how many times to wait?

[egalecki]

I am wondering if I should go ahead and fire mine some more before I put my vermicrete on- I didn't get it up to dome white before I got the arch crack and had to fix it. Now all that is fixed, and I'd like to get the rest insulated, but I'm worried that it's never gotten hot enough yet. I guess I'm looking for a way to finish my oven and eat my pizza too.... I'd rather not wait a week for my repair/chimney work to cure, fire it to the right heat, finish the insulation, wait another week, etc. etc. etc.

So really, do you wait a week after the bricks are done, fire it up, then insulate with the vermicrete, wait a week and fire it up again, stucco, wait a week, etc.? Or does the blanket, my major insulator, (2 inches+) protect the vermicrete enough from heat that I can put the crete on and still fire the oven? By the time you get to the stucco layer, do you have to wait at all? In theory, it shouldn't get hot at all at that point.

I don't want to screw this up by getting impatient now, but my husband is wondering if he's ever going to get to eat anything out of it!

[Frances]

Re: how many times to wait?

I'd say once the blanket is on the oven is insulated enough to fire up without any ill effect to the outer layers... except maybe bits concering the vent/chimney, they'll still get hot and need time to cure.

At least that's what I think, lets see what others will say....

Have you checked how hot it gets on the outside with the blanket on?