39 inch Corner Build

[SableSprings]

JR, I'm really impressed how well your oven cover and entertainment patio came out. Your chimney/roof interface looks far better than mine...I was doing a "How can I make this work?" while you planned and executed the job fabulously. I'm really glad you went this way instead of spending a lot of money on the membrane and other ideas that were thrown at you by the roofers...saved instead to spend on good pizza toppings or adult beverages

Chicken looks terrific! As Joe said above, try out the spatchcock method sometime...pretty simple and also quite well suited for the higher temps of the WFO. I prefer using a 12" cast iron skillet and some left over firebricks rather than the grill version...but both are terrific. Thanks Joe for reminding me of that technique, now that Fall's heading our way I'm looking forward to some hearty dishes along those lines. JR, that flattening of the bird either in a pan or on the grill gives really great texture and flavor to the skin and meat. Also as Joe noted, the "timing for done" on the whole bird is much, much better.

[JRPizza]

Thanks - we did save doing the job ourselves, but probably still had close to 1K in the roof. The high quality plywood ended up costing more than the metal panels, and when you throw in the price of trim, stain, screws, flashing, gutter etc it kind of added up. It worked out to around $4.47 per square foot and we are very happy with the new living space.
As an aside, earlier in the thread chimney temperatures were discussed. We ended up using an extra 3' section of pipe we had, and now that I see the heat discoloration in the upper part of the pipe I'm glad I went with the extra length. I think the hot gasses impinging on the rain cap make that part of the vent much hotter than the rest of the pipe. I have not gotten a measurement on the cap, but it gets a little blue at the hot point of a firing.

[JRPizza]

I finally got my insulated door welded together. I used 16 gauge mild steel for the outer portion of door where the handles attach, and 20 gauge for the inner door and surround. The door is 4" thick, and stuffed with insulation blanket leftover from my build. The handles are concrete float replacement handles, an idea I got from The Bread Builders. I went with this style of handle as I wanted them to be removable from the outside in case I ever wanted to take them off for painting etc. I did not want to just run bolts all the way through the door (to reduce heat transfer) and with the welded design there was not going to be access to the inside after assembly. I tack welded nuts to the inside face of the door and fastened the handles down with stainless steel socket head cap screws. I chose not to incorporate a thermometer at this time - between finding one that would work with my thickness that I liked and the added complexity of providing the holes and internal support for one, it seemed to me like diminishing returns on my efforts.
I plan on painting the outside but now that the weather has cooled and I have gotten the door pretty dirty from use, I may just use it till spring and see how it holds up. I also have a few rough edges that a little sanding will take care of.
A note on the welded design I used – the relatively thin steel was difficult to weld without burning through, and with my skill level it is almost impossible for me to make a nice looking outside corner weld. By extending the bottom plate slightly in the front, I was able to use all inside corner tacks to complete the door. Not the prettiest job, but I think it will hold together.

[SableSprings]

Wow John, that door's awesome! How much does it weigh? Mine was only a little over 25 pounds if I remember correctly...made me feel pretty comfortable using it to damp down my overnight heating fires. Your door looks like it will be absolutely stable, lighter than mine, and be really useful working the oven. Thanks for sharing...you might want to add it to the "show us your door" thread (link below) for others to see.

http://www.fornobravo.com/community/...ur-door-thread

[deejayoh]

Nice work JR. We still need to get together one of these days. Would love to see the oven.

I like how deep you made the door. I would have gone that way if I had a do-over

Another tip - get some of this gasket https://www.amazon.com/High-temp-Rep.../dp/B00TLB75MA to go around the door. Makes a WORLD of difference in heat retention. My ramp is probably 75-100 degrees less per day with the gasket than it was without it.

[JRPizza]

I forgot to mention that the door is 4" deep (edited above) and that I chose not to add a thru door thermometer. I have estimated the weight without handles to be at just about 9 pounds based on the volume of steel and insulation. I'll try to weight it soon and report back. Will also make a post on the show your door thread.
Deejayoh, I have enough left over gasket from my heat break to make a seal, so that is planned. I have used the door, and the pieces before I welded them up, to extinguish fires, so the inner surfaces (especially around the periphery of the outer door) are quite coated with creosote, so I will have to find something that will dissolve that off before I can glue down the rope.

[deejayoh]

I think you will find that the felt gasket will work better than the rope - it's flatter and has a little "give". it has adhesive backing too. I just scrubbed off the creosote with a wire brush and it's been fine.

[fnbroken]

man...I can get you guys to post me things? This stuff is SOOOOO expensive here!

[Gulf]

I haven't ordered felt gasket yet. I am glad to hear that it is holding up. If I do order gasket material for the door, that is what it will be. I am a little worried about the fibers shedding from the ceramic fiber gasket material. I don't think that I would use it for a door seal.

[JRPizza]

Ahh, I had forgotten that the rope was glass fiber - guess I'll follow Deejayoh's lead and get the nomex version

[Larry P]

Nice looking door. Mine is a clamshell that's bolted together, 3.5" thick and filled with 4" of CF board. I used 1/2" thick square ceramic fiber rope to take up the 1/2" gap between the front of the door and the back. I used a dab of high-heat caulk on the cut ends of the rope to keep them from fraying.

In the end, I found I was getting leakage around the edge of the door, so I went back and put a nomex gasket on the lip. It works much better now. I used nomex because that's what I use on my BGE and I had lots of it laying around.

[Larry P]

...and keep dry! I imagine that roof is really coming in handy this week. We're having a party tonight and the rain is supposed to move in around 6. I'll probably regret not building a roof :O

[JRPizza]

Yes, I checked out your door before I built mine - part of the reason I went with the 4" thickness
The roof is great and we have been doing plenty of cooking in bad weather, but the rain is supposed to be horizontal later today . I have a tarp wrapped around the back side of the oven to try to keep the slab dry since the walls are not up. We are expecting to lose power tonight so planning on firing up the oven later today for pizza tonight and chickens tomorrow.
Hope your party doesn't get rained out!
PS, I just figured out what your "sigil" is - how fitting.

[JRPizza]

I now have an "official" weight on my door - 10lb 9oz. Seems pretty good for a 4" door. The face sheet gets pretty warm but I guess that is to be expected sitting up against the hot inner arch. Just got my green egg gasket so will have to install it and see how much warmer the oven stays, and how much cooler the door is.

[SableSprings]

I thought I'd better check my memory on my door's weight...it actually weighed in at 17.8 lbs not 25 as I posted earlier. I'm thinking of trying the green egg gasket as well...so very interested in if you think it makes a difference. Incidentally, how's your roof holding up with this last week of heavy wind & rain?