West jordan Ut new build.

[Roland Deschain]

I've been talking about the progress of my build in my introduction post and decided to bring the rest of it over to the construction section.

So far, I have completed my build to the point today, of adding 5.5 inches of a p-crete for my insulated hearth. I had previously built the base and structural hearth a week ago.

I had been going back and forth trying to decide on ceramic board or p crete, and just went with the thicker version of p crete.

I also cut a bunch of fire bricks in half today. Enough for around four courses. I used my dewalt tile saw. Worked perfectly.

[Roland Deschain]

Today I installed my cooking floor and my first course of brick.

How many courses of brick are typically safe to instal per day?

[Gulf]

Roland,

There is no limit. Though, most of us don't have to worry about that . Just don't get behind on the tooling and cleaning. How about some pics of your progress as you go along?

[Roland Deschain]

Pictures of the structural concrete with insulated hearth 6 inch thick p crete, and cooking floor.

[Roland Deschain]

I added more rebar than is shown in the picture.

[Damer419]

Looking good.......Congrats on the progress thus far. Enjoy the process!

[R. Barton]

I added more rebar than is shown in the picture.

Roland, what is the white material shown under your rebar? Is it insulation of some type or plywood?

[Roland Deschain]

Cement board durock 1/2 inch. That way I wont have to rip it out later. Its there forever now.

[Roland Deschain]

I did the first course last week on friday. It then snowed four inches over the weekend. The rest I did today. My i.t. Is made from parts I picked up at lowes. I welded with jb weld. So far its held up. The arch legs are mortared in with fire rock mortar. The rest is home brew.

[david s]

Nice build Roland. It's too late now, but it is difficult to remove the water from the vermicrete slab once you've built over it. Of course it will eventually dry, but because 1/3 of its volume is water that is an enormous amount to get rid of. I did an experiment attached, to see how long it takes to dry, that you may find interesting.
A few holes in the supporting slab near the centre will provide an exit for this moisture. You can drill up through the slab from the bottom.

Vermicrete insulating slab copy.doc.zip

[Roland Deschain]

I open the file and it comes up as code only for me.

This probably didnt help much, but I gave it three days to dry before I built on top. I didnt add much water to it either. Just enough to get it to stick together when i clumped it in a ball with my hand. I figured it would be getting some moisture in it as I built anyway. Time will tell. Bottom line is, perlite sponges in moisture and it will eventually dry over time. Ill drill some holes from under for good measure.

[Roland Deschain]

Hard day today figuring out arch to dome transition. I took a lot of creative licensing.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

Looking good. I am just down the road in Riverton and finished mine just before winter, so let me know if you have any questions or even want to look at my semi-finished product. Looks like you have most of it under control. Mike

[Roland Deschain]

I worked on one course today before the weather gets bad, i.e. it is suppose to get very windy. I grinded the arch transition a little bit before laying down the course.

[Roland Deschain]

Any advice on the next courses?

Ive been using half brick up to this point. Ive cut each brick on one side to eliminate and inverted v.