MY NEW 42"OVEN BUILD.

[ivancito]

NEW TO THIS FORUM AND JUST STARTED MY 42" OVEN BUILD. I HAD POSTED PICTURES ON THE NEWBIE FORUM SITE BUT IT WAS RECOMMENDED BY ANOTHER MEMBER TO POST HERE INSTEAD, SO HERE I AM OPEN TO ADVICE,HELP, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISM. BY TRADE I AM A MACHINIST AND SOMEWHAT OF A DIYer. I HAVE ZERO EXPERIENCE WITH CEMENT BUT MY LOVE
FOR COOKING WITH WOOD AND THE OUTDOORS OVEN CONCEPT IS WHAT DRIVES ME TO TAKE ON THIS IMENCE CHALLENGE. I WILL REPOST PICS FROM THE START OF MY BUILD AND PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS WILL BE A LONG BUILD FOR ME BECAUSE I AM ONLY AVAILABLE ON WEEKENDS TO WORK ON THIS PROJECT.
THANK YOU ALL!
IVAN

[ivancito]

[ivancito]

THE HEARTH FLOOR COMPLETED AFTER I REMOVED THE SUPPORT FORMS, NOT TOO BAD FOR A ROOKIE. NOTICE I USED 2X6 FOR THE FLOOR INSTEAD OF 2X4.

[gastagg]

Ivan, you may be a newbie to cement, but you're clearly not a newbie to working with your hands to produce fine work. I had done some cement work in the past, but never any brick, mortar, or stucco work, and it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating. That hearth looks amazing and if you're as good with bricks and mortar as you appear to be with wood and concrete, the oven is going to be great. Great job on the transition from the gray to the colored foundation blocks. Looks great.

I see you're in Massachusetts. Are you going to try to complete before freezing temps come? Going for an enclosure or igloo build?

[ivancito]

GASTAGG, THANKS FOR THE KIND WORDS. YEAH IM A HANDYMAN THAT ISNT AFRAID TO DABBLE IN THE DIFFRENT TRADES SUCH AS MASONRY. ALTHOUGH I FELT AND STILL FEEL REALLY HUMBLE BY ALL THE GREAT OVEN BUILDS SHOWN ON THIS FORUM , ITS JUST MIND BLOWING WHAT ALL OF THESES BUILDERS WERE ABLE TO CONSTRUCT SIMPLY FROM EACHOTHERS INPUT AND GUIDANCE AND FROM YOUR COMMENTS.
YEAH I HOPE TO HAVE AN ENCLOSURE, AND PART OF ME WANTS TO START THE DOME BEFORE WINTER STRIKES BUT THE OTHER PART OF ME WANTS TO WAIT AND SEE HOW THE BASE AND STAND HOLD OUT, ITS JUST DIFICULT CAUSE NOW I GOT THE "WFO BUG" AND I DONT WANT TO STOP AND WAIT.

[joeykramer]

Nice start Ivan. This site is great,

I've got my walls up and ready for the weekend to pour the floating slab and I am now thinking too that I should probably wait until spring time to start laying some brick. I'm in NJ and will only have the weekends to work on it too.

Good luck and keep posting

[ivancito]

THANKS JOEYKRAMER. YEAH THIS SITE IS GREAT. WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE SAME COLD AND TOUGH WINTERS OUT HERE, KINDA JELOUS OF THE GUYS IN CALI WORKING ON THEIR OVENS ALL YEAR ROUND, AND NOT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT FROST HEAVE. I MIXED 86 BAGS (80 POUND BAGS) OF CONCRETE IN TWO WEEKENDS WORTH OF WORK TO GET WHERE I AM NOW WITH MY BUILD. GOOD LUCK AND LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR BUILD.
IVAN

[gastagg]

I started digging in April. I've only had 1-2 days a week to work, and sometimes not that. The brickwork took a lot longer than I thought.

[ivancito]

CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE IN MASSACHUSETTS I CAN BUY ENOUGH INSBLOCK 19 FOR A 42" OVEN.
THANKS
IVAN

[Novaslo]

You are doing a fantastic job. Just a suggestion. Turn off you Caps Lock. It is considered yelling. Easy to fix.

Being that you got so far with you base, with little input.....just make sure you go down the track of having insulation under your dome. None of the brick, actually nothing should touch the base or it will "wick" heat.

You are on your way.

[ivancito]

Novaslo thanks a bunch for your response, and yes I definitely was intending on using the FB Insblock19 under my brick floor, just haven't found any dealers who sell it in my local area.
Im really considering stopping my WFO build for now cause winters on its way and would rather strart back up next spring. This gives me a chance to see how my floating slab survives any
frost heave issues.
I will be however working on my IT and buying my bricks and HB saw and maybe even playing around with different arch mock ups. Also intend on staying connected to this forum and following
other member builds.

[ivancito]

I had to put in a 250' drain at the back of my tree line to try and divert water away from my wfo slab. This was done this spring after all the snow melt we had.

[ivancito]

Here is a pic of my driveway up to my house. The snow banks were ridiculous this past winter. We got over 6' of snow in February alone.

[UtahBeehiver]

SInce you are having a hard time with Insblok you can look for ThermoGold 12 which is CaSi board product as well. Here is a PDF on the properties.

[JRPizza]

I bought my Insblok from AHN refractories (Harbison Walker). They have a distributor in Westhaven CT, which Google says is about 94 miles from Ware. If you are up for a road trip or going to be in the area you could save on shipping costs. I had to drive half that far to pick up mine, and got some of their Inswool blanket while I was there to make it worth the trip. What I saved in shipping pretty much paid for my blankets.