Started my Build in Georgia

[Tonyp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Hi David,

Thanks for the comments! We have had some nasty weather here and it's just one of the things I have to deal with living on what seems like the edge of the arctic tundra. Between the sub zero F. blasts of air from Canada and the lake snow off of L. Ontario (which was kind enough to dump 54" of snow on us one night last week), one needs to plan these sorts of things for indoors or it ends up being a very seasonal item otherwise! Some days I wish the winter wasn't quite so long and harsh but summer is oh so nice..

The constraints of the kitchen corner have made it a challenge for sure and if I was to do it over again I would seriously consider having the dome outside the building with the entrance through the wall. It would make things much simpler and allow for much more flexibility in design. I still have a bunch of work to do with finishing the outside, making an insulated door etc.

Sounds like you were doing the same cuts with splitting the brick up with the one side angle and then just needing to cut the other side to get the final brick. There was some waste but not too bad. The few courses where you couldn't quite cut a brick into 3rds or 4ths there was a bit more waste, but I really like the overall look of having the ever progressing smaller brick size with each course. Inadvertently it seems to have helped having the much narrower and lighter 1/4 bricks up near the top as I hardly had any issues with the bricks wanting to slide into the dome. They set up and held without much effort or support needed. I probably could have made better use of the cut off slivers like you did and used them to partially fill the outside gaps. Working in the corner though was a challenge and for the most part I couldn't really see the outside gap and was just working by feel to make sure the mortar was filling the voids.

Fired the oven last night for a couple hours and had pizza night. 'Beer can' chicken tonight for the kids and I as the oven was at 400. Made extra dough Saturday morning, so pizza again tomorrow.. what to make on Monday.. hmmm

Who was it that said it's hard to finish the oven once it becomes functional because all you want to do is just cook! They were so right!

[DavidApp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Hello Tony

I know how cold NY can be in January and February. I was working in Salamanca last year and we had a week of below zero F days.

I used the same type of cutting fixture as you. It worked great and I am sure I could not have made the cuts as easily without it. It was easy to build as well.
For the half brick cuts I would cut the end of the brick, rotate it 180 degrees and move the brick to my mark and cut, then rotate 180 degrees move to the mark and cut the end of the brick. For the 1/3 and 1/4 just involved extra cuts and rotations. On the higher chains I had to put the brick on the right hand side of the blade because it hit the motor.

David

[DavidApp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Hello All

I started to look at the vent area before I left to go back to work on Monday.

My vent support columns will be 2 bricks wide and 1 1/2 bricks deep. The "L" shaped brick looks as though it will work well.

Should the columns be free standing on the insulation (some of it is a Vcrete block) or should I mortar the bricks to the vcrete block?

I did put a thin slurry if cement under the blocks to level them.

David

[Greenman]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

IMHO it is best to 'glue' it down. It is not clear if you intend to have a thermal break or not. I found it a good thing and drops the temp in the masonry outside the dome considerably. Worth a thought if you had not considered it.

[DavidApp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Hello Steve

Thank you for your thoughts. Backs up what I was thinking.

I will have a small break between the inner arch and the vent area. I am going to seal the gap with gasket material used on wood stove doors. A Fiberglass material which I will trap in a pair of groves cut in the face of the bricks mating with the inner arch.
The sketch shows how I intend to seal the arch segment to the dome/inner arch.

David

[DavidApp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Made some progress on the vent area and am beginning to think about the chimney.
I have just ordered a Chimney anchor plate from Forno Bravo. As I will probable go straight up through the breezeway ceiling and through the roof I will will need a ceiling transition and a roof seal. There will be a total of about 12' of pipe from the top of the oven brickwork.
I will take the anchor plate to the local big box store to see if can find a suitable insulated chimney pipe that will connect to the anchor plate.
Will I need to support the chimney or will the brickwork be strong enough to take the weight?

David

[edsiajb]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Your project looks great - congrats on a job well done!

A properly built arch will support a tremendous amount of weight...and I feel beyond confident that my entrance arch would support 12' of insulated chimney pipe. But I believe most insulated chimney pipe uses a "ceiling support box" - which would also have support from the roof.

[texman]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Just found your thread. Nice Job and keep up the good work.

Texman

[DavidApp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Hello All

Made a bit more progress this weekend.

A Thank you to Edsiajb. The photos of your chimney helped me work out my chimney.

I had to get some more fire bricks. When I got home I found that the bricks were 9 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/2 not 9 x 4 x 2 like the last lot I had got from them. After some checking they said that they had given me some special order bricks so I had to go and exchange them for the correct bricks.
Once I started working on the vent arch I noticed that the new bricks were slightly darker than the original bricks. So I did my best to scatter the new bricks across the arch. Adds interest.

I am going to have to do some work in the ceiling and roof as the flue pipe lines up with a joist.
I could do an offset in the flue or cut out the offending joist. The joist fix would probable be best in the long run.

David

[DavidApp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

I have a question about the chimney area.
Is there an advantage to having a larger volume in the transition area to the chimney pipe area?
I am trying to work out the best way to do that area.

David

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

There are pros and cons to different sizes/shapes of vents and corresponding entryways. A deeper vent provides smoke a greater opportunity to exit vertically versus out the front of your oven, but makes the reach to the inside rear of the oven slightly further. A shallower entryway requires fewer bricks/building time but limits the size/effectiveness of the flue as well as auxiliary cooking/warming area of your oven.

Many builders did not consider entryway dimensions into their stand resulting in fewer options for their vent/flue configuration. I originally rued my 15" entryway depth, but am now very thankful for the workable landing space and for the protection I never thought to consider: the wind.

My experience says use the extra entryway depth if you have it. The extra few inches required to work the fire, pizzas, pots etc are soon forgotten.

[edsiajb]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

If you are asking about the smoke box area, which is the transition from inside the entrance arch to the chimney pipe or flue, I understand that it works best when it has more volume and then narrows down toward the chimney. The idea is that this will provide less resistance and help the draft.

I actually designed my smoke box area so that it would expand before it constricted. It works very well once everything is warmed up. But when starting the fire with a cold chimney, it doesn't draft at all (my chimney is about 6' tall). I would expect that this is fairly common. I use my weed-burner torch to heat it up and that helps a lot.

[NCMan]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

My experience says use the extra entryway depth if you have it. The extra few inches required to work the fire, pizzas, pots etc are soon forgotten.

Excellent advice.

[DavidApp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

Hello All

Yes Edsiajb I am referring to the smoke box area. In fact I am using that area of your build as a guide for my chimney transition. It looked like it worked well.
I was trying to decide if it was worth cutting the second brick in half width wise to increase the volume of the smoke box. That would be the brick that goes across the width of the chimney. The third layer if bricks would be chamfered on the under side to reduce sharp corners.

David

[DavidApp]

Re: Started my Build in Georgia

My entry way is 13" deep to the inner arch, I hope that is enough.

I did consider the problems that a deeper vent area would cause by making oven access more difficult. I tried to hit a happy middle solution.