Exterior Dome Construction

[Bandrasco]

Re: Exterior Dome Construction

Thanks Jim,

If I were to have a pizza party with the expectation of cooking 20-30 pizzas would the extra mass be useful? Also if I was to cook a turkey or a hunk of beast would the extra mass be beneficial?

Thanks for the insight, this forum is great.

[Bandrasco]

Re: Exterior Dome Construction

THE HEARTH IS POURED!!! I managed to get 27 80 lb bags of cement mixed and poured in an hour and a half. I have it covered ready for the HUGE amount of rain thats supposed to hit us in the next hour or so. Vermiculite going in late tomorrow night or early Saturday morning.

Whats a good amount of time to wait until I start on my floor? I have read so many build threads I'm seeing double.

Thanks everyone, and oh yeah....GO RAYS!!!!!

[RTflorida]

Re: Exterior Dome Construction

Give the vermicrete a week...it tends to hold its moisture a while and will be spongy for the first few days....don't worry, IT WILL set up and hold without problems, its just wierd stuff - like thick oatmeal.

RT

[Bandrasco]

Re: Exterior Dome Construction

Thanks RT,

The Vermicrete mix went better than expected; maybe because it doesn't weigh 80 lbs like every other bag I seem to pick up. Since I have so much concrete left (more of those 80lb bastards) I decided to do the insulation just under the area of the floor but went out at least 4" past each side of the floor/wall edge and then I'll poor the rest to the edge with concrete.

With my tile contracting background it was difficult for me not to just treat the vermiculite like screed mud and pack the heck out of it but I didn't read anywhere that that would be a good thing. I would guess it may compress the vermiculite causing it to be more of a thermal mass than an insulator..... So I went with the oatmeal texture which by the way caused a very long discussion with me and my daughter around the proper consistency of oatmeal taking a good 30 minutes out of my build time but wouldn't pass up any time or conversation with her since, as she states, "I'm 15, you can actually learn something from me you know"... Lord help us

Today I'm going to do more work on my arch layout, too many ideas, trying not to reinvent the arch.

Thanks agaun RT,

BTW, what part of Tampa do you live in?

[Bandrasco]

Re: Exterior Dome Construction

I have a question around the fire brick. Is there any reason I shouldn't use the cut edge to face in wards vs factory edge? My cut edge is sharp, clean, no crumbled edges, no saw blade marks,etc. The factory edges are somewhat less then desirable in a good percentage of them.

Thanks everyone,