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Hello folks, I built my oven last year and mostly so far, so good.
however I'm having issues with insulating and covering the dome.
When I first built it I used a 3inch layer of vermiculite, which i covered with a layer of render (sand,cement,lime). When the oven was fired the render cracked and since then steam escapes through the cracks each time it is hot.
I deduced from this that the vermiculite firstly hadn't dried fully initially then since then rain had got through the cracks/render worsening the problem.
This past week I've removed the render, the vermiculite was very wet underneath. I've since lit the oven to dry the vermiculte and then applied another 3 inch layer of vermiculite to increase the insulation.
My questions to everyone are
1) How long do I leave the vermiculite to dry before rendering again?
2) Should I fire the oven in the meantime to speed up the process?
3) What can I do to make sure the render is waterproof? (I bought a bottle of pink liquid from the local builders merchant is meant to improve this, is this enough?)
4) Is it inevitable that the render will crack/moisture needs to escape? Should I place vents in the render to allow it to escape?
Overall I know I should probably just build a cover/enclosure for the oven because it rains a lot here (cornwall UK), but I'd really like to keep the dome shape.
Any help greatly appreciated, many thanks, James
however I'm having issues with insulating and covering the dome.
When I first built it I used a 3inch layer of vermiculite, which i covered with a layer of render (sand,cement,lime). When the oven was fired the render cracked and since then steam escapes through the cracks each time it is hot.
I deduced from this that the vermiculite firstly hadn't dried fully initially then since then rain had got through the cracks/render worsening the problem.
This past week I've removed the render, the vermiculite was very wet underneath. I've since lit the oven to dry the vermiculte and then applied another 3 inch layer of vermiculite to increase the insulation.
My questions to everyone are
1) How long do I leave the vermiculite to dry before rendering again?
2) Should I fire the oven in the meantime to speed up the process?
3) What can I do to make sure the render is waterproof? (I bought a bottle of pink liquid from the local builders merchant is meant to improve this, is this enough?)
4) Is it inevitable that the render will crack/moisture needs to escape? Should I place vents in the render to allow it to escape?
Overall I know I should probably just build a cover/enclosure for the oven because it rains a lot here (cornwall UK), but I'd really like to keep the dome shape.
Any help greatly appreciated, many thanks, James
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