A slow Pompeii in N.I.

[suitord]

After a year of procrastination, have started to build an oven! It's gonna be slow.... have 3 kids under 3 and trying to do this in "spare time" hope to get finished by end of (the so called) summer.

Gonna try and post some photos as I go, and probably ask questions too. Haven't build much before....

hopefully there should be a hole and some shuttering in the picture

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[suitord]

half full!!
My helper (dad) working hard at it

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[suitord]

All done, the last 3 span about 2 and a half weeks work.
Hope to start building the base this week.

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[reburner]

Excellent. Good luck with the build and keep the pics coming.

[cannyfradock]

Suitord

Looking good...all the best with the rest of the build.

Terry

[suitord]

Started building the base, complete novice so I am fairly slow at this kind of thing...

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[cannyfradock]

...progress is progress!! regardless of the pace you are going at.

Terry

[suitord]

After being away on hols for a couple of weeks, the good weather when I got home has meant a good few evenings work, so am now ready for slab....only controversially I am planning to use beam and block instead of casting my own. Also have my quinnlites primed as an insulation layer.

Received my firebricks yesterday, so all go at the moment. Got my firebricks locally in Belfast off John J Doyle, mentioned what I was doing and they give me a reasonable discount, so said I'd give them a mention on the forum (hope that's OK)

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[petec]

Looking good,

if its any consolation its taken me over a year to build my pompeii and its still not finished ( although its working ! )

Rgds
PeteC

[suitord]

Definitely some consolation to me, but my wife seems to think these things pop up overnight #slavedriver
LOL
I've been informed there better be pizza by end of august!!

David

[suitord]

Can anyone tell me if I wet firebricks before laying? Ta!

[bookemdanno]

Sounds like you've got the balance right there Suitord, it doesn't take much for it to swing to "you're spending more time out there, blah, blah..."

[suitord]

Managed to get to the point of having my layer of thermolite blocks laid, and started to dry lay the hearth last night to start measuring for cuts. Bit apprehensive about this bit...one of the kids woke me up last night, then took me 2 hours to get back to sleep as all I could think about was angles, cuts, which way to join arch to done, transition of hearth to outer arch etc......
Also can someone please advise me if I should soak firebricks before laying, I pretty sure I do, just would like confirmation for peace of mind!
Photo of work so far!

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[cannyfradock]

Suitlord

Normally I don't bother wetting the fire-bricks before laying as there is moisture already in them....however, in this weather I would use the sprinkler nossle on a hose gun to dampen them down. I say dampen them down as they will take on a lot of water if you allow them to. Everything will dry o you quickly i this weather including your mortar mix. Only mix a little of the mortar mix at a time.....and use small buckets or small containers to gauge your mix correctly.

If you find the bricks are drying on you when you come to use them, then sprinkle a little more water on them but don't allow them to get saturated.....any water you put into the oven now will have to be burnt back out with your curing fires....also if they are wet, they might "float" or be difficult to lay.

When you are cutting your bricks soak them before hand. It makes cutting a lot easier and will save the blade life on your angle grinder......fill a jumbo bucket up with water and immerse them for at least half an hour. You will see and hear them take in the water. Top up the water in this process as they get very thirsty.

Terry

[suitord]

Thanks Terry, that is a great help, I foresee an evening of cutting ahead, hope to start dome at the weekend.
David