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  • Hello from Missouri

    Well, I studied up on the WFO on and off for a couple years. Have now built the oven and am thinking I may have a huge problem. If anyone could offer any advice I would appreciate it.

    The oven is built except for the insulation and final stucco. Here's my issue....during the build we had a huge rain that blew my cover off the site...the CF board got wet and honestly I didn't realize how wet until now. So no what I have is this oven built on a big sponge full of water. I've been heating the oven up to speed for the last 4 days and plan to try to get it to operating temp tomorrow...maybe even throw a pizza in it. I left about 2' of the CF board sticking out beyond the dome of the oven. If you push on it the water just seeps out like a sponge.

    So now I would appreciate it if anyone could tell me how terrible this is going to be. I'm assuming this winter that will freeze and thaw and cause damage to the oven.....I figure all I can do at this point is heat the oven as much as I can and see if it gets the moisture out and then wait to see the impact this winter has...then maybe start over when the oven falls apart.

    The fires have been burning well and there are just a few minor cracks in the surface of the dome...I'll patch those with mortar. Then I was going to put 4" of CB insulation and cover that with an inch or so of perlite, then put a coat of stucco over the perlite.

    Again...any help or advice good or bad would be greatly appreciated! Not sure why I waited till now to post but everyone's information has been greatly appreciated!

    Thanks!

    Bruce


  • #2
    Bruce, you might not be in as much trouble as you think. I also soaked my CF board during my build. It sat that way all winter (Seattle winter so no sub zero temps) and "looked" dry on the edges in Spring when I started my curing fires. I think I pushed water out of my boards up to my 6th or so fire, and that was with burning all day long during the curing. I just didn't let it get hot enough to clear off the dome till the water stopped flowing out of the base of the oven. Check out my pictures in the attached link. You just want to push it out slow, heating for long periods at low temperatures and letting the water work it's way out. My floor bricks stayed relatively cool (low 200's F) till the board started to dry.
    I've been working on my oven for a little while and have been debating starting a build thread, as I probably won't have much to add in terms of artistry or inventiveness over the excellent work already posted on this forum. That said, I thought I would share what I have done and hopefully continue to get
    My build thread
    https://community.fornobravo.com/for...h-corner-build

    Comment


    • #3
      Bruce,

      After you get the oven floor insulation dry there are some things that you can do for the winter to help keep it dry and prevent any freeze/thaw damage. Your oven is sitting on a very large slab of concrete. That is a large area which is difficult to keep covered by a tarp alone. It appears that the oven is sitting on two, 1" layers of insulation. Any water that gets under that tarp from the side or from the retaining wall in the back is going straight to your insulation. Once you get the floor insulation reasonably dry, you will need to install a levee at least 1' thick and a few inches wide in the area around the oven with some kind of water proof grout. It will help prevent ponding water from getting back under the insulation. You can guage it's distance from the dome by the thickness that you intend for your dome insulation and most of the thickness of your stucco. Your final; coat of stucco will hide and blend in with this levee. It would also help to bring that small levee all the way to the front lip of the slab on each side of your entry so water could drain away from the oven and clear of the concrete slab. I would not seal the insulation at the front of the entry, just yet, in case that a storm blows your tarp off. You can later fix that area permanently. For the time being, you still need some place for massive amounts of water to go. The area behind your oven nearest the retainer wall appears to be very narrow. If any part of your domes insulation or stucco will touch that retaining wall, be sure to water proof it also.

      If your oven gets wet again during the winter you can place a light bulb in the oven. If there is some spacing between the tarp and your oven, you should be just fine.
      Joe Watson " A year from now, you will wish that you had started today" My Build Album / My Build

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      • #4
        Thank you for all the information! I am hopeful that I can get the board to dry out with lots of low heat fires. The oven seems to be performing well with the initial fires. I plan to insulate and perlite th oven this week and see how it performs with the heat retention. I'll plan on some type of barrier at the base to keep water from soaking into the board from the concrete slab. I guess I should have built it up off the slab...always lots of lessons in all my projects. Thanks again for your help....i'll keep things posted.

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        • #5
          In my build I have a small hole cast in the centre of my precast supporting slab. It allows the release of steam and water, should the underfloor insulation get wet. It works on the same principle as the little hole in a saucepan lid which prevents the lid from blowing off. I use loose insulation (perlite) as the underfloor insulation material so moisture passes through it more readily than solid board, but I think it would still work. My oven is small so I only have the one hole, for a larger oven you may consider two or three. Click image for larger version

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          Attached Files
          Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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