Breaking ground !

[eyspy]

An excellent find - I've been watching GTree for something similar

Great find!! Just what I need for mine.....

[BBQBOY]

As I keep building it keeps growing , I think the old back yard bbq will be there +a smoker + a fire pit by the time I finish I recon the wife will want me sleeping out there to

[BBQBOY]

[UtahBeehiver]

BBQ,

I see you are well on your way, don't want to rain on your parade, but I just want to point out an issue you need to be aware of. I see you place V or Pcrete sections under portions of the floor but it appears that they do no completely isolate the oven floor or dome walls from the fire brick first layer. This may act as a heat sink taking away your valuable oven heat. Just want you to be aware of a potential problem. If you core cooking activity is a few pizzas and not multi-day cooking then this "may" not be a big an issue.

[JRPizza]

Nice start! What are your plans for a vent and landing? It looks like your inner arch is very close to the front edge - are you going to extend your slab forward?

[david s]

As the rear of your foundation slab is below ground level you should pay some attention to the drainage there, considering how much heavy rain you can get in Brisbane's summer.
The under floor insulation looks like around 50 mm thick, but if those bricks that contain it are concrete pavers or dense brick rather than insulating firebrick, then you will lose a substantial amount of heat via conduction through to the supporting slab.
Vermicrete also varies considerably in its insulating capacity. The normal requirement is 100 mm of 5:1 vermicrete if that is the chosen material. Find attached thermal conductivity K factor values (which is the opposite of insulating value) for vermicrete of different mixes.

[Steady]

Seems to be coming along BBQBOY

[BBQBOY]

[BBQBOY]

[BBQBOY]

[BBQBOY]

[BBQBOY]

[BBQBOY]

I used insulation board as a base with insulation brick around that with vermiculite filling in the space . Then built a dome out of sand and used refractory cement to get the desired shape then layer after layer of insulation I used clay balls and vermiculite in the insulation layers then rendered it . Been a busy few days ! Now time for a rum and a slice of pizza

[david s]

Don't be in a rush to fire the oven to pizza temperature if you've only just finished it. There will be tons of water in the build and as you have rendered over the wet insulation that will make the water removal even harder. Remember that one litre of water creates more than 1600 litres of steam and you may find that the expanding vermicrete will crack the outer shell. Read the curing thread starting here to get an idea of other builders experiences.
#1
If you see visible steam then you are going at it too hard and risk damage to the oven. Low and slow is better, take your time. Good luck.

[Steady]

You have been busy - I have not really seen this type of build before but I have experienced how long it takes to get the water out - Good luck