Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

[ronwass]

More on cutting Insblock

Hopefully I'm not going to spread too much misinformation here. I did a little research today, although I'm far from being a chemist.

I've read up on the stuff. It seems to be made mostly with SIO2 or silicon dioxide. Sand is its most common form. That is also what the FB board is made of, the FB Blanket, the firebricks, fiber optics, glass, etc.

Call it a silicate mineral. Asbestos is also a silicate mineral according to Wikipedia. All this kind of stuff is toxic when in dust form. It creates tiny particulates which are great for insulatory properties because of all the air it traps, but the small particles are also very bad when you breath them in. They get stuck in your lungs forever, and with prolonged exposure can give you a lot of trouble.

I have a feeling that cutting the bricks creates a similar dust, as evidenced by one of my first posts in this thread.

Portland Cement (active ingredient of concrete) also has this kind of stuff in it in a dusty form, and it comes out in a cloud when you pour it into the mixer.

Even though I don't foresee any prolonged exposure to this insblock stuff (This will be the only time I ever cut it) I plan on treading very lightly. I'm going to use a jigsaw and I bought the strongest face mask I could find at Lowes for $39.99. I got chemical contact quality gloves, and am going to wash up thoroughly and start encapsulating the stuff under the bricks the same day.

Of course, my Craigslist Insblock could be something else, although I have no reason to doubt what the guy told me. I got enough of the stuff from him to cover the whole under oven for only about $100.

Ron

PS: Just got a harbor freight father's day coupon in the email for my brick saw for 199.00 That is $51.00 less than I paid for it a couple of months ago. Durn.

[SCChris]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Looking good Ron!

C

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Rw

Take your leftover mortar as you doing your brick work and render the insulation board sides this will encapsulate the insulation and keep it from getting damage as well while you build.

[ronwass]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Took the forms off this afternoon, and lightly grinded down the somewhat sharp corners. The slab looks a little amateurish, but, all in all, I'm happy.

As I said, any little voids are my neighbor Ernie's fault.

The big plastic bag on top contains my insblock. I'm keeping that stuff sealed until I can cut it, and then REALLY seal it up under the bricks.

[ronwass]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Hah! Mad at myself for not figuring that one out. Have to say my wife is quite a reasonable person as far as they go.

SWMBO ='s She Who Must Be Obeyed ? one's wife or female partner

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

SWMBO ='s She Who Must Be Obeyed — one's wife or female partner

[ronwass]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Yes, thanks Utah. As far as I can tell, Insblock is basically asbestos, if not completely so. They certainly don't like to advertise it as such.

Is there any particularly good way to cut it? Wetted down? I guess I was planning on using a circular saw, while wearing a mask and the old clothes, as you say.

Any hints on how to properly encapsulate it after I lay it out? The bricks on top will be fine, but the sides will be open until my final stuccoing.

SWMBO?

ronwass,

Been following your build with interest. Used the right personal protection equipment (PPE), IE a NIOSH dust mask and gloves, if you cut the Insblock or make any dust. It is not very nice stuff. I believe one of the Aussies suggested that one buy cheap disposable coveralls so you don't track in the particles into the house or worse SWMBO's washer. Keep sending pics of your progress.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

ronwass,

Been following your build with interest. Used the right personal protection equipment (PPE), IE a NIOSH dust mask and gloves, if you cut the Insblock or make any dust. It is not very nice stuff. I believe one of the Aussies suggested that one buy cheap disposable coveralls so you don't track in the particles into the house or worse SWMBO's washer. Keep sending pics of your progress.

[david s]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Looking good Ron! I like the signature...so romantic!

Now the fun begins...the oven.

When your oven is built on love you can't go wrong.

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Looking good Ron! I like the signature...so romantic!

Now the fun begins...the oven.

[ronwass]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Decided to keep the forms on for a full week. I'm going to start cutting bricks and laying out the insblock in the meantime.

[mikku]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Concrete looks just fine. Goes to show- if sufficiently motivated, great things can be accomplished. Feels good to be a DIY'er! Hope the rest of your project goes as well as your supporting slab.

[ronwass]

The slab is poured.

Thank you all for the good advice from all over the world. It was an absolutely perfect memorial day today. My neighbor Ernie came over this morning and helped me. We built a platform for the mixer. Sorry, I didn't take a picture. The pour went well. Ernie was in charge of filling up the voids, so if there are voids it is his fault.

It wound up taking 8 bags.

We thought that the first few bags were too dry, and perhaps the last couple a bit too wet, so perhaps they will cancel each other out. Is that wishful thinking?

You can see that there was not too much spillage at all. The signature has gone a long way to keeping the wife's approval of the project.

Everything seemed pretty level. The back right corner wound up a touch low, but for my first effort at this, I think it all in all pretty good. That spot won't be under the oven anyway.

I kept misting the slab all day, as it was hot and sunny. I'm going to be out all day tomorrow, so I hosed the slab down, and bungeed this tarp on top.

I plan on removing the forms on Wednesday.

[david s]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

Ok, you did post that you added .75 litres extra. That's around 20% more than recommended- too much IMO. If you only added .25 L you should probably be ok. Try searching for "excess water in concrete" and "super plasticizer" to find out the importance of not adding more water than the recipe states.

[mikku]

Re: Rockland County, NY 36" build with pictures.

I added the additional water just to get it to mix. The resulting concrete was not sloppy, it stood up all by itself. Very little slump.. The description might sound like I threw in a bunch of water in until I got pea soup, it wasn't. The first batch I measured exact amounts as listed and it did not blend at all--then added 250ml additional water until I got the desired mix. After that all additional batches had the exact water ratio. The dry mix cement that was brought to site in bags had very high content portland cement. Local name is "pacific umi cement".

I will have to look into the superplasticizer you talking about..but need to know a kangi equivalent to even search.

The point I was attempting to make was--you don't need a bulky mixer to do concrete successfully. the mixer I use is a Toshiba-two speed, no chucks- just threaded shaft to accept different mixing heads. Works great, easy to use, lightweight, can throw it into the back of the truck to make cement anytime--big orders call the ready mix company--less than truck sizes--use a mixing drill. Also mixed 2- 25kg bags at a time, took a couple of minutes each batch.