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Post by simonh on Jul 5, 2017 15:00:25 GMT
Moved into the house a couple of years ago now, the plan from the outset was to get a WFO and BBQ built as part of the garden overhaul, it took a little longer to get moving than originally planned and due to undergoing chemo I now can't do the actual build so having to translate what is in my head to my builder (who has never done one of these before) threw up a couple of issues! anyway onto the start, the garden is broken up into three sections, top lawn, terrace with small pond and bottom lawn, the pond terrace is about 9m long by 5m wide so it was decided would be the best place for the oven to go the pond was filled in and the walls taken out to create a square area and then we ended up with lots and lots of rain
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Post by simonh on Jul 5, 2017 15:11:26 GMT
ventually it dried out and we could get on with putting the retaining wall back in with some extra drainage and then it got toward the end of the year and I started to get more poorly and unable to do any real work on it so things kind of stood still for a while, though in the meantime we did extend our top patio in time for our annual bonfire night party that is about triple the size it was! back to this year and it became apparent that I was going to have to start chemo and I had to come to the realisation that I wouldn't be able to do the oven build myself we got back our builder to do it for me - bear in mind I had no plans other than what was in my head from looking at this board and other resources etc and he has never done one before, but what the hell you only live once right? so we started with getting the slab and base built.
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Post by simonh on Jul 5, 2017 15:19:34 GMT
This was the first mistake, I sent him some pictures and we had a 15 minute chat about size and layout, WFO on the left BBQ area on the right, WFO pointing in toward the seating area and this is what we ended up with. the layout was fine, just the BBQ was too deep and the oven base was to short - way too short! I could probably have done a dome oven on there but I really wanted a Barrel vault. After quite a lot of swearing and some re-working of ideas we moved onto getting the flooring laid this is similar to the top patio but not the same slate, close enough in look but far enough away from each other to not notice the difference
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Post by simonh on Jul 5, 2017 15:46:04 GMT
So after creating some additional depth on the base I ordered some materials from Victas - pretty decent service overall and I think a decent enough price for what I got. I did order things like the chimney arch to make life easier for the builder, this was not how I had originally planned to do it. I felt pretty good one Saturday morning so spent a bit of time playing with how I thought it might go up (got told off for wearing myself out but oh well) this week the builder came back and this is pretty much where we are now The area on the right is destined to be an argentinian style BBQ with adjustable grills, but I doubt I will be making those till next year when I am better.
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Post by devontiger on Jul 5, 2017 17:40:49 GMT
Great start Simon. That is so kool.
Hope this makes you feel better too.
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Post by downunderdave on Jul 5, 2017 23:08:40 GMT
I hope that casting at the top of your flue gallery was made with castable refractory (calcium aluminate cement). If made with normal concrete it is likely to crack. That part of the oven gets pretty hot. Also, heavy reinforcing bar is a poor choice for reinforcing castings that are subject to high heat, the industry standard is stainless steel needles. Perhaps not a huge issue because of its form, even if it does crack, it'll still hold up.
Also, have you considered buttressing or bracing of the base of the vault to counteract sideways thrust? The end walls of a barrel vault oven or kiln should be under the vault, not beside it, or the expanding vault has a tendency to push out the end walls. Remember that the structure is continually moving because of the expansion of the materials and while such a structure may be quite sound once it's built, it's a different matter once you start adding lots of heat.
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Post by simonh on Jul 6, 2017 8:09:36 GMT
The flue gallery is refractory cement - it was made for the job, and there is a thermal break between the end of the "cooking" zone and that part of the oven. Lots of the oven builds I looked at had the back wall flush with the vault, it is too late for me to change that now! There are external walls going up and a mix of refractory cement and vermiculite to be packed in after the insulating fibre which will hopefully give it the additional support it needs.
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Post by downunderdave on Jul 6, 2017 10:32:37 GMT
The flue gallery is refractory cement - it was made for the job, and there is a thermal break between the end of the "cooking" zone and that part of the oven. Lots of the oven builds I looked at had the back wall flush with the vault, it is too late for me to change that now! There are external walls going up and a mix of refractory cement and vermiculite to be packed in after the insulating fibre which will hopefully give it the additional support it needs. Yes that should work. Here is a link to a good way to add steel bracing that you may want to consider. It overcomes the problem of having the bracing across the oven door. community.fornobravo.com/forum/pizza-oven-design-and-installation/other-oven-types/16301-barrel-vault-oven-cladding?p=199913#post199913Colosseum shows unsupported arches collapsing
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Post by simonh on Jul 6, 2017 13:18:52 GMT
that certainly might have been a better idea! I'll upload some more pictures later of where we are now but suffice to say I am committed at this point and without taking it all down and starting again I don't have many options. we will see where we get to and if it is a disaster then at least it will have been a learning disaster
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Post by downunderdave on Jul 6, 2017 21:20:17 GMT
Don't over worry it, I'm sure it will be fine. For a kiln which sees about double the temperatures and therefore double the expansion, the problems are greater but the principles are the same. And as they say, there are two kinds of ovens, those with cracks and those with owners who lie about their ovens having cracks.
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Post by simonh on Jul 7, 2017 9:19:08 GMT
where we are at the moment after the blanket a vermicrete mix will be packed in on the sides to give additional support
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Post by oblertone on Jul 8, 2017 5:26:19 GMT
While I appreciate the desire for support on the sides, dry vermiculite offers better insulation properties than vermicrete as its the multiple air gaps which provide the insulation. I'd be tempted to brace the walls with small cut sections of brick then fill the void with dry vermiculite; the added advantage being that you won't have to dry the stuff out.
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Post by simonh on Jul 11, 2017 9:47:02 GMT
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Post by simonh on Jul 21, 2017 16:42:29 GMT
almost there - just the front to render and the roof to go on. I may need to raise the BBQ area by another course of firebricks, but will will give it a try and see. also made a table to go with it Simon
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Post by devontiger on Jul 21, 2017 16:56:44 GMT
Simon, very nice indeed. Looks like it is well insulated as well. That Table looks Fab. When I get round to it, I want something like this.
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