42" Pompeii in Eastern NC

[Caliea]

Hi Sable,
,
Thanks for the encouragement

For the steaks, we don't always have the oven up to full temp. I let the steaks come to room temp as much as possible, and season them heavily with salt. I've heard other seasonings will burn (garlic, pepper, etc). so we stick with kosher salt. If we're just doing a few steaks, we'll just get a good bed of coals, make sure the hearth is hot right up near the front where we're working, and then flatten out a nice bed of hot glowing coals. Then the slap the steaks directly onto the hot bed of coals and let them sit for about 5-6 minutes. Then we flip the steaks and give them another few minutes. Don't worry if some of the coals initially stick to the steaks - they'll flick right off as the steak cools a bit and the juices return to the outside.

We've done it with up to 8 large steaks. I'd advise getting a pretty large bed of coals, and get that oven hot if you're doing that many, as the cool meat sucks the heat right out of the coals pretty quickly. For just a steak for my husband and me, we do a fairly quick and easy firing, and don't worry about completely clearing the oven.

Just as a warning to others who may be beginning a build... My wine consumption may have risen in direct proportion to how often we fire up the oven and just enjoy it while it's warming up. You may need to figure that cost into your calculations if you're into good wine (or Scotch/beer/pick your poison)

[SableSprings]

You've done a fantastic job on the oven Caliea. I think it looks fabulous! I'm really glad that you have embraced "the addition to the house" and been enjoying the oven as much as you have. I think that "how much we'd actually use/enjoy" our oven was a surprise for us (and our neighbors) as well. Also as you said, it's interesting to note all the little flaws in our build that "we" pick out as time goes by--but that become the oven's character (and things you'd do to improve your next oven or to share with others building their own oven).

We have yet to try the caveman steaks...I'm going to try to convince some friends to let us try it with their oven this spring. (Not that I don't want to try it in our oven...we just tend more toward chicken & pork roasts rather than steaks...and they do the opposite.) Do you do anything other than just season the steaks, level the coal bed, & plop 'em on? I'm assuming the oven has been brought up to temp...cleared first?

[Caliea]

Well, we've finally gotten to a point in the build that it feels finished. We haven't yet finished the concrete countertops (need an edge bevel and final polishing on the tops) but that may be a project for Fall. The weather in eastern NC has gotten too pretty to worry about grinding concrete on the weekends.

This oven has become an amazing addition to our house. I'm thrilled that we added it, and that we did it ourselves. It has definite flaws, but I prefer to call those 'character' We have cooked everything from breads and pizzas and pita bread, to turkeys, roasts, and baked beans. Our favorite so far probably is the 'caveman' steaks directly on the coals. We also roast a ton of vegetables - asparagus, carrots, onions, mushrooms, etc. I haven't dried things out - like jerky or herbs - but that may happen this summer.

We finished the dome by painting on a weather barrier/water vapor barrier made by Parex, letting that dry, adding an initial coat of stucco product, letting it cure, and then putting on a final colored coat of Parex's acrylic-latex stucco in reddish-orange color. The color was a fairly bold move for us, but I'm so glad we went for it. Our countertops are a dark teal/blue-green color, and the wooden surround on the counters is a black-stained wood. If we hadn't gone with a pop of color, I think it would be too boring. Besides, we put a ton of work into this thing - it may as well be eye-catching!!

Thanks to everyone for the advice and encouragement - you gave me the confidence to tackle this crazy project.

[Caliea]

Thanks for the kind words Sable and WarEagle. I can't wait to try some bread - it's both my profession and my love, so I'm pretty excited at the thought.

Bad weather, adult responsibilities and annoying colds have all delayed me a bit, but it will happen SOON!!!

[WarEagle90]

Great looking oven Caliea. I started building my 45" this past summer. Got the foundation and block set and then life got in the way and I am just now getting back to it. Your access to the oven from the deck is very similar to mine. I chose to pour an intermediate slab since my block is 82" high. Can't wait o see your's complete. Happy cooking.

[SableSprings]

Congrats Caliea...nice to see you get to the point where you're focused more on enjoying the use of the oven than stressing out the build details.

I get a kick out of my neighbor bringing over a batch of cookies or Biscotti after I've finished a bread bake and automatically saying "OK, we have to bake these for 15 minutes at 325F..." I just laugh and say, well the oven's at 550F so we'll throw 'em in and just watch 'em close. I have to say that over the years I've gotten away from accepting the school of thought that says "food items must be done as per what's given in the recipe time/temp instructions". I really enjoy and appreciate the cooking process itself now (how it looks, jiggles/pokes, & smells) more than I would have ever foreseen. I think the WFO brings a lot of fun (and awareness) back into cooking.

I also think you'll really appreciate the oven when you use it this summer (and don't add to the heat in the house).

...and wait until you see/taste how great bread can be...

[Caliea]

I've had a bit of time to work on the oven since I last posted.

We did more tempering fires and dried out the oven a bit. Then we covered the oven with 2 layers of the FB insulation blanket, and tied it all down with some hardware cloth. We attempted to make a dome shape - with varying degrees of success.

After we ran a few more fires in order to push some heat through the insulation, we covered it with a layer of Vermiculite-cement to get the desired (mostly) shape. We're in the process of making sure that's cured and dried out, and then we're planning on covering it with a water sealer and an acrylic stucco product.

We;ve had some beautiful fires and are definitely getting the hang of cooking in the oven. We've done pizza (a definite learning curve on that one!), made more "caveman' steaks, cooked black eyed peas and a chuck roast with the residual heat, and have made popcorn and roasted chesnuts (over an open fire!!). I'm in love with cooking in this thing. If we can keep the wood split for it, I think we'll be using it a lot.

I'll post more pics as we finish the concrete countertops and the stucco coat.

[Caliea]

Thanks for all of the info on the stucco look we're going for. We have decided to go with a Parex product. After speaking with the rep, our plan is as follows: Dry out the oven as completely as possible with firings. Cover with 3" of FB blanket, shape/protect with hardware cloth, form shape with verimcrete, dry-dry-dry, then paint with a Parex weatherproofer (that lets vapor through, but not liquid water?), cover with a base coat of a acrylic stucco Parex product, then finish with a colored acrylic modified weather-resistant stucco coat. We are going a bit bold for us, and chose a terra-cotta color for the finish coat. Our 'plan-b' is to recoat it next year if we decide we're too staid to handle a bold color

Right now, our next task is to figure out the transition from our chimney vent opening in our arch to the actual chimney base plate. That is taxing my brain - lots of standing back and scratching my head!

I have attached a pic of the countertops after we unmolded them. They have not been sanded or polished in any way yet. The entire base will be covered with a stained wood planking, installed horizontally. It's still looking pretty unfinished, but we are making progress slowly during this holiday season. I have a week off work after Xmas, and am hoping to make some real progress then!!

In other news - we threw a 'caveman' steak on the coals of our curing fire last night. The kids were skeptical, and we were worried we'd be picking ashes out of our teeth all night, but they were DELICIOUS! I'd definitely recommend giving them a try. We just seasoned heavily with salt, and threw them on the bed of coals. Took about 5-6 minutes per side and we had a beautiful med-rare.

[Ron-NC]

The only downside of waterproofing the stucco is it will not breathe, so if moisture gets into the lower layers of insulation and vermicrete, the moisture will have no-where to go. Lime based stuccoes breath and repel water quite well if installed correctly. For my build, the base layer of stucco is lime / Portland mix of 1:1.25:4 (slightly more lime since the hydrated lime loses 25% volume when mixed with water) which will be at least 3/4" thick. The base layer will be mixed with stainless steel needles to strengthen the layer.

The second layer will be no more than 1/2" thick 1:1.25:5. Slightly more sand as each successive layer must be weaker to control cracks. Poly fibers will be added to help control cracking.

The Third layer will be a lime only based stucco 1:2.5 where the plan is to soak the lime for several days to improve it's characteristics. If I decide to use the dry hydrated lime without soaking the ratio will be 1:2 to take into consideration the shrinkage of the lime. Lime friendly pigment will also be added to this layer.

Lastly, lime whitewash will be applied to further strengthen the surface. Not sure of the ratio / additives yet as there are many ideas on this topic.

Each of these steps requires a slow drying period with the lime only layer even slower, with consistent moisture being applied as necessary. Lime cures (carbonates) differently than Portland.

There are many articles about using lime based stucco and if funds were not a consideration, I would probably use an expensive proprietary product (four times the cost of using hydrated lime / sand / Portland).

If you go this route, you may want to scour the internet for opinions on lime based mortars / stuccoes. My build is based on a lot of research, but no actual experience (yet).

[david s]

You can waterproof your oven only when 100% sure it is totally dry, using a 100% acrylic render. Be careful because there are some bagged products marked as acrylic render that are actually just acrylic modified cement renders. These are only partly waterproof. What you need is a 100% acrylic render which is a wet product that comes in a bucket. It's also about four times the price of the cement render. If you water it down 20% you can easily brush on layers until it's around 2mm thick. This will leave you with a waterproof coating that you can then paint over with any acrylic house paint.

[deejayoh]

So, we like the look of our Dome so much that we're thinking of a stucco exterior. We're planning on putting insulation blanket, hardware wire, and a layer of vermicrete for shape.

Then what? We get lots of rain, so I'm skittish of traditional stucco. Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with the acrylic stucco/sealer products?

Then put a roof over the whole thing. Stucco isn't waterproof, neither is tile, and it is difficult to get a really good seal around the base of a stucco dome. Unless you're an expert (and/or live in a dry climate), I wouldn't try to leave my dome exposed to the weather. No matter how pretty it is.

[Caliea]

So, we like the look of our Dome so much that we're thinking of a stucco exterior. We're planning on putting insulation blanket, hardware wire, and a layer of vermicrete for shape.

Then what? We get lots of rain, so I'm skittish of traditional stucco. Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with the acrylic stucco/sealer products?

[Caliea]

Thanks for the TripAdvisor pics, Sable. That oven looks intriguing!

Gulf, thanks for the encouragement! We ordered "ocean" but I have to admit that the wet product looks completely different than our test pours. We were a bit overzealous with the water in our first tests though. Right now it's a bit of a grey-green-blue, and I think I'm liking it.

We're planning on doing just a light polish. I'm not a huge fan of the look of our local aggregate, so don't want to expose it too much. And we'll probably keep it a bit imperfect - I like it better with a few flaws (good thing - considering my concrete finishing skills!)

It's got to cure for 4 days before we can unmold, and then a few more before any finishing can happen. We'll be working on making the cabinet bases pretty in the meantime

[Gulf]

Caliea,

I think that your counters are going to turn out great! To be honest though, that pour looks more like Cheng's "indigo" to me. Irregardless, the color will change a lot with polishing. It will change even more depending on the depth of the grind. The depth of the grind brings out more of the hues of the sand and the larger aggregate. I'm looking forward to the finished project.

[Caliea]

We poured the concrete countertops today - now we wait!

I've attached photos of it while it's wet. The color will probably change a bit while it cures.

I also attached a photo of 3 samples we did. They are "saddle", "charcoal" and "ocean" and are made by Cheng Concrete. We ended up going with "ocean".