10 year Old Casa 90 Needs New Covering

[mclimbin2]

Hi all,
We love our Casa 90. We had her installed 10 years ago this summer, and have built so many wonderful memories around that oven. Whenver we have visitors, that is my first question to my family: "Should we do pizza?"
When we built her we covered her with stucco, and over the years she is developing some hairline cracks in the stucco. We've been covering her with a tarp during the rainy season, just to be safe, but I assume some moisture gets in there. We haven't had any large breaking or chips or anything, but I think it's time to recover because of the small cracks.

I'd like to lay tiles over the stucco, just because I think it will be a little more sturdy. However, I know next to nothing about masonry, really, so maybe that is not the case?

I have done some preliminary searching of the internet and it seems that I should clean the stucco, cover it in a waterseal paint, and then cover it with wire, and then do a substrate of mortar to lay the tile on.
Does that seem reasonable to you?
What would you suggest?
Perhaps it would be easier to just do all the prelim stuff as above and do another layer of stucco?
Please let me know if you have any advice and if you have any resources to share (information, websites, videos and such).
Thank you!
Michael

[david s]

With the regular heating and cooling comes thermal expansion and contraction, so over time some cracking of the outside shell is normal. But it is important to seal up the cracks, particularly if the oven is open to the elements. if ignored the fine cracks will allow moisture into the highly absorbent insulation layer, causing damaging steam expansion which will widen the cracks

[david s]

As it’s a FornoBravo oven you should contact them regarding the procedure for repairs, but for those home builders with a similar problem here is a procedure to follow.
clean down the outer shell with mould killer and detergent using a scrubbing brush, then rough sandpaper it when dry. Then do some drying fires. The cracks will actually assist the exit of water. Use some plastic sheet test to observe iwhen the condensation under the sheet ceases.
Scratch open the widest cracks a little with a screwdriver or similar tool and wet sides of the cracks. Allow this to penetrate then do the same with a slurry of cement and water. Then fill all the cracks with cement mortar mix, sieving out any course sand. Then cover the whole oven to damp cure the mortar mix for at least a week. The reapply an elastomeric coating to seal the whole outer surface. Pay particular attention to where the outer shell meets the supporting slab as well as where the outer shell meets the flue pipe. (This may require high temp silicon).