BeanAnimal's 42" build - Pittsburgh PA

[Chach]

One of the members did a slate roof with copper trim this particular year or so. Might search slate as a key word

Found it
https://community.fornobravo.com/for...d-thread/page6

rwiegand did a roof like that with the copper trim and looked great

Ricky

[UtahBeehiver]

One of the members did a slate roof with copper trim this particular year or so. Might search slate as a key word

Found it
https://community.fornobravo.com/for...d-thread/page6

[BeanAnimal]

I have ordered the stone veneer and my landing area stone - The price did not shock me, but at this point have just given in to the fact that my break even point....

Well let's just say that for what I have in this thing, for the same cost, I could quite literally fly (first class even) to the top 25 pizza parlors in the US and still have some cash for beer!

Copper drip edge for the slate roof anyone?

[BeanAnimal]

Other updates:

I had planned on a few soffit lights in the front - but looking at photos of can lights in soffits (no offense to those who have them), bleh! Wow are they ugly in use.

So to those of you that have them - do you find them useful or just bug attractors?

[BeanAnimal]

For the structure (like many other builds) I chose to use steel studs.
Without a HUGE hassle - only 25 gauge was available. Not pleased, but not willing to chase down #18s for such a small quantity.

Following the theme here (bomb shelter) and the light gauge - I used 12" OC spacing for walls and rafters. This also fits the 3'x5' cement board dimensions better with far less waste.

Also - I plan on a slate roof and a large snow load capacity, as the timber frame may get pushed off for a year due to timing and my workload.

I framed for a cast iron "vent" in the rear that will be mostly hidden by the fence. This is simply for an aesthetically pleasing access hatch for thermocouple replacement. I may or may not actually go through with this.

I got the order process started today for my veneer stone
I also found a local slate expert (Joeseph Jenkins, http://josephjenkins.com/) willing to find suitable material in his yard and offer a bit of help/advice and his book as part of the deal. I am kind of excited about this actually.

I built a jig for the steel trusses, so that they were all the same shape. I then (not shown) assembled most of the roof on the ground by attaching the offset ridge tie and end channels. I then simply lifted it into place and started securing it and adding bridging (again overkill, but I have the spare steel).

Excuse the few crooked braces - it got dark again and I couldn't see. I couldn't stand seeing these in the morning, so removed them and replaced them using the square.

FWIW - there are no CAD plans for this portion. I started to lay them out and decided it was not worth the trouble. So just framing as I go.

[BeanAnimal]

Thanks for the update! Glad to hear there is minimal cracking or damage. I have not had a chance to start curing fires yet - I just can't find the time and have instead used the spare time to continue working to complete the oven.

Sadly, I have not had time to update this thread.

I also realized that I did not take any photos between insulating and house construction, so there are no photos of the overall perlite render process or final result. Ohh Well.

I ended up with 3" of blanket - kicking myself for not going with 4" - ohh well.

The entry area will also be insulated - but I wanted to get the structure in place first.

[GreenViews]

Bean, Yeah, lol, we all have those projects which never quite get completed. Regarding curing, after 2 nights of 6 hour warming candles of about 200F, I tried to make a 300F fire with twigs. This proved to be too challenging to me and I ended up more like 500 F for much of the day. Besides not being sure if goal was 300F at wall or top of dome or what, it was very hard to keep such a small fire going (tried with or without a fan). There are a couple mortar joints which dropped a little (of Acona brand refractory) mortar on one side of my oven. It probed it with a trowel tip this morning and peeled back the outside to view and nothing visible on outside and about 1/4" deep at most on front side. I was surely too hot too fast. No real harm and I can go back later and patch these, but just a warning from my process. My fire skills were not sufficient to keep fire down to 300F. Today I will switch to charcoal like many have suggested! That I think I can control better, lol. The good news is my oven is keeping temperature well and I am at 270F at top of dome this morning and 220F at floor, without having an insulated door. Tom

[BeanAnimal]

Thanks Utah - I certainly plan to take it easy on the cure and am in no hurry to get this thing up to full temperature. I want to minimize the inevitable cracks that are sure to appear in my hard work. It will take me most of the summer to finish up the stand, floor area and repair the yard, fence and build the timber frame. If a pizza comes out of this thing before the final blade of grass is put back, she will lose her mind and I may be murdered in my sleep. I am going to have a hard enough time with the curing fires being part of the build and not me failing to finish in favor of use. So I will take it very slow. To her credit - I have a tendency to get things done just enough to make them useful - Hrmm, now where is that last trim board for the 7 year old home theater or the trim for the beadboard porch ceiling, or the trim for the basement bar or....

You see, my provisional building permit was issued on a "must COMPLETELY finish before use" clause.

[UtahBeehiver]

Just a word of caution, this is the point where we have seen a lot of builders, in their excitement, fire too fast, too hot and damage their ovens. So as I always say, the turtle wins the race in curing. You can easily start with charcoal briquettes for a couple times. This will get you around 200-250 F and you can cook something dutch oven while you at it. When you move to wood, that one extra piece of wood can easily spike the temp too high. If you see steam coming off the oven you are going too fast.

[BeanAnimal]

Photos tomorrow....

I contemplated adding a 4th layer of ceramic blanket, but simply do not want to wait for shipping or track down overpriced local supplies. I have no idea where the point of diminished return is.

i decided to just go ahead and apply an inch or so of perlite render, mostly to secure the ceramic blanket fibers. I was not overly careful about neatness or shape. I got a late start and finished in the dark. Tomorrow will be interesting.

Anyway, I am ready to start curing and move on to the enclosure.

[BeanAnimal]

The moment I skipped the extra floor insulation, I regretted it - but what is done is done. The added dome insulation should help I guess.

I suspect I will place the perlite render tomorrow, as adding perlite as loose fill will require vastly more. That and it can always be poured over the render if I feel I must have it.

I got all 3 layers of blanket installed this afternoon and held down with chicken wire. The stuff that came with the kit is MUCH higher physical quality than the stuff I ordered from skyline components. I have no idea how they compare in regard to insulating quality. The china stuff is rather delicate, much more friable and much easier to compress. Both are the same density.,

[Chach]

I don't have anything to base my exoerience with the insulation I have which is 1" fomglas 2" calsil and 3" if ceramic blanket. I also then filled the enclosure with perlite. It has been 72hrs and im still a touch over 300 degrees since my last fire..Not sure how much the impact my perlite fill has but so far I'm happy and I dont have a legit insulated door yet. Just something for you to base your descion on.

Ricky

[UtahBeehiver]

A lot of ovens function just fine with 2" of CaSI under the floor, you just might have to do a short recharge of the floor if you host a large party.

[BeanAnimal]

Adding additional insulation over the current 2" ceramic blanket,whether it be additional blanket or p/vcrete depends on how you plan on using the oven. 2" ceramic blanket is the minimum amount of insulation. If you envision multi-day usage then additional insulation (your choice) will aid in conserving the dome heal, you are already good with the combination CaSi and p/vcrter floor insulation. Since you already have the materials for a p/vcrete dome why not use them.

Actually the floor is just 2" of CalSil - the layer under it is refractory castable (airset) to act as a heat bank. I wanted to add more CalSil but got impatient to start the build.

I ordered 1 more inch (for a total of 3") of blanket.

I plan on holding as much eat as I can for residual cooking - why not

At the same time, I don't have any desire to just keep adding cost and insulation and labor for little return.

[UtahBeehiver]

Adding additional insulation over the current 2" ceramic blanket,whether it be additional blanket or p/vcrete depends on how you plan on using the oven. 2" ceramic blanket is the minimum amount of insulation. If you envision multi-day usage then additional insulation (your choice) will aid in conserving the dome heal, you are already good with the combination CaSi and p/vcrter floor insulation. Since you already have the materials for a p/vcrete dome why not use them.