It's time to go Vertical

[Les]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC,

I cut (notched) my brick one inch for the reveal. You can see it on the first two pictures, on the second page in the photo gallery. It took little effort and it ties the arch pretty well to the vent area.

Les...

[Kemo]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC,

looking good...glad to see yet another TX oven. Thanks for posting.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Planning on putting the floor down tomorrow and was just going to level it with fireclay no mortar. But I'm wondering if I should mortor the landing under the vent area, or will mortaring the vent sides to the floor be enough?

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC,
I used fireclay alone to lay the floor bricks. A month later, it was still moist. I tried first with fireclay and sand, but forgot to soak the bricks. They sucked the water right out of the mix and it quickly became unworkable. It wasn't till I set the floor in fireclay alone that I understood the problem of not soaking the bricks. The plans say not to use mortar under the floor, but several builders have done it.

I used a slurry mix of portland cement under the entryway bricks. The expansion of the dome/floor bricks broke the seal on the mortar and moved them. It might not have been a problem if I'd used the vermicrete insulation out to the end of the entryway...... Who knows???
G.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

I spent yesterday installing the isoblocks, I mortared them down. I thought I ordered 1'x2' but they came 1'x1' so I have a lot more seams than I planned.
I arched the front of my hearth so I had an extra 12" to work with and it doesn't appear to be a issue reaching the back of the oven area.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

So today I placed the floor down on top of a fire clay (dry slurry from cutting firebricks) and sand slurry. The weather is unusual for Jan with temp. in the 70s but winds in the 30s. In no time the slurry dried out and I was basically placing the floor on a dry sand/fireclay mixture. Given that the mix was to help level the floor I think I'm ok, but if a source of fireclay was close I would get it and put a wet mix of that only down.

I'm planning on using mortar on the outside circular cuts and the front landing area to keep those from moving.

[Kemo]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC

what a wonderful view with the lake in the backdrop...that will make for a truly wonderful pizza experience!

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

I mortared the soldier course in today with Heat Stop 50, not having used this before I made a small batch about 1 gallon and followed the bags direction. It called for 10 lb of mortar and 3/4 qt of water. It was dryer than h..., so I added half again as much water - still seemed dry but I went with it. It covered about 14 bricks but at the end it was way to dry. I doubled the water in the next batch and so much better It went on like peanut butter. I did remove the last 5 bricks from the first batch and redid them. Towards the end I ran out of mortar with 5 bricks left so I mixed up a small batch but it was a little dry at the end. So I'm worried I'll be removing the first 9 and last 5 bricks, we will see how it sets up overnight.

[Les]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Looking good! Is that Richland Chambers resorvoir at your backdoor?

Les...

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Yes it is, almost could go surfing the last three days. Though the water is probably about 55 degrees, years ago I did my scube certification in Feb with the water at that temp and never again will I do that. My college roommate used to dive under ice - go figure.

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

I did my certification in Puget Sound. 53 degrees. Brain Freeze!

Your project's looking great. Are you waiting to build the rest of the BBQ area until after the oven's completed?

G.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Your project's looking great. Are you waiting to build the rest of the BBQ area until after the oven's completed?

G.

Yes, WFO first and then with the stonework I will tackle the wings.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Pulled off the tarp today and was pleasantly surprised that all of the mortar seemed to be very secure. I'm still going to double the water for the mortar. It goes on very easy and I still notice that by the end of a small batch the mortar is starting to dry out, could be the strong winds we are having.

I was surprised to see the inverted V between bricks show up on the 2nd course. Either the third course tomorrow or the arch and work on a support guide. Someone I know must have a welder!

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

The winds have finally abated and I was watching the sunset and I noticed that my WFO is starting to look like a dome. Exciting.

[sarah h]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Somehow I've missed your thread up to now or I'd have commented sooner - wow, what a view! That's a beautiful setting for your oven. Great progress so far - keep up the good work!

Sarah