42" build in McPherson KS

[slschoming]

2yod (2-year-old daughter): Daddy, I help pizza oven?
Me: okay (lift her up into pizza oven and reach for the next brick)
2yod: Daddy take picture?
Me: sure (snap 2 pictures)
2yod: I go 'side (inside) now.
Me: thanks for all the help....

[slschoming]

Thanks UtahBeehiver

[UtahBeehiver]

I went and looked at the specs, a couple issues, Rutland says "indoor use only" which makes one of the HD comments valid about washing away in the rain. The other is it requires a heat set.

[slschoming]

blue is a high temp caulk - see pic.but hard to find and expensive. Kawool makes a version called moldable caulk. There are others out there. Red is just home brew.

Thanks, Russell. Would something like this work?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rutland-...-202218155-_-N

[UtahBeehiver]

blue is a high temp caulk - see pic.but hard to find and expensive. Kawool makes a version called moldable caulk. There are others out there. Red is just home brew.

[slschoming]

UtahBeehiver Hey Russell, I have a couple questions about the photo attached. I saw that you stuffed some ceramic/fire rope between your inner arch and your vent arch. My question is: Is this regular homebrew mortar circled in blue or is it a vermiculite mix? Also, where I circled in red, did you do anything special with that joint since part of your chimney is resting on the inner arch and part is not? I am wanting to do a very similar thing with my vent / chimney. I have seen others where they will put a quarter or third of a brick width on the backside of the outer arch to rest the back of the chimney on, but I was hoping I could save a little bit of space and rest the back of my chimney on the inner arch like this.

[slschoming]

She's wishing I was dropping pizza scraps instead of brick scraps...

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Made some more progress this weekend. In the last few photos the arch bricks are not cut or mortared, I just placed them there to visualize and make sure my spacing was still correct.

Is there any issue with having the bricks touch at the bottom on my arch like they do in the photo, or should I be leaving a little more room between the bottoms for mortar?

I am almost through my first batch of bricks. I might need to take a day off work this week and go on another material run to get another 150 bricks and some blanket.

[slschoming]

Awesome, sounds good. Thanks Chach!

[Chach]

I would leave it alone as it does not affect the operation of the oven whatsoever. It may just go away on its own when you fire the oven up.

[slschoming]

I just got home after being gone for 5 days and checked on my oven.. It might be a little difficult to see in this picture, but there seems to be a gray haze left from portland that I must not have fully wiped away from the face of my bricks. Would a little sanding take care of this?

[slschoming]

UtahBeehiver Yes, I noticed that your bricks were tapered in all dimensions. Your work is very impressive and even if your mortar would burn up your dome would still be standing! However, I agree that time is a valuable resource..and I'm already slow enough as it is!

To maintain the stagger I have been starting each new course in the middle back and making sure I am centered over a joint. Then only my bricks that meet the arch will have to be cut to a different width. That's basically what you are saying, right? I hadn't thought about leaving an anchor, but I did it each day unintentionally and it has worked well.

Also,good time saving point about the side bevel.. I had been beveling the whole side, but since the backs are about an inch apart I suppose they don't need any beveling back there!

zoolander Thanks! Did I see you're making pizzas now?

Thanks for the feedback!

[UtahBeehiver]

Here are a couple tips,

Make corrections on brick width (to maintain staggered joints) on the front half of the dome and the best work and best faced bricks on the back half of the dome. Once the oven is complete and fired up, you really only see the back half and your guest are non the wiser. Also, you do not need to do a full side bevel to remove the inverted V, just the front quarter or so of the brick. Use mortar to fill the larger gap on the backside. I was one who wanted to have perfect side joints and did full side bevels but it is not worth the time resource. Last, at the end of the day, place and mortar one or two bricks on the next course (back middle) and let them sit overnight, this gives you an anchor to start the next days work.

[slschoming]

I started mortaring today. I'm bevelling every other brick on course 4 to try to prevent the inverted V. I'm also tapering my arch wall bricks as I go up. I haven't made my arch template yet but plan to do that before I go any higher.

[slschoming]

I have a 42" oven with an inner arch width of 20" and have no issues with getting a large turkey in the oven.

Good to know! Thanks Russell!