BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

11-8-08

After a very long but successful business trip On Saturday I managed to get the second and third row set in no time . It helps a lot when you cut them first; well at least it did for me. I had to shave off a little here and there but for the most part it went up rather quickly.

Second and third row set

Arch entry ready for the rest of the bricks

Sitting area shot

Blimp shot

Another angle

Ready for the next row!

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Thanks,

Thats weird that he stated that it air dried and didn't cure. This definitely kicked off , appeared to get a little warm, and then started to get hard. Like I said before, as long as it stays together I'm good. The consistency is like peanut butter; Bob confirmed that this was correct. I also soaked the bricks until the bubbles stopped... I was thinking that there was too much water in the bricks and it was not allowing the mortar to absorb.

Either way I hope it stays together and cooks great pizzas!

Thanks again,

[mannextdoor]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

It looks like your doing a great job. When I had spoken with Bob, (owner of HS50) He told me that there are two manufacturing facilities for HS50. One bagged in brown bags, the other in white. He assured me that the contents where the same. He also said that his product was not hydraulic and did not cure. It air dried. After one day of dry time the mortar was ready for fire. The reason we cure the oven is to drive the moisture out of the bricks slowly. Bob also told me if you are getting hair line cracks when it dried, you are mixing your mortar to wet. Soak your bricks for a little while, so the brick doesn?t pull water out of your mortar. But mix the mortar a little drier. Good luck and enjoy the ride. Looking forward to following your build.

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

If I haven't told all of you before how much I hate this time of year let me tell you again... I hate it when it is dark when I get home! I did manage to get the next row cut along with the next level of entry bricks. Tomorrow night I'll mortar them in and then get back to it on Friday night.

Is it normal for areas of mortar to have what it appears to be shrink cracks? It's very minor and only where I filled in some areas of the back bricks. The areas were larger than what the Mfg says it will fill with out shrinking... Sounds like an obvious answer but with my recent mortar issue I am going to play it safe and ask, ask, ask!

Thanks everyone!

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Very nice workmanship. I like the angle that you put in the opening.
You can send any extra rain up to Citrus county.
Don

Thanks Don,

I really wanted to be able to see the fire from a larger area; that entry angle allows me to see it from even inside the house which will be way cool.

I'll send all the rain your way for now; we've received so much over here it's silly. I know a few folks up your way, thats quite a haul from where I live.

Thanks again,

Bill

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Looks like you are going to have a oven the quality of Les and Ken. Great, clean work!

Thank you very much!

I don't think I'm at the level of Les and Ken but I did read their posts about a hundred times so maybe some of their craftsmanship will rub off on me.

Thanks again,

Bill

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Outstanding. Off to an excellent start!
Travis

Thanks Travis! I appreciate the encouragement; I'm going to need it.

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Wow, that looks great! Coming along really nicely.

Thanks! This is one of those projects where you definitely learn as you go.

[drogers]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Very nice workmanship. I like the angle that you put in the opening.
You can send any extra rain up to Citrus county.
Don

[exceloven]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Looks like you are going to have a oven the quality of Les and Ken. Great, clean work!

[staestc]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Outstanding. Off to an excellent start!
Travis

[Frances]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Wow, that looks great! Coming along really nicely.

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

11-2-08

After starting the day out with very heavy rains I managed to get the first course up. It went ok, not as smoothly and neat as I wanted but I moved up wards and my mortar is getting hard. That in itself is a major improvement over the other day.
The string was not used; it's in an old hole that was drilled before I decided on the final location. I placed it there today and luckily realized it was not centered...

Blimp shot. The black dot on the right is an ant that I couldn't resist smashing my thumb into... One of those days

Entry shot...

Side view

Ready for the next row!

I'll try and get that done by Tuesday as I have to travel all week. The kids are begging to go on the boat next weekend so I want to get at least 2 more rows by next Sunday.

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Thanks Christo,

I'm sure I'll laugh about all this later but I am really shooting for a Thanksgiving turkey in the dome! I'm not going to rush anything, just stick to my schedule if weather permits. I went out to start today and it's pouring out! I'm thinking I'll get the large umbrella from the table...

By the way, your build is awesome! I love the Geodomes like you and Dmun created. I think thats such a cool look.

I'm grateful to have this forum for help and encouragement; I know how easy it will be to put this off for a while and before you know it it will be spring.

I still haven't decided on an exterior finish yet. I am going to create another dome and will more than likely use brick. Another thought I had (After Dmun suggested I believe) is to use porcelain tiles cut into brick dimensions and then wrap the exterior with them. I can use an additive in the grout to keep out any water and as a prep coat I could use more of the wall bonding agent; its waterproof as well.

I'm getting waaaaay ahead of myself. Hopefully it will stop raining and I can get the 1st course of the dome up. I'm going to make my template/support for the arch and get that going.

Thanks!

[christo]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Wow!!

Sounds like an accelerated build!

I took a week off work and had my sister and brother in law visit when I did the major work on mine.

I had a little setback as well, pressed on - and am fabuously happy with my oven. Seemed like a huge setback at the time!

I can vouch for the exterior fiber reinforced coating you used on your base. I love it!! It's been over a year with no cracking (well one crack -= after I ran the vibratory compactor over the patio 2 weeks ago and came within 1/8 inch of the base - hindsight moment...

Looks like a great start!!!

Glad to see you did not let a little setback slow you down!!!

Christo