Virginia Beach 42" WFO

[RES10CUE]

OK I have finally started my 42" WFO project. I always laugh about how addicting this project is. This is allot of fun, I have a greater respect for the many trades that I will "dabble" in while assembling this project. Concrete, Brick and Block masons and Carpentry to name a few. I tip my hat and raise a glass of homebrew to you all, Cheers. I have attached some photos of the start of the project. I always have my little helper around, and his ball is always in the way. I should have left the ball in the footer but he removed it first.

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

It starts out with a load of concrete and my opinion buy a concrete mixer you will use it alot with this project. I placed the rebar in the footer and mixed and placed the concrete. After the concrete set, I placed the block and backfilled the foundation.

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

I placed my footer blocks and filled the cells with concrete. As you can tell inspector Jake checked out the work. Then added 4 feet of concrete to the pool deck. For this concrete I had John Clodfelter from Anchor Concrete help me. Then I had my slab for the stand.

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

I set my blocks and built up the stand to be 4 blocks high. I then cut out a template; I finally realized how big the oven is. Inspector Jake is checking for plumb and level. 300 bricks and the only way to carry them is with brick tongs; buy two so you can carry them with equal weight on each side. The forms are in place waiting on rebar. If you place your bender a set distance from a block all your bends will be the same.

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

The block stand and hearth elevation worked out great. You can bend a 10' piece of rebar to fit between the cells. I placed the rebar on 8" centers. Then I set the mixer at dump level, let the mixing begin. I mixed almost (50) 60lb bags of Quickcrete. The first few were soupy so I could fill all the block cells. Then float the top and cover it with poly to slow the evaporation. Two days later I removed the forms and centered up the hearth. TIP: After you snap your chalk lines use clear spray paint to seal the lines so you don't smudge them.

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

The first picture is of a mockup of my first course with a wide landing. The next is my router jig, which I used to cut out circles for the round forms for the insulating slab. I made my insulating slab 6". Because if 4" is good 6" has got to be better. Just kidding I wanted my finish floor height to be a little higher so I don?t have to bend over too much when looking into the oven. I picked up three bags of Perlite and mixed them using (2) 5 Gallon buckets of perlite and (1) 2 Gallon bucket of Portland for a 5:1 mix for the insulating slab. And dont forget Jakes Ball which is always in the way!! I am going to bust my ass on that ball.

[dougrappe]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

Nice documentation, keep the pictures coming. I like the tip about preserving chalk lines, great idea.

Have fun!

Doug

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

I mixed all the dry material at once and placed it on a large trashcan with a can liner. I found out that it was not necessary for the insulating slab material. You can mix these materials as you go. Once I placed the material I tried not to tamp the material, harder said than done. Finally a completed slab, funny stuff to work with. If I was to do it again I will increase the perlite mixture to 6 or 7 to 1. Once dry, I test fit the floor and cut the outline. Then the soldier course was cut on an angle determined with an improvised "indispensable tool" .

[dbhansen]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

Nice work! Looking great.

[jrparks]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

Looks like you are off to a great start! I used that same level on my build. I checked ever other brick as I laied them to see that they were with in 1 deg. of my CADD layout.
It also reminded me of how cold it was.
Cheers,

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

Glen, that looks sooo nice. I like your flared entry. And did you use a "Lazy Susan" spinning thing (I'm not a carpenter) to spin your measuring tool around for the bricks? Really cool. The more accurate you are at the start, the better the finish will be. Keep up the good work, Dino

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

The Indispensable tool variation as very helpful in identifying the some of the angles needed to complete a WFO. I wanted to cut a few brick courses but I just could not wait and I had to start. I numbered all the pieces and then when I placed them in the water to soak. I lost all the numbers. Here is a TIP don?t use pencil. More to follow soon.

[pizza_bob]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

I like that tapered opening. Dino convinced me that it is beneficial to have that. But how will you build your arches to be perpendicular to the entrance? If I understood Dino correctly, he mentioned that a little mortar can skew the angled arch "shoulder" brick enough to keep the arch perpendicular.
Your build is looking great! I'm not too far behind - I just poured my vermicrete/Foamglas layer.

Regards,
Bob

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

If you can get the TAVY Tile Puck to set the floor, it will help you set the floor and reduce the potential of the peel catching on a joint line. It is perfect to set tile with. Now a good time for a home brew "after" setting the floor. Next set the first course and check it with the "Indispensable tool". More to follow.

[RES10CUE]

Re: Virginia Beach 42" WFO

Here are some more progress pics of the vent opening, arch and dome. More to follow.