We are back in Georgia now but seven years ago we moved to Pittsburgh to take care of my aging father. We had to leave our cherished wood burning clay oven behind, hopefully though, to be enjoyed by the new owners of our house - Building a clay wood-fired oven. I knew I needed to build one in Pittsburgh. So...
I got a slab was poured in early summer and I worked on it off and on in no hurry which I regret now (November 10) because I am at a difficult point in the build with the weather getting colder. I only have the thermal layer built for the dome and it isn't drying well. I'm afraid when the temp gets below freeing at night the residual water in the clay will freeze and then thaw during he day and repeat the cycle over and over and possibly weaken the structure of the dome and have a collapse. I already screwed up the arch over the opening by rushing things. Today I put burlap soaked in clay slip over the dome hoping it will help prevent cracks. I watched a video of a guy doin this. It sounded logical. I hope it helps.
The pad has been poured and here I am playing with the basic layout and form. The oven will be on the left above and the opening on the right will be for wood storage -
You can always use a volunteer or two to help!
Building the supports for the oven
Empty glass bottles covered with a mix of cement and perlite
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| Did a sloppy job on the arch. It didn't fit the way I wanted it to and had to force things together. I'll try to fix it and to a little face lifting later. |
I bought an inexpensive little space heater to use to blow warm air into the oven to help dry it out because the weather has been damp and the temp in the low 40's.
Well..... SHIT!!!
