Over here we celebrate labour-day by... well... not having to work. So friday was scheduled for pouring the heart, despite the rain forecast. So, underneath some cover, and in between the showers, we got it done, except that we ran short on concrete and so we had to level it by eye a fraction underneath the frame border. (it's still over 3,5" thick)
I also installed 4 weep holes and plan to put glass mosaic leftovers under the insulation to keep it dry and help to channel any seep-in water.
On sunday I jigsawed the Calcium Silicate board, which was an easy but dusty job. (As you can see, I'm not laying the vent floor right now. I intent to lay that floor separately, making minimal contact with the oven floor to limit heat loss when the oven door is closed).
But, when trying out the Calcium Silicate boards, it became obvious that the heart isn't perfectly flat: There's about 2mm (1/10") variation in its height, and that makes the insulation boards a bit wobbly (Luckily most of the weep holes are in low areas). I am afraid that the boards will crack as the load increases. Should I...
- Not worry about this, let the board "set" under the load ?
- Use fine sand under the mosaic to level things ? (I have fine white quartz sand, but won't that erode eventually through the weep holes?)
- Remove the mosaic tiles at the highest spots until the wobbling stops?
- Try to sand the highest spots in the concrete?
- Any other advice?
I'm also wondering how long I should wait before removing the supports from underneath the heart.
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