Should I clad the walls and dome?

[Abear]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

I know what you mean..the bricks are HUGE and make it look smaller because of the lack of brick lines. Plan to clad around the walls tomorrow to shore them up for arch work later in the day!

[Abear]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

Decided to cover dome with 1.5" refractory cement (Quikrete with fireclay added in). Finished the back wall arch and partial sides made out of vermicrete. Plan to use same forms for front once I finish brickwork around opening. Fill will be with loose vermicrete (4" on sides, 6+" on top). I just wish this 100 degree heat in Houston would let up!! It's been a bear keeping the concrete damp while curing..

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

lookin good.........

[Abear]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

I've finished forming the vermicrete walls and brickwork on the chimney. I want to stucco over the vermicrete exterior but wonder if I need to use diamond mesh over the vermicrete. The vermicrete looks rather porous and I think the stucco might adhere well to it but I have no experience with stucco. Has anyone used stucco on vermicrete?

[Neil2]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

"wonder if I need to use diamond mesh over the vermicrete."

I used an acrylic stucco directly on the vermiculete with no mesh.
Its very thick but goes on with a paint brush. The first coat tends to mostly cover the vermiculete but you see little holes develop. The second coat covers it well. Leave the third coat until after the curing process - the dome will tend to expand and develop small cracks which this third coat will cover.

The acrylic stucco is the most water "resistant" of the various stucco types (and it is available in various colors).

[Abear]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

Does the acrylic stucco after all the applications form a smooth surface or does it mimic the porous vermicrete surface?

[Abear]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

Well the oven is complete. After forming the dome shell with vermicrete, I used a mortar/stucco mix to coat the vermicrete shell to smooth out the porous surface. I then used a colored driveway sealant bought at Home Depot. It's from Quikcrete and you can get it tinted to any color you desire. It's looks thinner than paint but after two liberal coats, it's uniform in color. Best of all, it's waterproof!

Fired up the oven last week with my high duty bricks. Had trouble getting a raging fire using the top down fire building technique. The kindling on top of the stack was too high in the chamber and didn't get enough air = lots of smoke! Once the fire was established, the 6" chimney worked great and drew well. By the time the fire was raging, it was getting dark and the kids were hungry! I got the walls to 620 and floor to 530 degrees. Prepped the floor and cooked two pizzas - each taking about 4-5 minutes to bake. (don't laugh at my cardboard "peel" - I'm still waiting for my wooden ones on backorder) Wish I could have had more time to get it up to 800-900 degrees. Even still, the walls were still at 250 degrees at 10 AM the next day with no door!

Thanks to everyone for their advise during this build - it still needs some finishing touches but it's ready to fire!

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

your oven looks great, you should be very proud.... I love the cardboard peel, did you make it out of an old pizza box ?... My only comment, I have a wood peel and an aluminum peel, The wood peel was used once and never again, The aluminum is much thinner and so much easier to use, also have a small 4 inch wide one from stainless, I use it for turning the pizzas. See if you have a local restaurant supply company, you can buy them there...
Your pizza looks great too
Good Luck and enjoy
Mark

[Mitchamus]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

Great Job! the entry looks awesome!

Is this the swishy or the masterly tail design?

[Abear]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

It's actually a mix - I used info from the swishy CD initially for the base / hearth and used the masterly tail for the entry area because I liked the clean looks handling the gap between the dome and entryway. It was easy filling the gaps with leftover scraps of firebrick and I didn't need to use any angle iron. Many thanks to the guy in Dallas (Ozarkdreams - Arkansas Land, Property, Crafts, Recreation, Wood Burning Brick Pizza Oven) who site I used mostly for the masterly tail design.

Mark, I actually bought a 6" small aluminum peel as well and it works great. The cardboard was from the box my peels were shipped in (how ironic! - if only the peels were as cheap). I plan on using the wood peels for pizza prep during parties, the aluminum peels for cooking.

I do have a question: it seems the hearth lags behind the wall temps during firing. When cooking with a small fire to maintain, how does the floor recharge while making multiple pizzas? Do you wait between pizzas to give the hearth a chance to recharge?

[Mitchamus]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

you can rake the coals over the hearth to give it a bit of direct heating.

I only ever cook one pizza at once (or i end up burning them) so, I just put the second pizza in a different place...

by the time the 2nd pizza is done, the first spot is hot again.

that's me experience anyways... someone else will probably describe something different!!

[dmun]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

When cooking with a small fire to maintain, how does the floor recharge while making multiple pizzas?

The flames licking up the side of the dome keep the floor hot. This is why it's important to keep small pieces of wood to keep your flames going. I don't really recommend raking the fire over, it's a nuisance and doesn't really work that well.

I do have a question: it seems the hearth lags behind the wall temps during firing.

It's a new oven, right? It may take the better part of a month using it regularly to drive all the residual moisture out of the masonry. Keep using it, I bet it will get better.

[Abear]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

All done guys, it's time to crack open a beer or bottle of vino and let the memories begin! After hearing all the comments from friends and relatives during the parties we've had, it's worth all the toil and trouble during the build. The environment a brick oven creates is truly is a unique experience to share with others.

[trockyh]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

Nice looking outdoor kitchen/patio. I really like the stained? concrete? How did you do that and what product did you use?

Tom

[Abear]

Re: Should I clad the walls and dome?

We scored the patio about 1/4" groove using a diamond-tipped blade on a 2' diagonal to create "grout lines" in the concrete (It looks like 2' tile laid diagonally with a 1' border around the edge). My wife and I acid stained the concrete- mahoghany for the tiles and walnut for the border. It really wasn't that hard and after you put on the sealant, it's pretty much maintanence free. Supplies run you about .50/sq.ft. Bought the acid stain/sealant from a local distributor.