New build in Scotland

[stevo]

A busy afternoon at the oven.

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[stevo]

I've made a total mess up of the measurements of the main oven base!!

I havent taken the insulated blanket into account and now i'm struggling for vermiculite/concrete space. I'm going to manage a fairly decent amount on the roof of the oven but it's the sides that i'm worried about, i'm not going to get more than an half an inch around it.

I was thinking about bolting a couple of bits of steel to the base to extend the sides a bit then i'd have more to play with...

Any other ideas as thats the only one i can think of.

Cheers
Steve

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[cannyfradock]

Stevo

There are so many people that make this mistake. Usually people don't "double up" on wall thickness etc......I've also fell foul of this.

You have a few options on how to add your insulation layers. A few bit's of steel will work.....or (if you had the space) you could but up another thermolite block wall either side......or simply drill and fix some 4 x 4 timber to the sides and if you wanted more space (2" of thermal blanket and 3" of vermecrete you could drop the 4" x 4" timber down an inch and fix some 5 x 1 or 6 x 1 timber to the top of the main timber bearing........Although the vermecrete will go off solid allowing you to render over it with waterproof rendering, the actual blanket and vermecrete will not hold much weight.

Terry

btw.....nice party pic.

[stevo]

You mean put the timber along the sides, then remove them once the vermicrete has gone off? Or render over the top of the timber...

I've definitely not got enough space to build up more thermolite blocks. Its a total pain because I spent so much time designing it and all it would take was a few more inches...always the case:)

[stevo]

I've noticed that it's not normally the done thing to erect shuttering around the oven so put in the vermiculite insulation, but... My oven walls are totally vertical and putting it on in the convensional fashion was becoming a giant pain in the ass so up went the shuttering.

I'll empty the vermiculte mix down into the channels and tamp it down slightly. It worked for the rear of the oven so it should work for this also.

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[stevo]

The finished shuttering. Now i just need to find the time to pour the mix.

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[turkey]

working out space required is always a pain, I ended up with barely enough space to render.

Your shuttering looks like it will do the job well, once it all sets it will not matter that it is over hanging, just make sure the outer skin has a lip at the bottom for water to drip off from and not follow the skin round and under the oven .

[stevo]

Morning,

I finished the vermicrete at the weekend and i've just removed the shuttering to let the air circulate round it - i'll put it back on tonight as it's meant to rain!

Putting shuttering around this was easily the best way to do it, and could not recommend doing it this way more (Pompeii ovens excluded obviously). Just needed to mix up the vermicrete and pour it in, giving it a tap down as i went - easy as peas.

You can easily see where i've had to build it out over the sides, it was necessary but i should be able to build it into some sort of feature that doesn't look rubbish.

Let me know what you think...


Cheers
Stevo

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[stevo]

Pic 2

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[stevo]

Pic 3

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[barney]

Stick some hooks in the underside, hang your tools off them and it will look like a design feature. ;D

[cannyfradock]

Stevo

Brilliant job. I can't quite see what you added to the slab to sit the vermecrete on.....but it looks good. You mentioned about removing it in a previous post....no need. It will all add to the character of the oven. Love the shuttering.....hate vermecrete!!! It does the bizz but it's a pain in the butt to lay.

Terry

p.s....have you given your oven a name?

[stevo]

Terry,

It ended up bolting two 100mm bits of steel plate to the edges to widen it, they'll not be going anywhere so i will build it into a feature.

I've had to put the shuttering back on nowdue to the forecast, i'm going to stick a couple of small fires in it over the rest of the weekend to help the drying process then a larger one at the weekend if possible.

When would it be safe for the final render? Considering the fact that it's got 50mm thermal blanket and 3" of vermicrete.

Stevo

[turkey]

that vermecrete will have a lot of moisture in it itself, if we have good weather it should dry out in a week or two at a guess. if you pull a crispy chunk off and break it open you will find the vermiculite inside holding a lot of water.

I think the only reason you can see the overhang is actually due to the sheer nature of the side walls and the recessed shallow dome of the oven, if the tops of the walls went over the dome more to make a arched top it would probably be less pronounced.

+1 to the idea of having tools hanging under there, you cannot have enough storage so using this for tools, or clothes or the welding gauntlets you should get yourself to save arm hair when stoking the fire

[stevo]

Had a cheeky wee drying fire at the weekend and decided to chuck a pizza in just to check...

Pizza was brilliant!

I then decided to see if it was any good at retaining the heat now the blanket and vermicrete was on... I don't have a proper door yet so i stole an idea i saw someone else do and i bricked up the opening. 14 hours later and it's still warm, not usable heat but warm, and that was just from a small fire.

Well impressed and very very chuffed doesn't cover how i felt!

I'm going to get a move on with the final render this coming weekend and i can finally sit down, relax and look at the oven through the rain soaked window...


Cheers
Stevo

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