Uncle Bhuna's 42" build in Lancashire

[unclebhuna]

My build started in earnest yesterday when I finally poured my slab. I will be using the forno bravo plans as the guide for my build. I ripped up my first slab after I had poured it as I got a bit concerned that it was not thick enough, not didn't have any rebar. It was hard work pulling it up but having acquired some brick I now realise just how heavy the oven will be so am happy with the new slab. It is at least 5" thick with loads of rebar and mesh. I have clay quite close to the surface so have dug down to that and then put about 75mm of MOT which was tamped down. I will add a few pics of my progress so far....

[unclebhuna]

Base, bare and with MOT rubble.

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[unclebhuna]

Rebar and finished slab. I should point out that the oven is part of a larger garden landscaping project so progress at times will be slower than I'd like but got to try and keep it all ticking along...

[bookemdanno]

Looks like you've got a pretty good idea what your doing.
Thats a fair bit of heavy duty landscaping and blockwork sir.
Good luck with the build.

[cannyfradock]

Uncle Bhuna

Nice work on your slab. The poly membrane will pay dividends in keeping your wood store dry. I also put a dpc on top of the first course of my supporting walls.....going overboard at this stage with rising damp prevention plays a crucial role in keeping the hearth dry.

Terry

[unclebhuna]

A few small cracks appeared in my slab which is annoying. I've given them a good brush with cement to try and fill the gaps. Not going to worry about it because there isn't much I can do apart from rip it up; which isn't happening! Onwards and upwards. Stand building today....

[cannyfradock]

Uncle Bhuna

You have put down a solid base for your concrete slab. It has steel re-enforcement in it. You could probably build a block of flats on top of it!!.....don't know why it has cracking.....I'm confident that it's only superficial. Maybe a piece of steel was too close to the top.....or the sun got to it and augmented the curing process.....in any case......integrity of strength won't have been been compromised.

Looking forward to following the "Bhuna build"

Terry

[unclebhuna]

Cheers for the reassurance Terry. Stand gone up ok today. A little out of level at the front. I will sort that when I put in my lintel with a little mortar under to raise a few blocks. Once it is rendered and the hearth slab is on you would never know.

[unclebhuna]

A couple of pics of the stand construction. I used mortar to fix it to the slab but build the rest dry. As you can see it is a bit out of level to the right but I will straighten it out with some mortar when I bed the lintels in.

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[unclebhuna]

Busy day on the build today. Motivated by my delivery of bricks, insulation etc, I now have everything I need for my build. Build the frame for my hearth slab and then did the slab pour. Took a good couple of hours as was on my own and the mixer is well past its best. Ended up doing a couple of mixes by hand towards the end. Will leave it a couple of days now before taking the frame down.

[unclebhuna]

[unclebhuna]

Been a while since the last update but I have made some progress. Found that the hearth was going to be too low once I put my paving in so had to raise it up using thermalite block. Wasn't too bothered as it will add a good amount of insulation to my base to accompany the insulating board I'm using. Managed to get the floor laid and soldier course over the last couple of days. All gone well apart from the cement burns on the tips of two fingers where my gloves had holes. Used a 5,1,1,1, home brew mortar despite having a tub of fire cement. My gaps are all going to be too big for the fire cement around the soldier course but will try and use some on the dome.

[unclebhuna]

[unclebhuna]

[unclebhuna]