West Virginia Casa90 Build

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

Added the decorative arch to the front of the oven yesterday. I have confirmed that I'm not a mason and that buying a modular oven was the right approach. Haven't checked this morning to see if the arch is still there or if it will still be attached once the form is removed. I'm going to try to add a bit of mortar in to some of the joints to make them look a bit more consistent if it stays in place. Here's a picture, there won't be any close ups, lol!

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build. First Fire

Received the 24" section of chimney I ordered so was able to add the chimney to my build. I have 6' of chimney pipe and this gets the chimney about 24" above the roof of the pavilion. Not sure why I originally thought I would need two 48" pieces of pipe but got it right this time. I've posted an ad for the extra 48" duratech duravent pipe in the For Sale forum since I won't need it. As FYI, I ordered the pipe from buildit.com on Wednesday and it arrived here on Friday with free shipping- hard to beat.

Here's a picture of the chimney after install. I have one bracket securing the pipe to the facia of the pavilion.



Since I had the chimney in place, decided to light a small fire, burned for a few hours, only a few small pieces of wood. Outside of the oven was about 160 degrees, inside about 220 or so measured with an infrared thermometer. Let it all cool down and then covered the oven with a tarp.

Will have to research the process of starting a fire, thinking the easiest way will be to light some kindling near the entrance under the flue, then push it back in to the oven after it gets burning. My wood might have been a bit damp but had a bit of a time getting it to light off when it was further in the oven. I was happy with the small amount of smoke that escaped out the front once the fire was burning. I'm assuming that with a larger fire, the flue will draw even better.

I'm going to do another small fire before I start adding the insulating blankets to at least make sure that I don't get any obvious cracks that would be easy to fix while the oven is uncovered. We've had a lot of rain here and the humidity is in the 70-80% range so really damp. I'm waiting for a clear and dry forecast for a couple of days before I try the first coat of stucco.

Here's a picture of the first fire. Almost cooked a smore for my wife but decided to wait, lol.

[mrchipster]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

Fires can be difficult in a damp oven so do not be frustrated yet.

Since my oven is fully seasoned I take two pieces of wrist diameter wood placed parallel about 6-8 inches apart, fill the space with crumpled newspaper, place kindling 3-4 across and then 3-4 more in parallel.

Then I light the paper, starts every time.

Once the fire is burning I push the pile to the middle of the oven and add more wood. Sometimes it is easier to push it back if I use a medium sized piece of wood that spans the two larger pieces using it to push everything at once.

You may want to do your curing with charcoal, kingsford works well because it has those little fire enhancers in it.

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build, Fiber Blanket Installed

Covered the oven with 3 layers of the FB fiber blanket this morning, then used 1/2" hardware cloth to form the dome shape. It looks pretty rough but it's a rustic oven, right?

Here are a few pictures as I progressed.







First coat of stucco came next, pictures in the next post.

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build, First Stucco Coat

Here are a couple of pictures of the first coat of stucco over the fiber blanket and hardware cloth. Think the mixture was okay but one batch was a bit wet. I used a mix of 1 part portland, 1 part lime, and 5 parts sand for this coat. Will post a new thread with some questions on how long to wait before putting on the second coat.

First picture is mixer and materials ready to go.



Next shot is when I was almost done- should have stopped to take a picture or two along the way but forgot.



I have fired the oven with small fires 3 times so far and no issues to report with the oven itself, hopefully any cracks in the stucco will be small. There were a couple of places where the coating was a bit thick when the hardware cloth shell stuck out from the blanket a bit but hopefully it will cure in one solid piece.

Thanks for looking

[kkgator]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

Dave,

Looks good so far! It appears the end is in sight. I should be starting my oven soon and I'm grateful for your pictures and posts. I sent you a PM in regards to your stucco question. It seems that DRYVIT is the way to go and a lot of home builders use it down here in the swamp. I am actually concerned about the moisture/rain down here as well. Sherwin Williams makes this product (Loxon XP Masonry Coating) and it is a 1 coat system with no need for priming. I wonder if anyone on the boards has used any of these products and could offer some guidance.

Keep up the good work!

Kenny

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

Added a second coat of stucco to the oven this morning. Here's a couple of pictures showing one area before and the same one after. Will be checking out a final finish product next, kgator, thanks for the comments. Once this coat dries, will get a close look to see if I think it needs a skim coat or something but so far, I think I'm happy with the shape and finish- a few dips and bumps but hey, it's home made!

[david s]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

With no guttering on your roof, a lot of rain will be directed straight down onto your oven, especially where the flue pipe penetrates the oven. you may need to rethink this problem.

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

Agree. A builder friend is supposed to be leaving me a piece of aluminum flashing that will be placed at the bottom of the roofing to deflect water away from the oven. If he doesn't bring me the green painted flashing to match the roof soon, will have to rig something up myself. Maybe I should do something temporary for now.

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

david s.- your note, and the forecast for showers overnight prompted me to put up a piece of metal edging above the oven to see if this will help at least until I can do a more permanent fix. This is a piece of metal meant to go on the edge of the roof mounted under the roofing material and hopefully will move most of the water off to the side of the oven.

In the picture, the metal looks like it matches but it's actually a different green from another barn project of mine but should let me know if I'm on the right track. Thanks for the push!

[david s]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

Is there a reason you don't want to do standard guttering? That set up you have now will catch leaves and create a potential fire hazard with the flue exit so close. I think the regulations call for 2 feet higher than the edge of your roof.

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

The chimney pipe is 2' higher than the roof already so good to go from that perspective. The chimney pipe is only 2" from the edge of the roof so no room for standard guttering. There are a lot of trees around us but no trees that should drop many leaves on the pavilion although hard to tell that from the pictures. Most of the trees that are close to the pavilion are pines.

There is flashing available to direct water off to the side, I just don't have a piece handy that is the right color. The current set up is much taller than how I think I'll end up. The flashing I'm thinking of is only about 2" high and I've used it on other metal roof buildings without gutters to direct water away from a door. It seemed to work well but will have to see how it works out in this application.

I'll take a close look if we get some rain as called for tomorrow to see how it works. I appreciate you taking an interest in my build and the feedback!

FYI- heavy rains this morning and deflector seems to be doing a good job of moving water off to the sides of the oven.

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build, Final Curing Fire

Yesterday, did the last of the scheduled curing fires and let the fire size grow until the oven was reading near 800 degrees on the dome and nearly 600 degrees on the side walls. All seems okay so far. Decided that since I had a fire, might as well try to cook something.

Used some frozen pizza dough that I don't even remember which recipe or flour it was made with. Didn't have any sauce so we spread some olive oil, fesh garlic, cheese, a little salt & pepper and baked away. It was wonderful!

Here's a couple of pictures.





Cooked in about 3 minutes we ate two of these while sitting by the oven. My wife decided that a smore might be in order- no picture but the marshmallow was perfect in about 15 seconds and she thought it was the best ever!

[davemartin88]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

I spent the day applying tile to the outside of the oven. I've decided that covering a dome shaped, irregular object may not have been the best project for a first tiling experience, lol.

I used sheets of 2x2 travertine tumbled mosaic tiles. I had applied a concrete sealer to the stucco yesterday so started the tiles today. Pictures show most of the work complete. I still have a few odd shaped tiles to cut and place but the batch of tile cement I was using was starting to get dry so stopped for the day. Will mix a small batch tomorrow and finish up.

Plan is to apply a sealer to the tiles and after this dries, to use an epoxy grout to increase the weather proofing. Have some tile left over and will be able to use it to cover a counter that I want to add next to the oven.

Here are a couple of pictures.

[Les]

Re: West Virginia Casa90 Build

I've decided that covering a dome shaped, irregular object may not have been the best project for a first tiling experience, lol.

Yea, round and square objects are not the best of friends.