Originally posted by Corsairmo
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The oven has held up just fine. It has been exposed to the elements for quite a few years now. My initial design was to build a gable roof over the oven itself, but due to how close I built it to my pool pergola I didn't because I thought the two roof lines would be too cramped. Then I thought I'd extend the roof (metal low-slope roof) of the pool pergola over the WFO. That may still happen, but I do like the oven being out in the open, in full view.
As a result, the oven has seen a few years' worth of weather and winter freeze/thaw cycles. This year we've had a lot of rain and sub-freezing temperatures, but still no structural issues like spalling or cracking with any of the concrete. I never did seal the concrete or stone or fill any of the voids with a slurry. During construction, the wire brushing of the concrete for a rough texture was purposeful, and while I vibrated the forms for consolidation, I didn't overly vibrate as I wanted some voids in the surface when I wrecked the forms. I like "visual texture". I do have some efflorescence due to the wetting and drying cycles but to me? It's patina! I may clean it up this year but...who knows? If I were to clean it up I'd do just that, then I'd consider using a colorant to renew the darker colors a bit. They've lightened up due to the efflorescence. I'd then run a nice long fire to dry things, then seal with a vapor-permeable sealer. If I do that remains to be seen.
I'll post some photos from today. I have to say the oven looks just how I like...it's a bit rough, but I'll call the roughness "patina", lol.
We've had some really heavy rains over the past couple of weeks and it's been about 3 or 4 weeks since the oven was last fired. I can tell that the oven is carrying a bit of moisture, but I will be firing it tomorrow.
Photos from today, the first shows the front of the vent cap and the cast arch that surrounds the oven opening. I REALLY thought I'd see degradation of the concrete on the underside of the cast arch from heat as this is where I build my starting fires. But nothing. Not even any smoke stains. The oven draws and burns well.
This photo shows that the corner pillar castings and the decorative detailing on the edges of the hearth slab have held up fine, though there is efflorescence on the leg of the cast arch that surrounds the door used to load firewood into storage underneath the oven.
And this last photo is a close-up of the corner of the hearth slab. The surface is rough, a sandpaper texture, but that is what I wanted.
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