tapir
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Posts: 45
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Post by tapir on Apr 29, 2012 16:57:18 GMT
This morning I woke to find that the gales overnight had removed the tarpaulin protecting my oven, and the torrential rain had now soaked the unfinished oven. I wasn't too bothered at first as all it means is longer drying time.
On closer inspection, I find that the cement on my arches which were set around 2-3 weeks ago are now incredibly soft. Is this normal? My main concern is the now the structure of the completed arches - there's nothing supporting them when the WASC (the fire cement bought from Liam) is damp. I had a 500W halogen lamp on the outside for an hour or so and the cement is a little drier; there was even a little steam from the surface of the bricks. tomorrow I'll attempt to get the halogen inside the oven (there's a formwork in the way at the moment, so access isn't easy)
Any thoughts? Cheers all
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Post by turkey on Apr 29, 2012 18:17:46 GMT
if its still standing after all that wind and rain I can't seeing any problem when it dries stiff again.
I have found my homebrew is similar when damp again, I think for mine its the clay that's rehydrating, not sure what's in the commercial stuff but its probably quite similar.
Monday is meant to be nice, so hopefully operation dry out can commence :-)
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tapir
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Posts: 45
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Post by tapir on Apr 29, 2012 18:20:11 GMT
Thanks Turkey; valid point about it still standing  I was very surprised to see the cement was soft and wet after it was rock solid. I'll update this post when I have something to report. As you say, nice day tomorrow, and I'm not at work, so I can let the air get to the oven, and finish off that arch Cheers dude |
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cec
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Posts: 160
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Post by cec on Apr 30, 2012 6:14:17 GMT
I had a the same , I had it covered and the cement was still soft ( I think it was sweating and the cover was keeping all the moister in, I took the cover off to dry and it solid now .
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tapir
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Posts: 45
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Post by tapir on Apr 30, 2012 8:24:31 GMT
I had a the same , I had it covered and the cement was still soft ( I think it was sweating and the cover was keeping all the moister in, I took the cover off to dry and it solid now . Cheers Cec - I was wondering too about the sweating element. I'm going to build a simple framework from all the pallets I have left, so that the tarp doesn't touch the brick work |
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tapir
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Posts: 45
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Post by tapir on Apr 30, 2012 18:24:26 GMT
so a quick update; the exterior of the oven is much drier now, a day of sunshine and breeze coupled with a 500w Halogen lamp inside. I've noticed on the exterior, a number of small cracks in my fire cement, mainly on the cement laid in the last 2-3 weeks. They're too small to fill (not without a syringe!) so I've just smeared more fire cement over/into them as best I can. I guess we'll see whether or not the cracks have a detrimental effect!
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cec
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Posts: 160
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Post by cec on Apr 30, 2012 19:15:28 GMT
I had a few cracks aswell but I used home brew as my mortar , it did worry me at 1st but now iv vermiculite it and tryed it with a fire every thing is fine , not a wiff of a crack inside . Happy days
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