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Post by yorkshiresmoke on Sept 15, 2020 7:15:09 GMT
Hi,
I’ve always.enjoyed reading these forums, the information in them is priceless! I’ve finally joined up to seek a bit of help and hopefully show results of my slightly different builds. I’m a bit of handyman from Barnsley and have completed a couple of builds now, mainly using free materials. The first build I was quite lucky and was given a load of free kiln bricks And it was a real success. The second build was done using storage heater bricks And I’m pleased with the end result but have some issues with the exposed arch, I’ve added a post to the questions and answers part and will look in to how to add pictures of my builds.
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Post by nilly71 on Sept 15, 2020 18:39:14 GMT
Welcome to the forum.
My build is a very cheap budget build.
Up to hearth level was basically free.
The fireclay, fire bricks and ceramic blanket were all end of range.
The bricks are huge and I can cut them in to six, so i still have half a pallet left, probably enough for another one or two ovens. I could probably sell them and compensate for my build, so £0 build.
It's a shame delivery is so expensive.
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Post by yorkshiresmoke on Sept 17, 2020 13:02:54 GMT
That looks cracking! What stage are you at now with it?
It does take some effort tracking down the right materials though, especially with no time! I'm sure you could sell them, there will be someone somewhere that needs them for certain. I just need to get my photo's uploaded too but lacking in the motivation until I have my problems sorted!
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Post by nilly71 on Sept 17, 2020 19:24:51 GMT
Just deciding how to finish of the dome key stone.
Then landing and chimney. The landing is quite thin so I will probably build the smoke chamber above the inner arch and dome. I haven't worked this out yet.
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Post by yorkshiresmoke on Sept 18, 2020 8:19:57 GMT
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Post by nilly71 on Sept 18, 2020 9:29:05 GMT
The problem i have is my dodgy cutting skills. My bricks are 12", so I couldn't just jut in half like most do with the 9" bricks. I cut them in to six with an angle grinder, which meant that I was sometimes out of line by about 3mm-5mm between bricks, this resulted in my final row not being circular. I'm going to use the angle grinder to get a rounder shape and hopefully my plan for the key stone will work. I had about a bag of firebrick dust from all the cutting, so was thinking of making a slurry mix and coating the dome to give a little bit more thermal mass. Not read about anyone else doing this so not sure if it will work, but as you have said...make it up as you go along  |
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Post by edgray on Sept 27, 2020 14:44:08 GMT
Hi, those builds look fantastic! We're midway through a build and were planning to go with a tile mosaic finish but that off-white render looks so slick we might just do that instead!
I noticed that you're using cast iron doors on those builds. We bought one off eBay and I stupidly didn't first ask the seller whether the door would come off the hinges to make installation easier - unfortunately I had indeed picked the one with a door that doesn't come off. I was hoping you could give us some advice on how you fit that door into your build? Did you make a wooden model of it first to build the arch over and then swap it out for the real thing later? And if so how do you secure the frame in place so it doesn't slide out again? Any advice gratefully received!
Cheers,
Ed (and Maria)
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Post by oblertone on Sept 28, 2020 14:10:18 GMT
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Post by edgray on Sept 30, 2020 15:31:08 GMT
Wow that mosaic finish is spectacular. My other half saw those photos and said "that's exactly what I had in mind", so looks like I'll be right behind you in the queue to purgatory!
Although that's a long way off at the moment as we're still trying to figure out how best to attach this flipping door we've bought.
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Post by oblertone on Sept 30, 2020 16:26:05 GMT
Well you can't say you haven't been warned ! FWIW I used standard tiles from B&Q and cut them by hand, over the five years since completion only about four bits of tile have succumbed to frost damage where the coloured surface has flaked off.
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Post by yorkshiresmoke on Sept 30, 2020 21:37:59 GMT
Hi, those builds look fantastic! We're midway through a build and were planning to go with a tile mosaic finish but that off-white render looks so slick we might just do that instead! I noticed that you're using cast iron doors on those builds. We bought one off eBay and I stupidly didn't first ask the seller whether the door would come off the hinges to make installation easier - unfortunately I had indeed picked the one with a door that doesn't come off. I was hoping you could give us some advice on how you fit that door into your build? Did you make a wooden model of it first to build the arch over and then swap it out for the real thing later? And if so how do you secure the frame in place so it doesn't slide out again? Any advice gratefully received! Cheers, Ed (and Maria) Hi Ed, I did exactly the same and purchased a door from eBay....then spent a month thinking about how to secure it. I had kiln bricks with grooves in and the pivoting on the sides fitted into these slots in the brick neatly (slid in vertically from above) I then used some kiln brick wedges to hold in place whilst I packed fire cement around which has set and held in place. I cut some kingsman to the same shape as the door to use as a former. 110mm thick so it supported the whole arch...ideal. Hope that helps.   |
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Post by mikeb21 on Oct 1, 2020 6:46:17 GMT
Interesting way of using storage heater bricks, did think whether something like that was possible for my own build but decided with the limited space a vaulted roof would work better.
As for the mosaic tiles, wow! Must not let my other half see those pictures or I know what I'll be doing to the roof of mine!
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Post by edgray on Oct 2, 2020 20:13:43 GMT
Hi Ed, I did exactly the same and purchased a door from eBay....then spent a month thinking about how to secure it. I had kiln bricks with grooves in and the pivoting on the sides fitted into these slots in the brick neatly (slid in vertically from above) I then used some kiln brick wedges to hold in place whilst I packed fire cement around which has set and held in place. I cut some kingsman to the same shape as the door to use as a former. 110mm thick so it supported the whole arch...ideal. Hope that helps. Thanks for the answer, I'm just trying to understand the steps you took based on your pictures and what you wrote... I'm not quite following the groove and pivoting thing - on the top of the door in the picture I can see a vertical row at the front with a horizontal row behind them so are those slotting together with grooves? Sorry for being a bit thick but I can't quite get my head around what you did. Although the fire cement bit I definitely understand so I'll make sure I use plenty of that! I'll definitely try and make a decent form too so I can get the arch built first before inserting the door, I must admit though I've never seen the word kingsman before? I asked my (Yorkshire lass) other half if she knew what a kingsman was and got a blank look in return, so that's a new one for both of us! Cheers again for your help |
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Post by yorkshiresmoke on Oct 3, 2020 7:40:15 GMT
Hahah...Ed, Kingsman would be the spell checked version on Kingspan 😂 Yorkshire rhyming slang.
It is difficult to explain it, I actually built the arch around the door using that as the front former. The two vertical bricks at each side had the slots cast into them (kind of like bbq shelf slots) but these were vertical so I could slide the door anchors into them. So I supported the two verticals, slid the door down into them and then built the arch. I will try and get some pictures in here for you when it stops raining!
Good luck,
Chris
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Post by edgray on Oct 3, 2020 9:59:38 GMT
Hahaha complete 🤦♂️ moment from me there!
I see what you mean now about the vertical bricks, that's a great idea. I won't have any precast slots on the bricks but that's easy enough to do with the grinder.
Some more pictures would be very much appreciated, but yea we're completely on hold too at the moment because it's been raining for 2 days straight. Slightly worried because our vermiculite hearth layer is absolutely saturated, despite me putting tarp over everything, but let's just hope it'll dry out without any damage! Time to buy a gazebo methinks.
Thanks again for your help Chris!
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Always produces the best results I think! 
