Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

[UtahBeehiver]

I would forget the oil paper. I punch holes (hundreds of them) in the foil covering of the second layer of ceramic blanket. I should of just stripped the coating off the blanket like I did on the first layer. The holes were places so any water that turns into steam would have a egress way out. The volume of free water turning to steam is somewhere are 1500 times more. In the pcrete layer I install a 1/2" PVC female bushing and the installed a breather cap that you can get at any car parts store for 5-10 bucks. The oversized copper cap is just for decorations and larger than needed for aesthetic scale. I now that Gulf placed a small square of weld wire mesh by the bushing to give better support for the bushing.

[pocahontius]

Hello Russell,

I viewed this thread and viewed our whole set of pictures and have two question:

1.) My supplier said to me, I should use oilpaper between the blanket and the vermcrete. If I got it right, it is not advised, as steam will be trapped inside. You punched your foil with holes. After several years, is there an optimal way of constructing it? Should I use this paper? Should I forget it or should I put holes in it?

2.) The second thing I could not find in the thread: What is this hole on top for? It seems as if you put a nut in the vermicrete so that steam could escape through it and then some kind of garden hose adapter or something like that on top. Is this advised? It isn't mentioned in any instructions I could find.

Thanks for your help
Jens

[ThaiCapp]

Wow. What a stunning creation. I'm so lucky to have such skilled folks to learn from.

[UtahBeehiver]

I notice I inputted the dimensions in the wrong field so I redid and reposted. I did it both ways, axed arch and semi arch. I also see you had JR do it for you too.

[Michael Harrington]

I thought I had it figured out with TEXAS plan but to be honest like I said been reading this fourm for a while sometimes I think I got It but I don't just a headache. So to move on the bricks are 9'' long 4 1/2 wide and the ones I have are all consistent . With a 1/8 mortar joint ? what are the taper demensions.

[UtahBeehiver]

You need to tell us how wide the bricks are, not just the thickness and what size mortar joint you want.

[Michael Harrington]

I have been collecting the supplies to build a oven for about a year was going to start build this spring but I have to have shoulder surgery will not get much done this summer. I have made IT and inter arch form cutting jig I was going to cut floor and first two rows and inter arch bricks .I went and bought some bricks and the width of the bricks that I had taper dimensions for were 2.5 inch bricks mine are 2 5/16 for the 2.5 in bricks wide part 2 3/16 narrow end 1 7/16 I was using these dimensions from texas who made a oven in 2013. I was going to follow there plans 36'' oven vent arch 1.5 reveal vent arch 22'' width, radius 11'' It will have a 2 5/16 base brick and the arch part will be a hemisphere ? So my question is what would be the measurements for bricks that are 2 5/16 instead of 2 1/2. I know russell said the angleizer had a program to figure it out I bought one not sure If I could figure that out . Any help would be appreciated you guys are great been studying this forum for about a year so maybe next year it might be done.

[UtahBeehiver]

I have been absent from the Forum for a couple weeks since I was traveling to "Pizza" country. I have been in the Naples Italy area on a little holiday so I thought I would share a couple items with the Forum members, first, there is no shortage of pizza ovens in Italy, there are more pizza restaurants than 7-11s. Every where from cheap eats to 5 star restaurants have pizza on their menus. I thought I would never say I'm tired of pizza but I won't be eating pizza for a while....LOL. Second, visiting Pompeii I took a picture of a 2 meter ID pizza oven that survived the Vesius eruption. It was buried under 15-20 feet of ash. This is just one of many at the Pompeii site. So here is a testament of how strong this type of dome structures is and how long they can last.

[UtahBeehiver]

Hey Colin,

It is our Spring right now and the flower and blossoms our out although it did snow a couple inches about a week ago, go figure. Looking forward to seeing number two oven started.

[oasiscdm]

Hey Russell how is that oven weathering. Is it changing colour. be interested in a pic if it has changed.

[Gulf]

Acrylic fortifier can be added as a replacement for water up to 100% of the water content of concrete. It will help a bunch for protecting the concrete against water absorption (freeze/thaw). It doesn't have to be that ratio for the entire pour. Just all areas that may absorb water. I replaced the water in my small pour about 50/50 with the acrylic fortifier. I don't live in an area that gets the punishment that some of ya'll do. (My counter is also under a roof over) If I did, I would replace all the water in the surface concrete with the acrylic fortifier.

[UtahBeehiver]

You will need to seal the concrete from water absorbing into the concrete. I do not believe it was a factor with the spalling.

[cnegrelli]

Is your last sentence stating that the sealer helped, or perhaps contributed to the issue? Thanks for the reply!

[UtahBeehiver]

1. 2.5 " plus or minus to get past veneer stone, 2" thick is about right
2. It is what I had available to the bottom, anywhere you are going to polish you should use a laminate surface form.
3. Not really just marked my high point around the dome and set my form end points 1/4" lower
4. I think it is a combination of a couple items where I have spalling, over work area, plasticizer may have work out, too much glass too late, then ice and freezing did this area in. Other areas of the polished concrete are fine exposed to the winter conditions here. Also, treated top with a food safe lithium base sealer.

[cnegrelli]

Hi Russell, Some questions on your countertops from about page 20 in this thread:
1. How far out from base did they extend? I see they were about 2" thick.
2. Was it necessary to use the melamine on the bottom edge of the counter (I was thinking straight 2x4 with Melamine sides)?
3. did the 1/4" slope work out well - was it difficult to screed a slope from igloo to form?
4. Did you ever resolve the freezing issue with your glass for the long run?