Build started in Mountain Top NSW

[Gulf]

Mineral or baby oil will also help keep the lime out of the pores of the skin.

[Gretsch]

David I used Rylbond refractory glue on the arch bricks and home brew mortar on large gaps. Yes I know the glue should only be used up to 2mm thick otherwise it doesn’t set.

The home brew I’m using is 3 parts fine sand to 1 part cement, lime and fireclay. Sure is sticky and hard on the hands, had to put on disposable gloves under leather gloves to keep it off my skin!

[david s]

What kind of mortar are you using? The reason I ask is that you mentioned glue. Refractory glue is not suitable for large gaps. You are better to fill large gaps with homebrew mortar, which by the way is far cheaper and has proved quite adequate for the temps we fire to.

[Gretsch]

Now I'm at the stage where I'm building the dome. After I assembled the arch and glued it together it occurred to me that night I didn't cut the inside downward face as everyone else has done. I didn't want to pull it apart in case I broke a brick. Claypave are the closest refractory supplier and it's over 2 hours drive from here.

So it's a painful process cutting them bricks around the curve, at least I've got a brick saw so it's easy to cut but time consuming. Then there's a fair gap as you can see in the picture which takes a bit of mortar to fill, I'm having to push the brick upwards and stuff the corner with mortar to keep the dreaded droop at bay. If anyone can provide some feedback on this it would be helpful.

Otherwise, I think it's looking good, gaps on the bricks are nice and tight, it's staying level.

[Gretsch]

I put down a 100mm layer of Perlite, it took a while to set but then I felt it was a bit fragile. I looked around for alternatives and Claypave had a load of kiln insulation bricks they pulled out of a kiln, light weight and cheap so I put them in. They just seem like they won’t break down too easily.

Sat them on their edge for maximum insulation, a layer of sand and fireclay and then the hearth bricks. I’m not going to put a soldier course down I don’t the need for it. I used a plastic fluted material to prevent mortar filling the gap, should be able to pull it out when the time comes.

[Gretsch]

Have to say our internet speeds are atrocious! Dial up was faster. It takes several attempts to upload photos they bomb out and I have to try again. The exchange is 8km away which is partly the reason.

Finally got some piccies uploaded, paving job under way, formwork down, concrete down, blocks down, frame finished. It came up pretty good and I’’m happy with the result.

[Gretsch]

G’Day all,

I started my build couple months ago, wasn’t going to start a thread on my build because there’s so many really good builds already that I’ve referenced but I figure it’s a good opportunity to catalog the build and get some feedback from this great community forum.

Have been planning this since retirement 6 years ago when we moved here from Darwin but there’s been renovations to do and other projects that’s slowed me down. (Well, truth is, my bro in law had one installed and I couldn't live with that !!!)

Our property is as the title suggests, in a mountainous area, beautiful views over the valley we can see Mount Warning from our window. We excavated a flat area to one side of the house and still not completely finished but enough so I could plop my WFO base down. Should be pretty spectacular where it’s set to take advantage of the background views.

All my neighbours are egging me on to get it done, they’re busting to eat pizza and I hope I don’t disappoint them.

So anyhow, my base was laid in a 150mm deep red soil, reckon I put enough rod and cement in the mix to be plenty strong enough, took 2 of us a few hours let it set under a tarp for a week to get maximum strength before I put the blocks on top.

I bought a stack of seconds from ABC bricks that I’m using in my landscaping they’re 140 x 200 x 100 so decided they’ll do.

will post pictures soon.