Treehouse Pizza

[RandyJ]

Hey david s thanks for the response. I will have to check what it is that Ben had to say for that part of the build. I was always planning to insulate the oven before I fired it. . That is actually what I did after I finished the vent this evening. I got the 2 layers of ceramic wool installed and cinched down with tie wire and a layer of chicken wire. I did not manage to use the supplied silicone to seal the waterproofing system down. It got to late and I was tired. Hopefully it doesn't rain and I can get after that one day soon..

I will have to get after the counter tops framing here soon and then get them poured. That will be the next big push.

Randy

[UtahBeehiver]

Plus one on David's comments. BTW what a fast build, one of the benefits of a kit over a scratch build.

[Giovanni Rossi]

Hey Randy, I continue to marvel at how quickly (and well) you are building while working full time!

I hear you with that flue gallery! I couldn't get my son on site that day and I knew my wife didn't have the fingertip strength to help. For others facing that, I was able to sit it on the arches myself. I cut a length of 2x4 to fit in the gallery and used a bottle jack to lift it clear, placed the mortar and eased it down into the mortar bed.

The short answer is that I did not push the oven to full temp until I had some perlite layers on. But, my situation was a little different...

I did not have the perlite layers on when I started the drying fires. Initially I was bumping up against potentially freezing weather when I finished the dome. Maybe it was my inexperience, but I was concerned about moisture in the brickwork with a hard frost. I draped two layers of blanket over the dome and took the peak to about 300^oF over a couple days to try to dry things out a bit. I removed the blanket and tarped the oven for winter. It snowed the next day.

When I resumed in spring, I added the blanket layers. I then restarted Ben's drying sequence just to be safe. I wasn't concerned about temp differentials in the dome because I had 4" of blanket.
I probably got the peak to 600-700 and did a few pizze. Then, I added 2 layers (~1.5") of the perlite insulation and did a full temp firing. Here's where I had a little trouble. Again, my situation was unique, but you can see how I handled that in my build.

[Toiletman]

Wow RandyJ you are working at hyperspeed! Great progress again man. Can't wait to see how the countertops will come out.

[RandyJ]

Well I have not gotten much done this week. It was either raining or I had other things that I had to do. We'll it is the weekend again finally and I managed to finally get my counter tops all formed up. I was originally thinking of getting some of the fancy plastic forms that snap away but prices led me away from that. I just couldn't justify the price of everything that would be needed. So instead I am going to pour roughly 2.5" thick on average. The edge is 3" thick and i am under the 1/2" cement board all the way around. I cut some wire panels to use as reinforcement. I used a 1x4 for the bottom as I had it sitting around from a different project that I didn't end up using it for. So 12' boards worked nice so I didn't have a bunch of splicing to do. I connected everything with my kreg jig so it was easy to attach and will be easy to take apart.

I am planning to go rent a cement mixer in the morning and a vibrator for the counter tops. I also have all the cans of pigment sitting here ready to go. According to my math I need roughly 20 bags of mix and I have 24 on hand. I also have 24 cans of charcoal color pigment so I can do a 1 to 1 mix. The concrete is a 5000psi mix so it should be pretty solid once it sets up. I have shims under all the legs to hopefully help with removal. I also took the form work out from under the oven and there were no surprises so that is good.

let me know if anyone sees anything bad because I am planning to go for it in the morning if nothing changes.

one picture for size reference.

Randy

[AJH]

Looking great so far! Little worried about water pooling up under the insulation if you pour the counter all the way around the oven. Hopefully you have enough weep holes to let it out, or give it a good seal to keep water from getting in there in the first place.

Saw an earlier post that you went to Hudson and it made me laugh... I grew up in River Falls and had family in Hudson that we would go visit all the time when I was little. Been gone from there now for about 40 years.

[RandyJ]

Hey AJH thanks for the response. I am planning to build a pavilion roof over the top of the oven. So I am not overly concerned about the oven getting to wet. I suppose it could happen but not a major chance. The base of it will be 8' x 12' and the roof will be about a foot bigger in all directions so it should be pretty well covered. I am planning to start that very soon and the plan I found claims that you should be able to build it in a day. Seems a bit quicker than I expect but still it should not take too long.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Well I managed to get the counters all poured. My guess was roughly 20 to 21 bags of concrete needed. I ended up mixing 22 bags. There was close to 1 bag left as waist that most of wich was stuck to the inside of the mixer. So my guess was very close over all.

The 5k mix was very stiff and I am super glad I also rented the vibrator. That made getting it into place possible. It would have been impossible to just screed it into place and tap the edge of the form to get the air bubbles out.

I didn't get any pictures as I covered the slab with plastic. I am excited to get the forms off and see how it turned out. I know there is a few spots that will need a bit of slurry but what ever. That is just part of the game. I am looking forward to getting the render on the dome. And to starting to grind the tops down and polish them.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Well I ordered my chimney parts several weeks ago and had been sent a bad link for the shipment. I figured it would show up eventually. This morning I started going through all the different tracking numbers I could find and eventually got one to work. Turns out it had been delivered a week ago to our old house.

I had a sinking feeling worried about weather or not it was still there. Luckily I am working very close to there. I told my boss and he said go check it out and I did. Fortunately they were home and said they had it in the garage. So she helped me load it up and I now have all my chimney parts. I am excited to get them home and make sure I didn't miss anything.

I also ordered a wet grinder this morning from Amazon. I completely destroyed my sander last time and figured getting a real one was a better idea. So I still have the pads from last time and this comes with a set as well. It will be fun to get that started as well.

Randy

[david s]

Hi Randy, I'm not sure what sort of wet grinder you have ordered, but if it's anything like the one I have, you will find it inadequate for large countertops. Mine is basically a 4" angle grinder with a waterfeed in the centre, a tap to control water flow, a variable speed control and a safety switch. It has 4" removable velcro diamond pads that go from 50 to 1500 that are really easy to change.
I use it to polish decorative arches for ovens and it does a graet job. However, trying to do a whole counter top is quite different. The largest oiece I have done previously was around 1/2 a square metre. When I started on my larger countertop (1.8m2) it very quickly became apparent that the 4" wet machine was just too small for the job. I ended up hiring a larger machine which was 7" from memory. Unlike the wet grinder, which makes a hell of a mess, it was a dry Hilti grinder with a large vacuum attachment. Being dry there was no wet mess to cope with and the vacuum did a fantastic job of removing all dangerous dust. Apart from the smaller machine just taking way too long, it also has the diadvantage of not being able to get a really flat surface. The smaller discs tend to dig in and you get a slightly wavy surface whereas the larger machine maintains a perfectly flat finish. After around two hours with the larger machine I was then able to finish the job with the smaller machine starting at about 200 and gooing down to 800. It all takes some practice and you'll have some fun.

[RandyJ]

david s thanks for the advice. After you suggested the grinder i went to you tube and watched a few videos. I then remembered that i had a 4.5 or 5" diamond cup wheel. After a bit of digging around i found it and went to town on the tops. I am sure a larger one would be a bit faster but this is working rather well. I spent a few hours this afternoon messing around with the grinder and got quite a bit of the aggregate exposed. There are a few spots that are more salt and pepper but the look over all is comming together nicely. I think I want to have a mixture of both so it has a nice rustic look. The wet polisher just showed up a few minutes ago so I will have to look at it tomorrow and maybe try it out.

I also got the chimney adapter cut to fit as well. I have not secured it yet but but it fits nicely. It has been raining a lot lately and is supposed to rain again tomorrow. This is making it hard to keep making progress. Fortunately all i have left to do before curing iS to render the dome. I am hoping to do that later this week.

Question. What is everyone using for the vent to keep the render from holding in water vapor.

[david s]

You should follow the manufacturer’s advice, but many builders have had problems, including me many years ago, when I cracked the outer shell when trying to dry out an ovebefore renderingn after applying the render. I now always chase out the moisture from the inner dome and insulation layers before rendering because they will lose moisture far easier if the fires are done after insulating, but before the application of the outer render. Once all the carbon has been burnt off the inside, usually the 7 fires in 7 days method, the outer render can be safely applied and to retain moisture in the outer to enhance its strength it should be sealed up. I use clingwrap for this operation, leave it for a week before unwrapping it.

[Giovanni Rossi]

Randy,

Used this one from Amazon.

Buyers Products HBF12P DC Hydraulic Power Unit 3/4 Inch Poly Breather Cap, Free Flow Ventilator for Reservoir, Oil-Resistant, 3/4 NPT

Added a short piece of PVC and fitting to complete the assembly.

[david s]

Your polishing looks pretty good. If you look really carefully it will probably have lots of tiny pinholes. These are usually filled after polishing down to about #200, wait 48 hrs then polish them out again. Wetting the countertop will reveal how flat you’ve been able to get the surface. A stone sealer painted over the surface will seal it up and retain the wet look and amaze your friends.

[RandyJ]

Giovanni Rossi thank you for sharing what you got with me. I just ordered it. I will have to swing through the depot and get a female adapter to do what you did as well. Then I can start the rendering.

david s I appreciate the comments. I am actually pretty surprised how flat it is turning out. There are a few big pock marks that i need to fill in. I am tempted to mix a bit of portland with sand and pigment to fill them in. Should i add some lime in as well or not necessary. I was thinking like 1,1,1 or would more sand be better?

I am guessing that I will need to do another 2 or 3 hrs of grinding to get everything how I want but it is turning out nicely. I also assembled my wet polisher today so I am excited to see how that works. I am having high hopes that it will turn out nicely and I am excited to see how polished I can get it. Not sure how far I should go. It came with up to 3000 grit.

Randy