36" WFO in Candia, NH, USA

[MichaelPBoisvert]

Great advice, thank you both!

[MichaelPBoisvert]

Posting some answers from your other post. I am located in Rhode Island, maybe 2hours south of you. I ordered 210 bricks at 2$ each. That price included delivery. I got all my insulation supplies in Massachusetts (https://www.smart-ceramics.com/) small place but had really good insulation and other supplies. Oven design looks great have you thought of how you will be enclosing the oven? building a structure around or over the dome to keep the weather off of it?

I'm sorry I didn't answer your question. On my phone I only saw the first half of your comment. I am planning on using stucco for the dome covering over an extra thick double fiber blaket layer. I haden't considered how the stucco would fair under the harsh NH winters. You gave me something to think deeper about.

[frankfaceforno]

This looks AWESOME! I'm in Stoneham, MA and will soon be excavating for a new patio/WFO. I'm wrestling with the idea of footing vs. no footing. Since you and I are within the same region, may I ask if you poured a footing for your WFO? If not, what did you do?

[MichaelPBoisvert]

This looks AWESOME! I'm in Stoneham, MA and will soon be excavating for a new patio/WFO. I'm wrestling with the idea of footing vs. no footing. Since you and I are within the same region, may I ask if you poured a footing for your WFO? If not, what did you do?

Excellent! Great to have someone in the area starting up at the same time. I did pour a footing. I was having a patio installed (Stamped concrete) So when I set up my forms for that, I also set up forms for the footing of the WFO. I followed the plans from this site. So basically a 5" concrete with rebar and screen sitting basically in the middle. Are you following the Do it yourself Forno Bravo plans?

[frankfaceforno]

Excellent! Great to have someone in the area starting up at the same time. I did pour a footing. I was having a patio installed (Stamped concrete) So when I set up my forms for that, I also set up forms for the footing of the WFO. I followed the plans from this site. So basically a 5" concrete with rebar and screen sitting basically in the middle. Are you following the Do it yourself Forno Bravo plans?

I certainly do plan on following the FB DIY plans. Starting time depends on finances, so I'm still realistically in the planning stages. I'm wondering, though, if my question wasn't specific enough. I've see a lot of debate about whether or not a footing should be poured in temperate climates like ours due to frost heave. From what you've described, it sounds more like you are saying that you only poured the foundation slab (your 5" slab). A footer would be dug down about 4 feet into the ground (in our area) so to prevent the foundation slab from moving up or down when the ground freezes and thaws. I'm wondering if you did in fact dig down, or if you put crushed stone and simply extended your patio to also be the foundation of the oven. Since its a hot topic of debate, I don't really know if I'd say there is a right or wrong, I was just wondering what you did since you're in snowy New England like me. Did you dig down four feet for a footing?

[MichaelPBoisvert]

Sorry for the confusion, my bad. I didn't put a footing in due to the hard packed material on my property. There was a layer of packable fill brought in during the site work which was compacted, but I'm not sure how much. The guy who did the patio was happy with the base, so I'm hoping for the best.

[UtahBeehiver]

The FB DIY plans are a great baseline but they are somewhat dated. There have been numerous improvement and innovations by forum members so be sure to research the forum on your final design.

[mongota]

I was thinking about putting some sort of waterproof in tape around the joint between the calsil board and structural concrete. Has anyone done anything like that? Are there any other options?

I painted RedGard on my slab, a few inches wider that the foorprint of my board insulation. My 4" of board insulation went on top of that. I then painted RedGard on the edges of the boards, lapping it down to connect it to the RedGard on the slab.

[mongota]

I think that the main thing to consider is that the floor brick not stick out past the insulated door. At that point, I switched from herring bone and crossed the entry. However, I did install a thin layer of ceramic fiber tape there for a spacer.

I did the same pattern as Joe. Changed from herringbone in the dome to running bond under the vent arch.

Right now the two patterns and the sides of the bricks simply abut one another. Later I'll come back and undercut the edges of the brick and fill the undercut cavity with an off-cut of board insulation.

[mongota]

I'm sorry I didn't answer your question. On my phone I only saw the first half of your comment. I am planning on using stucco for the dome covering over an extra thick double fiber blaket layer. I haden't considered how the stucco would fair under the harsh NH winters. You gave me something to think deeper about.

Highly recommend a roof for the New England winters.

I'm in CT. I'm in the process of letting my stucco shell cure. In a couple of days I'll waterproof the stucco shell with Thoroseal. I'll cover that stucco shell with a shell of native stone, that'll be my finished surface. I'll cover the entire thing with a roof. You don't necessarily need a roof...but water intrusion will happen. Freeze/thaw. etc, and when firing up the oven again, not evacuating any moisture that has accumulated over the winter with proper drying protocol? That can wreck your fine work.

[MichaelPBoisvert]

Thanks Mongo, great information here. I appreciate it. I'll look into the Redgard.

[Northup]

I did the stucco shell and a roof over it so I could still see the dome shape. I also had a few hairline cracks in my stucco so I am glad that the roof is there so that the winter snow and rain wont work its way into the shell easy. this is the only picture I have to show of the roof right now. I also did a 6" slab with no footing. I just dug down and had a good compacted gravel base which then got 3" of stone,6mil plastic then the 5-6" slab. The crushed stone should allow for some frost movement if there is any.

[MichaelPBoisvert]

I like that Northup, great work! Thank you for the inspiration.

[agrasyuk]

That is a very good looking shelter!

[mongota]

I did the stucco shell and a roof over it...

Nice! I want to do a somewhat beefy framed roof over my dome as well. My posts will be sitting on my hearth slab though, instead of going to grade like yours.

i need to drop a white oak on my property, id like to mill the timbers from the trunk of that tree. Have to grind one of my chainsaw chain loops in to a ripping chain first.

Hoping to get started on that in the next couple of weeks....