getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

[woods witch]

Hi everyone! we have finished installing vent and chimney and have had one little newspaper fire
we are getting ready to start the frame and we're hoping for some advice. What are the benefits of using metal studs versus wood? We will be building a decorative brick arch to cover the firebrick and will continue up around the chimney. We plan on continuing with the natural stone for the wall and leaving a brick landing area (I just dry-laid some bricks to get a feel for how it will look.)
Then we want to finish with a slate roof. I have seen some suggestions about leaving access points to the inside of the oven, but I don't know how we could do that with slate??? We will be covering the dome with kaowool and then vermiculite or perlite poured into the enclosure. I have tried to search the forum to find answers but haven't seem to come up with the right ones....so thanks in advance to anyone who can offer advice!!


Picasa Web Albums - carolyn - wood fired oven

[egalecki]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

I think the advantage of the metal studs is that they don't burn. Somewhere on here is a picture of someone's oven (I think it was in England) where part of the enclosure burned overnight... I don't remember what the insulation was, but if you're enclosing the whole thing, I'd use the metal studs. Just for safety's sake...

I have no ideas about ways of leaving access to the inside. If you've already done your cure and used the oven some, and you are sure you have no real issues with cracks, I don't know why you'd need access. I do think I'd put the kaowool on and use it some, peel it back to check for smoke discoloration, and only then close it all up...

Your oven looks great. Nice work.

[woods witch]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

thanks for your help Elizabeth. I have only just begun the curing fires. We waited to fire up until the vent and chimney were done, hoping to get all mortar cured at once....
this may seem like a stupid question, but does the kaowool blanket have to be kept dry???

[Mojoe]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

I think wood would look better with the stone, more rustic. As for setting the enclosure on fire, I've been cooking for almost a year and haven't succeeded in burning my to the ground.

[egalecki]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

I used the FB blanket, so I don't know about kaowool. I expect that a tarp to keep the rain off is enough, that's what I did with mine. It did get a little wet a couple of times, but dried out ok.

[james]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

Hey woods witch,

Looking very, very nice. Way to go.

I would strongly recommend framing with metal and hardibacker -- and facing that with stone. I know it's a little more work, but there are two good reasons. First, the metal framing will never warp or bow in the damp, and you will not have to worry quite as much about sealing your enclosure completely to keep water from reaching your frame.

Also, you really should not have combustible wood framing around a hot oven, and the potential for fire.

Also, you should keep any ceramic insulating blanket dry -- so make sure you do a good job of tarping it. A lot of rain will ruin it.

Let us know what you think. Any input from other builders?
James

[Ken524]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

James,

I agree completely on all accounts.

After working quite a bit with pine 2x4's, making the switch to steel studs required a learning curve along with some cuts and scrapes. After a few hours of monkeying with the metal, I started liking it. It is VERY easy to fix mistakes made with the steel studs (minutes vs. hours).

I used Kaowool blankets for my insulation (2"-4") followed by 3"-4" of vermiculite cement. Works great. My oven can smoke a brisket or butt 2 days after a pizza bake. Yummmmm!

[sarah h]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

Great work on both the dome and the stonework! The brick looks good too.
I'm with James and Ken on the framing (even though mine didn't end up framed) - better safe with steel than sorry with wood.

[krosskraft]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

I had trouble knowing how to frame mine in also (you might see my finished oven under krosskraft somewhere) I finally went with the steel framing and the hardybacker. I did not get along at all with the man that did the framing for me, but at the end of the day, I could not have done it by myself....those metal shavings looked so dangerous and unpleasant. I too finished mine with the stone. You have some great rocks on the bottom!. Another suggestion would be to use that stucco-ish product and perhaps put some of your stones in here and there.....you are the artist!

[woods witch]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

thank you everyone for your input and the compliments We take your advice seriously and will go the route of metal. But can anyone explain to me what we have to do for material for accomplishing our goal of a slate roof if we cannot use wood?

[RTflorida]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

I'm guessing you are referring to a slate roof tile. Check out the attached link. Here in FL we have a lot of tile roofs. Due to hurricane "high wind" codes many counties require both a mechanical fastener (nail or screw) and a poly foam adhesive (similar to the Great Stuff foam you find in your local Lowes or home Depot). Since you live in PA, I doubt extreme wind protection is necessary. Not having a wood substrate to screw into is a problem if you are looking to nail it or screw it, but simply using the foam will give you more holding power than you can imagine.
Try your local roofing supply house (not sure who would carry in your area - you may have to try and order from someone online).

Polyfoam Products Polyset

Hope this helps

RT

[woods witch]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

interesting idea....may even be faster to install. The slate tiles we have were off of an old outbuilding and were free, so we'd really like to make it work!
thanks!

[PIZZAMANMIKE]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

Build the roof with metal studs, cover with hardibacker. Then use the metal track or metal furring strips (if you can find them) and screw the slate roof tiles to them. should be easy. I think if you used wood furring strips, that might be OK. Try to use metal, as you do not use metal to start your fire?

[Stiennon]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

I agree with the consensus here. Metal is safer! I became aware of the power of an oven that gets to 1,000 degrees F after one of my first full heats. I had made a door out of two layers of 3/4" particle board. After my first attempt at bread (burned to a cinder) I put the door in place thinking it would be interesting to check the temperature the next day to see what kind of heat retention there was.

The next day I walked past the oven while doing yard work and thought "hey! What happened to my door?" On closer inspection I found a very small pile of ash with a metal handle in it. The door had completely combusted! Thus, my resolve to have nothing flammable on or near the oven.

The siding and roof of my oven is made of cement board. I have covered the roof with aluminized flashing and I am attaching terra cotta tiles by screwing right through the flashing and the cement board. I may use some cement to "glue" the tile in place. I live in a an area where roof tiles are not readily available so I am making my own tiles.

So, no tar paper, no asphalt shingles, no lathe. Keep it solid!

Your oven is beautiful! Here are the latest pictures of the construction of mine>

-Richard

[tdibratt]

Re: getting ready to frame...wood or metal??

I used metal studs and then screwed the metal pieces used to tie the metal studs together perpendicular to the studs. I placed those strategically under the metal roof I then screwed to the metal ties. See my build at:
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/t...uild-4678.html.

Worked great.

Tony