30" Pompeii in Minneapolis

[UtahBeehiver]

+ 1 with david s suggestion. Yes, we have seen many of builders rush to curing fires.

[gastagg]

That advice sounds solid. I have no issues with waiting. After five months of working on this thing...what's another few days? I have 3" of ceramic blanket. Will the stucco get hot? Will there be steam trying to escape? Will it expand even with the 3" of insulation underneath it? What will be going on with my oven?

So, here's the plan at this point:

Tomorrow - last stucco coat. wrap with plastic wrap for 7 days. Dome was completed on Aug 27 and was slowly cured. Bricks were wet and I kept plastic over it daily.
Next Wednesday, unwrap.
Start curing fires.

Here is the schedule I found on the forum. Do you guys still think this is good?

Day 1: 200 degrees. Add 100 degrees each day for 7 days, letting oven cool once temp is reached.

Would it be OK to cook bread on day 3 (400 degrees)? Having a paella party on the fire pit and was hoping to bake bread.

Thanks! George

[RandyJ]

Hey looking great. Your curing looks pretty much like what I did. The one spot I am not real clear on is if you then hold the temp or let it cool. I tried to hold mine for as long as I could. In some cases I held the temp for up to 12 hrs. It was a lot of messing around but worth it in the end. I can't wait to see the finished project.

Randy

[gastagg]

Well, I think on that Friday evening, I'm going to hold the temp at 400ish for a bit, as long as the guys give the go ahead on the above schedule. Who want's cracks in brand new stucco after all this work?

[UtahBeehiver]

I believe David has some numbers on the amount of stream generated when water flashes to gas. It is a "lot" and by looking at your build there I don't see a vent anywhere so there will some pressure build up when the water boils off. It does not happen in just one fire but over the course of many fires. So the more the drier you can get the oven, ie mortar, stucco, etc, the better off you will be. Both Gulf and I have vents in the top of our ovens. David has one build in his chimney vent.

[gastagg]

Thanks for the heads up on the vent. To this point, I have heard of a vent mentioned, but did not know what that was. Now I do. Well, maybe in future ovens..... I do have an air gap between the stucco and the chimney that I'll be caulking, but until I do, it could provide a way for the initial pressure to release. I've attached a pic. The metal lathe and insulation is still visible. I think I'll wait until after the initial curing fires to cault that. That will allow any pressure between the bricks and the stucco to be released.

Here is the finish coat. I hope it stays the same color. I added some black colorant along with 3x the amount of red. Using Solomon mortar coloring with Quikrete Finish Stucco with a white base. I am some fearful of the final coloring being pink.

[ivancito]

GASTAGG THATS AN AMAZING DOME JOB. I THOUGHT I WAS DONE FOR THE YEAR BUT YOU MAY OF JUST INSPIRED ME TO START MY DOME BEFORE LEAVES START TURNING COLOR.

[ivancito]

GASTAGG VERY NICE DOME BUILD, IMPRESSED AT HOW CLEAN ALL THE JOINTS WERE AND HOW GREAT THE DOME INTERIOR WAS LOOKING AS YOU CAPPED IT. QUESTION. HOW DID
YOU MAKE THE ROUND CUTS ON THE BRICKS USED FOR THE CHIMNEY MOUNT SHOWN IN POST#123?

[gastagg]

Thanks for the kind words. Got A LOT of help on this forum. MrChipster came by one day and helped me with the dome/arch transition, which was huge! To cut the curves, I cut off what I could and then basically used the saw (10") as a grinder. A pain in the butt for sure, but luckily only four bricks. Got the chimney mount idea from UtahBeehiver. If you have not seen his build yet, you have to. Copper shingles over the dome. It's beautiful.

[gastagg]

Also, try to find MrChipsters dome calculator spreadsheet on his build thread. For some reason, you can't upload xcel files anymore. You type in the dome diameter, and you get a list of brick courses, cut angles, tilt angles, etc. It was very helpful, esp. in the early stages. Started making my own calculations after course 5 or so, but by then, I had it down.

[UtahBeehiver]

FYI, Gastagg, Deejayho is the developer of the dome calc spreadsheet. Mr. C did the brick jig. Just giving credit to the right people.

Here is the link to DJ spreadsheet calculator.

http://www.fornobravo.com/community/...ator#post15729

[gastagg]

Thanks for the correction Russell! I downloaded the version from MrC that included his jig measurements, which is why I thought it was his. Anyway, it's a great tool.

[david s]

Nice job George.

[gastagg]

Well, I'll be honest with you all. I kind of wish I would have stuck with the original plan of insulating the flu arch and stuccoing the whole thing...this white strip of caulking is very unappealing. It's water-based, so I may try to paint it.

However, I think the oven is solid. Start curing fires middle of next week. Dome vent is installed. Should be ready to go.

[gastagg]

Done....until the stone veneer next summer. Curing fires start on Wed.