Need some enclosure design help....

[Ken524]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Nice job! Way better ideas than I could come up with.

For what it's worth, I used a little of both and think the Durock is easier to stucco than Hardibacker (if you are going to use any stucco).

[Breven]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Well, I'm not planning to stucco- but my guess is that the rough texture of the durock will probably help the mortar to stick- I plan to cover the whole thing with stone veneer (the BBQ side as well). If all goes well I'll have a slate stone roof and some sort of stone tile on the counter top. Basically, stone everywhere. I saw a pic of an oven with this finish in a book at Lowe's and it looked great. I'm too cheap to buy a $30 book for one picture- so I took a picture of the picture with my phone and use that as reference!

[CanuckJim]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Breven,

Just posted some pics of one of my installations, this one in Hockley Valley, Ontario. I used thinstone veneer, but instead of mortar to stick them on the cement board, I opted for Thinset Marble and Stone. It's VERY sticky, and a lot easier to handle than mortar. No dropping stones anywhere.

Jim

[Breven]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Thanks Jim- I'll take your advice fo sure. Your veneers look great! I want to go for the same look- no visible mortar or grout.

Very nice.

[Modthyrth]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Breven,

Just posted some pics of one of my installations, this one in Hockley Valley, Ontario. I used thinstone veneer, but instead of mortar to stick them on the cement board, I opted for Thinset Marble and Stone. It's VERY sticky, and a lot easier to handle than mortar. No dropping stones anywhere.

Jim

Nice tip. Would that work when applying veneer to concrete block, or just on the cement board?

[Breven]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

I think you treat cement board and cement block the same, right Jim?

[dmun]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

When I tiled the interior of my chimney, I just slathered thin-set with a trowel on the bare (dampened) concrete block, and slapped the terracotta tiles up. It's not as flat as a billiard table, but boy are those things stuck tight.

Buy the cheap stuff, unless you need the white for translucent stuff like white marble tiles. DO NOT buy the stuff which is "Fortified", it is impossible to mix smoothly and hard to trowel on.

And by the way, I don't think this is recommended, but my concrete blocks were not exactly flat, and I just slathered the stuff on more thickly to compensate for it. Seemed to work fine, although not as good as a proper scratch coat, I'm sure.

[CanuckJim]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Dmun's right on the money. Thinset works very well on block, too. I've had to use a thick coat at times with no problems. The advantage is the stickiness of the product. The pics I posted might be a bit misleading. The stones were shimmed with 3/8" thick pieces of wood. Around here, that thickness of pointing line is traditional. Once the Thinset cured a bit, I pointed it with a 3:1 mix of brick sand and Type S. That's the look I prefer, and if no shims are used, be careful about how much you lay up at once. The shims balance the weight; stone on stone can create bulging problems if you put up too much at once.

Jim

[Breven]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Dmun-

What is a proper scratch coat? The round wall at the back end of my oven is very uneven (square blocks can't make a perfect round shape) to compensate, I was just going to slather on the thinset really thick where I needed to. Maybe I should fill all that in right now with a scratch coat? If it si what I think it is....

[kebwi]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

[Hmmm, I'm reviving a VERY old thread here. Be that as it may...]

I am considering something vaguely similar to what I see in your design. Namely, I need a vertical side-wall topped by a conical framed roof. I am considering two approaches to the side wall: metal studs and masonry. Your design has aspects of both of course.

How did you attach your roof frame to the masonry wall? It looks like it is almost just sitting on top of the wall. Is that sufficient? Do you have any other thoughts on forming a round wall, either with studs or masonry, and on framing a conical roof with studs?

I would appreciate any help you can offer. I'm pretty intimidated by this step of the build. I know nothing about framing a wall or roof with metal studs (or wood for that matter) or about working with concrete board of any type.

Thanks.

[Breven]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Hey Keith-

Take a look at my Picasa album. I took some pretty good pics of that process. I bolted the metal studs to the concrete foundation. I attached the trusses to the block by drilling holes in the block, tapping in some of those plastic plugs, and screwed into them. They're on pretty good. Those 8 x 8 blocks I used to make the back of the enclosure round seemed to work pretty well. I filled everycore with concrete and ran vertical and horizontal rebar support. Not sure how you would be able to do that with metal studs, but brick would work. Those blocks were cheap, and the larger size made the wall reall sturdy and since I was covering everything in brick afterwards, it seemed like th easiest way to go. I've never worked with metal studs before either...took a little extra effort. Unlike others, I found it to be much more difficult than wood, but then again, the design was more difficult. Attaching all of the trusses to the end of the horisontal roof beam was really tough. I struggled with a design that would work. Again, the picassa pics cover it pretty well and you can see what I came up with. It worked...and seemed pretty sturdy. Once I covered it with cement board (which was kind of tricky too...check out the notched idea I came up with in my pics) then it tied everything together really well.

[kebwi]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Man, the final pics are beautiful. Much of your design might translate to mine, although I'm veering toward a copper roof. But the masonry walls, metal stud conical roof frame, and cement board work-surfaces might work for me.

Sigh. I'm scared.

[Breven]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Please... if I could do it, you could do it man. Never had any experience with this stuff either. I have a fricken desk job!

[michaewa]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Breven - just finished looking through all your pics on picasa. Amazing work, I'm very impressed.

[Breven]

Re: Need some enclosure design help....

Thanks man...It took me about 18 months to finish. I took my time, since I had no idea what I was doing...and I wanted to do it right.
Got all my instructions from the FB plans and by chatting with everyone here on FB. I was truly one of those that was really unsure if I could pull it off...but in the end, it all came together.