. I just filled the hole with scrap fiber insulation up to the bushing to keep the vent open. The bushing, attached to the mesh, should be stuccoed in. The mesh helps bridge the bushing over the much large hole and secures the bushing into place. Sorry, that I don't have any detailed pics of this.

Underpendle,

The "blow off cover" would probably work just fine. A simple goose neck will keep out rain.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

Got the flue installed and finished some brick work around the sides of the entry yesterday, and got the stucco done today. Here are the before and after stucco photos. How come I didn't hear how difficult the stucco work was? Man, that was a pain. So much for the smooth stucco finish I was after. Not sure if the stucco was too dry or what, but it went off pretty quick, and it was all I could do to keep up with putting the mud on the dome. Ended up with a pretty decent skip trowel finish. Hopefully I can color coat the dome next week end, and then I may be done for the winter. I will still have the entry arch to stucco, and the brick veneer over the entry arch, but the oven is up and running. Looks like I will still be covering the oven this winter.

Had the first pizza party with some friends last night and cooked about 8 pies at around 700 degrees (still curing a little). Only dumped about half of the toppings off one pizza, but it was one of the first, so had to cook a few on a floor of molten cheese. Oh well, that is the learning curve. Everyone raved about the pies, so I am happy with that, but I am still lacking the proper all the proper , as I only have one aluminum peel.

[danjmath]

Did you end up finding a moisture vent Mike?
I hadn't really thought of it before, but since my oven is also exposed I will probably want one.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

sorry, was out of the County last week. No, I haven't found one, but I do have the 1/2" threaded pvc fitting installed in the stucco base coat. I put the color coat on the stucco, but am concerned that the fire brick will absorb too much moisture over the winter and be all cracked in the spring. So I am planning on taking off the flue pipe and wrapping it up for the winter, or during storms. Maybe a pain, but I don't want to risk the integrity of the oven. Looks like Winter may be here this week.