4) Building the Hearth

Building the Hearth & Insulation

Started the hearth build for this I used Horticultural Medium Grade Perlite mixed with cement 4:1. I found a bargain because I bought 100 Litre Bags of perlite for £13 a bag (£8 in Homebase for 10L bag).

So the objective was to create a lightweight insulated base. Apparently 1 inch of PERLITE mixed with cement is equivalent to 10 inches of standard poured concrete !!!.
Here the hearth void was 10cm depth so quite a bit to fill!

People recommend to mix the perlite by hand but I did a bit of both. I used 3 x00 Litre bags of perlite & 2x25kg bags of cement - I was quite surprised at the amount of materials it took, but if its true about the insulation qualities then I should have equivalent of 40 inches of concrete insulation with a fraction of the weight.

To show how light it was I could lift a full wheel barrow of mix up to the 90cm height of the hearth to pour.... try doing that with a full barrow of concrete.

 The perlite is quite a strange material, its naturally occurring non-toxic, natural volcanic rock which is heated to a high temperature (1500c) to produce a lightweight micro-porous granules.

 As its quite granular it took quite a lot of levelling...... managed to get it level-ish which is as good as I get!

Then for the fire-insulation board - I made sure this was level so the bricks could be placed on top without any mortar. Rationale for this is if a brick cracks it can be easily replaced - we will see!

 Marked out a 86cm circle to show interior of the oven dome.

 Placed the firebricks on top of the insulation board. Looking closely I may have to grind the hearth level to ensure no edges are cough by utensils during cooking.

 Marked out the Ovens dome dimensions. I've used a staggered pattern... people say that you should use a 'herringbone - diagonal' pattern but I really couldn't be bothered cutting loads of firebricks.

 Looks level.... ish!

Now started to cut the limestone flags that will make the mantle & ledge around the dome.
Its key that this is on level with the top of the firebrick with a good mortar bed.
The bricks indicate where the opening of the oven will be.

The flags are 60x60cm Blueblack Limestone which are the same as the patio.
I estimate I'll need 6 if I don't have any 'mishaps' in cutting.

Flags now mortared in - levelled them slightly forward to make sure the rain runs away from the oven.

Canopy come in handy to protect from our lovely spring/summer/winter weather!

3) Building up the Base continues

Building the base

Dominic having a rest!

Building up the outer brick of the base.

Placing of the stone lintel. By the square and on the level ......

More bricks.....

Final outer brick height - 9 bricks high.
Placed the lintel in position.

Closeup of  Stone lintel,

All ready now for the  fire brick hearth.
Base dimensions:
159cm x 159cm Square
90cm high

Look closely to see a Fox on the shed roof!

2) Building the Base

Starting the build - Building the base

Day one of my Wood Fired Oven build & the materials arrive :

• 300 Bricks 73mm Royal Mixture
• 30 Concrete blocks
• 50 Special Blue Bullnose 65mm
• 8 pressed conc lintels 1200mm x 100mm
• Building Sans & Cement

Setting out to find a good location for the WFO.

There was some deliberation as to where it should go...... in the end decided to move to other side of the garden as a focal point.

First course of concrete blocks - managed to rope in some free labour, never too young to start!
 

As Expected, it started to rain...... it is Leeds

Level ish.......Managed to get the block work for the base done & the 8 lintels in (realised I need more lintels!)

The next day (when it stopped raining) I had a dry run setting out the bricks. I should have enough!

Looks like the base is big enough...... :-}

Aerial view of the garden.

I've also found a decent bit of stone to use as a lintel - just needs chopping down slightly & squaring up!
Not going to take any weight just decorative!
 

Started laying the first course of bricks.
 

View of Gledhow Hall from our attic window.... Roundhay in distance.

Painting of Gledhow Hall as painted by the William Turner  - You can just see Gledhow hall in top centre o fmy foto & painting.

Managed to lay a few more bricks.....and purchased 4 more lintels.... 1:3 mix Building sand & cement.

 

1) Wood Fired Oven Project - The Desgn

My Wood fired Pompeii oven project web blog.

So I've finally decided to have a crack at building a WFO after much deliberation & debate with my missus!

Below is a design I knocked up after looking on the web for designs (hand drawn)

Plan View