Post by moorsy on May 11, 2012 22:21:09 GMT
Hello,
So I started my build about a year ago and it's still a work in progress. The winter and other commitments seriously slowed me up. I received the plans from www.traditionaloven.com/ . I haven't exactly stuck to them, making a few changes and guesses along the way that I hope won’t cause me any trouble in the future.
The site
I have a long narrow patio so the foot print was an issue, I wanted an oven at least as big as the standard on www.traditionaloven.com/ (32” x 36”) but didn’t want to take up the patio. I positioned it as close to a boundary fence as possible after explaining to the neighbours my intentions and getting their OK, it helped that they are Mrs Moorsys cousins and also that they are well used to me smoking the place up BBQing all year round and that I promised them my first born ... pizza.
The Design
I have pretty much stuck to the Alan Scott/ www.traditionaloven.com/ design except for:
I didn’t like the way they suspend the hearth on rebar between the supporting walls. I have no scientific or engineering basis for this just didn’t go well with me.
Also didn’t like the alternatives I have seen where there is a layer of vermiculite in the centre under the hearth but the outside edges of the hearth are still in contact with the base. Can’t help but think lots of heat will escape.
So I decided to have a solid layer of vermiculite concrete and for the hearth to sit 100% on top. It also meant the base could be narrower. 1st problem discovered = vermiculite is very soft and I started to chicken out of my plan half way through laying the vermiculite layer as I thought it would never support the weight of the oven and it might crack up or tilt to one side (I’d end up with the leaning tower of Pizza). Solution = I put a number of small patio pavers standing on edge, embedded into the vermiculite, in a horse shoe shape where the oven walls (and most of the weight would be). Yes, heat will conduct through these pavers and this probably will mean my efforts for efficiency were for nought, but I’ll just have to wait and see. Full committed to the plan at this stage.
Insulation is of the blanket type – which I managed to borrow off a mate who works in the industrial kiln field. Haven’t got to stage of applying it yet so can’t tell you much about its effectiveness.
I plan to cover insulation with chicken wire and a render – because I like the igloo look and it is the space saving option. If it fails (cracks, leaks, etc) then I was playing with the idea of going to a steel roofing manufacturers (there’s one in the locality) where they make curved steel sheeting and seeing if they have off cuts, do one off small jobs etc and getting a half round shape to cover it.
Current progress
I have the fire bricks in place and a layer of concrete cladding on top (with a layer of foil between)
To do:
Insulation
Outer opening and Chimney
Outer covering
Anyway I will attach some photos, let me know what you think...
Moorsy
So I started my build about a year ago and it's still a work in progress. The winter and other commitments seriously slowed me up. I received the plans from www.traditionaloven.com/ . I haven't exactly stuck to them, making a few changes and guesses along the way that I hope won’t cause me any trouble in the future.
The site
I have a long narrow patio so the foot print was an issue, I wanted an oven at least as big as the standard on www.traditionaloven.com/ (32” x 36”) but didn’t want to take up the patio. I positioned it as close to a boundary fence as possible after explaining to the neighbours my intentions and getting their OK, it helped that they are Mrs Moorsys cousins and also that they are well used to me smoking the place up BBQing all year round and that I promised them my first born ... pizza.
The Design
I have pretty much stuck to the Alan Scott/ www.traditionaloven.com/ design except for:
I didn’t like the way they suspend the hearth on rebar between the supporting walls. I have no scientific or engineering basis for this just didn’t go well with me.
Also didn’t like the alternatives I have seen where there is a layer of vermiculite in the centre under the hearth but the outside edges of the hearth are still in contact with the base. Can’t help but think lots of heat will escape.
So I decided to have a solid layer of vermiculite concrete and for the hearth to sit 100% on top. It also meant the base could be narrower. 1st problem discovered = vermiculite is very soft and I started to chicken out of my plan half way through laying the vermiculite layer as I thought it would never support the weight of the oven and it might crack up or tilt to one side (I’d end up with the leaning tower of Pizza). Solution = I put a number of small patio pavers standing on edge, embedded into the vermiculite, in a horse shoe shape where the oven walls (and most of the weight would be). Yes, heat will conduct through these pavers and this probably will mean my efforts for efficiency were for nought, but I’ll just have to wait and see. Full committed to the plan at this stage.
Insulation is of the blanket type – which I managed to borrow off a mate who works in the industrial kiln field. Haven’t got to stage of applying it yet so can’t tell you much about its effectiveness.
I plan to cover insulation with chicken wire and a render – because I like the igloo look and it is the space saving option. If it fails (cracks, leaks, etc) then I was playing with the idea of going to a steel roofing manufacturers (there’s one in the locality) where they make curved steel sheeting and seeing if they have off cuts, do one off small jobs etc and getting a half round shape to cover it.
Current progress
I have the fire bricks in place and a layer of concrete cladding on top (with a layer of foil between)
To do:
Insulation
Outer opening and Chimney
Outer covering
Anyway I will attach some photos, let me know what you think...
Moorsy
Attachments:
