40" Pompeii Style completed in England

[Wickolad]

Well its been a journey, but worth every cut, scrape and sleepless night wondering how to solve a problem or better an idea.
other than fabricating the internal and external doors when the steel arrives, the job is done. Thank you for the wealth of information on this site/forum.
Best wishes,
Lance.

[Chach]

Good to hear you are happy with your oven. I just made pizza last night and I was like I am so happy I did this. It is such a neat way to cook and it truly is a work of art. I also love the retained heat cooking feature. 24 hrs later and my oven is still 500 degrees.

Your oven is a beauty enjoy it!

Ricky

[Wickolad]

Thank you Ricky,
I can't wait, I'm so looking forward to using it. Hopefully steel arrives today, then a week of curing fires and happy days.

[Wickolad]

Here are a couple of extra pictures of the near finished build. I actually have a full album of pictures from start to finish of the project at every stage.

[Chris inPA]

Although I'm clearly not the expert, perhaps you should have done the curing fires BEFORE the final render.

[Chris inPA]

Looks absolutely awesome. Nice clean lines. The black stone really sets off the brick work. Great job.

[Wickolad]

Although I'm clearly not the expert, perhaps you should have done the curing fires BEFORE the final render.

Hi Chris, thank you for your kind comments.
I totally agree about the curing prior to final render, unfortunately the good old British weather couldn't be relied upon to stay dry for more than a couple days at a time.
I had picked up on a good tip on this forum to install a steam / vapour vent from the dome insulation through the render coats and finish. I therefore installed a 2" diameter brass pipe coupling in the top of the roof, I cut sections out of the base of the coupling to ensure free passage of vapour from the insulation bricks into the tube coupling. A screw cap fits on top so I can remove the cap when curing, then replace once done. I can also repeat this procedure after winter to remove any possible damp that may have found its way in.
I just hope it works, I'll be devastated if not.
Photo attached of the installed vent.

[mongota]

Such a lovely build!

If the food tastes half as good as the oven looks, you'll create some very fine meals in that WFO.

Nicely crafted.

[Wickolad]

Such a lovely build!

If the food tastes half as good as the oven looks, you'll create some very fine meals in that WFO.

Nicely crafted.

Thank you so much Mongo, coming from you that means a great deal to me.
During the course of research on this forum, I had viewed your very own well catalogued and beautiful build with interest. Loving the backdrop of your fantastic pool patio area.
It was in fact your stone clad dome that inspired me to use the granite tile on my own build. I had wanted more than a painted screed finish and your efforts helped me greatly so I thank you so much for that.
Best wishes,
Lance.

[Kvanbael]

The build looks really nice. You mentioned a full build photo album. I'd love to see it.

[Wickolad]

The build looks really nice. You mentioned a full build photo album. I'd love to see it.

Thank you Kvanbael, I shall look into creating a usable album from the 190+ pictures I have stored on my phone. I believe I can load these on to a storage platform and add the link to my post. However, its something I've never done before and have zero knowledge of so will have to seek advice. I'll update you when sorted.
Best wishes,
Lance.

[Wickolad]

The build looks really nice. You mentioned a full build photo album. I'd love to see it.

Hi Kvanbael, I think I may have sorted it. Set up an album on Google photos.
Heres the link... hopefully.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UAjwiN8wKfvSJVG67

Best wishes,
Lance.

[Kvanbael]

That link worked fine. Thank you. You built a red brick dome over the firebrick dome. Is that for extra heat capacity?

[Wickolad]

That link worked fine. Thank you. You built a red brick dome over the firebrick dome. Is that for extra heat capacity?

Brilliant.
The red bricks used to build over the initial firebrick dome are insulating fire bricks, cut in half and installed pretty much the same as the dome, but I didnt go to the trouble of cutting each trapezoid with the insulation and instead mortared up the V joints with a vermicrete / pearlcrete mix to maintain the full integrity of the 4½" insulation jacket.
These same Insulating fire bricks were used under the cooking floor/ dome walls and landing.
I made use of any left over vermiculite / pearlcrete as I did the pointing by buttering this onto the top third of the dome. After a good few weeks drying out, I then put the insulation blanket with foil barrier over the dome, chicken wired that to maintain shape before 3 coats of screed were applied of total depth around 30mm. I then left that to air dry over a few weeks whilst I built the adjacent patio wall and constructed the wrought iron fence & gate.
Finally, I tiled the dome with 10mm granite / onyx tiles which I broke into smaller pieces to maintain the curvature of the dome. This was finished a couple weeks later when I grouted up the tiles with Mapei Ultracolor plus grout. Job done.

I hope this explains some of the stages shown in the pictures.

Best wishes,
Lance.

[Baza]

Phenomenal build, Lance!
The granite dome and landing are quality touches - oven looks great too!!
Should be amazing to see the food you make posted here!
Congratulations - it's challenging enough to build one of these things - another to take it to a whole new level like you did!

All the best
Barry