Door out of aerated concrete and wood

[Frances]

Last Monday I put a Calzone in a relativaly hot oven... and forgot about it.

Twenty minutes later I went to romove what was left... and what with hurrying and not being too chuffed about the situation, I dropped my y-tong door. Which broke into 1000 pieces.

In a fit of puique I then flung my wooden door on the ground, and it promtly broke in half. In my other hand I was holding the oven thermometer... after a short pause I put it down very gently - who says impulse control isn't my thing?

So here is the new improved door: 5 cm of Y-tong (aerated concrete) on the inside and my lovely singed, broken and glued together wooden doors on the outside. I stuck everything together with high temp glue - good up to 125 C. The concreat insulates quite well, so we'll see if that's enough.

The thing I'm wondering now is, what happens to glue if it gets too hot? Does it burn? Melt? Or simply stop sticking? Just hope there isn't a health hazard involved...


And if this doesn't work I'll try some high temp mortar I've got hanging around instead.

If it does work, it'll be a low cost, high insulation, easy to make door.
Not as nice as Jim's glass door of course... but even if I need to replace it once a year, it'll be a lot easier on the budget...

[berryst]

Re: Door out of aerated concrete and wood

I laughed out loud. man, we've all been there
Berryst

[mfiore]

Re: Door out of aerated concrete and wood

Ooh. Bad day, Frances. I'm glad you (and the door) recovered!

[david s]

Re: Door out of aerated concrete and wood

Frances,
I also tried an aerated concrete panel on my wood door. It was 25mm and screwed onto the wood. Unfortunately it cracked. I think it couldn't handle the sudden temp changes. Have now tried a 12mm cal sil board. It seems to handle the heat ok but it's pretty soft and will get knocked around easily. I bolted it onto the door with 3/16" bolts. The screws seemed to loosen with the temp changes I think small bolts are better. My next idea is a ss sheet facing the fire in the hope that it will be just enough to reflect intense heat radiation to take the sting out of it so the door wont char. I must have tried about five different insulating panels, none of which have worked out a long term success. I really want to stick with the wooden door cause of its traditional look and because wood is a pretty good insulator.

[Wiley]

Re: Door out of aerated concrete and wood

Frances, Looking at your photos it would appear that perhaps your original wooden door was two separate pieces...am I correct? If it is one piece, what connects the two vertical wood pieces? Is there some sort of doweling or pins or tenon? The reason I'm asking is that if it is a one piece door having both the join line of the two pieces of aerated concrete in the same place as the join of the wood pieces is perhaps more prone to failure than having one join vertical and the other horizontal.

Regarding glues and temperature. It seems that glues are alot like plastics in that they can be classified into two types: One "thermo setting" wherein they get harder and perhaps more brittle with increases of heat and the other "thermo plastic" wherein they get softer and deform finally melting with increases in heat. So depending upon the glue and the amount of heat you can usually predict the outcome and suitability.

You could also add a window using either older Pyrex or Fire King plate or if you really want a high tech abuse resistant window at a cheap cost a small pan of the make "Visions" (originally made in France and later in the US) might be considered. You might find it at a second hand store as they are no longer made. They were available in at least two colors: an amber and one called cranberry. Here's a link to an old commercial:
YouTube - 80s Commercials - Visions Cookware

Wiley

[Frances]

Re: Door out of aerated concrete and wood

Thanks all. Does you good to laugh, eh?

I didn't want to screw the aerated concrete on to the wood, because I was worried that the screws would carry the heat to the wood and start burning it from there...

Wiley, my door is in two parts - makes more work using it, but the individual bits are less heavy that way. Thank you for the info on the glue. It'll probably melt then, but at least I know what to look out for. We'll see....

[Frances]

Re: Door out of aerated concrete and wood

Ok, quick update: the glue is holding up and the door insulates really well - the outside never gets more that comfortably warm however hot the oven may be.

On the downside the aerated concrete has cracked in one place and needs to be replaced... sometime. As I said, aerated concrete is fairly cheap and easy to come by around here, so replacing it once a year or so isn't a big hassle.

Now I'll be the first to admit that its not the most elegant door in the world, but I happen to kind of like it, and above all it works!

Here's a pic where you can see more or less see what it looks like on the oven. I drilled a hole through one side of the door to put the thermometer through.