5) Building the Dome

Building the Dome - Setting out.

Now the base and hearth are in I've started to set out the oven dome.
I decided to go for a precast dome which I bought from EBay from a guy in Derby..

It comes in 5 sections that are bonded together with fire clay. I chose this over building with firebrick due to time, cost & reliability. Although the oven dome is a self supporting structure I wasnt that confident on my brick laying skills, and cutting 200 firebricks in half didnt appeal to me either.

 

The flue....... which doesnt look big enough to me!

Back sections fit quite well.

Top view

Looks quite neat on the inside.....

From the inside of the dome!

Beer bottle test passed !

Setting out the bricks for the front arch - decided on double bull-nose specials in the blue black which matches the limestone flags.

 

I Caculated it'll take 24 half bricks for the bottom course of bricks for the dome.

 

 Setting out the arch - I think i'm going to have to make a few cuts to get the exact curve of the arch.

 

 Placing chimley - the stainless steel chimneyis