Dome Construction

The Dome:  This part of the project was the most exciting part.  Engineer in me was doing all kinds of mental vector analysis and visualizing the finished product.  Prior to starting, it was time for another trip to HomeDepot.  Either to rent or buy a wet saw.  Rental is around $50 per day and purchasing option starts around $90 and goes all the way up to $700.  Decided to purchase the low end model instead of renting.

Choose a open box unknown brand.  Someone had returned the saw after using it.  I guess one can call that a free rental.  Store manager ended up giving me 40% off. 

Assembled the saw and did a trial cut.  Worked well, however I would not recommend the low end models for tile work as it is not very precise.  But for bricks it is perfect.  The blade is 7 inch after one pass the brick had to be flipped over to cut the brick in half.  Picture 7 above shows cut bricks laying in a circle. 

There are a few methods of making the dome.  With a sand form, foam form or free style.  Since I am novice, I decided on the foam form.  Sand would certainly be more precise, but it is limiting in cleaning up the inside of the dome as the mortar is applied to the bricks.



Picture 8

Picture 9






For the dome construction I used the refractory cement mix purchased from the same brick yard where I purchased the firebricks.  I bought a 50lb bag but ran out half way and had to finish the job with pre-mixed refractory cement (3 gallons) purchased at Manards.   

After the first layer of brick was put down, I cut the foam to make the dome form (Picture 9).  At this point I stopped with the dome and started working on the entry arch.

Picture 10

For the arch, I made the form with remaining foam.  Picture 10 shows the form and the dry fit.

Picture 11

I had to make 45 degree cuts on the four vertical bricks (Picture 11).  A bit of a challenge but was able to make clean cuts with the help of wet say, chisel, hammer and an angular grinder.  Initially I had decided to not make a chimney hole in the arch, but as I got comfortable with cutting and laying the bricks decided to create an opening any way.  Once the arch was complete, it was time to get back to building the dome.

Note:  the height of the oven opening should be 63% of the internal dome height. 



Picture 12

Picture 13



 Picture 12 and 13 shows the chimney and the dome under construction.  At this point, I decided to start the first fire by burning the Chicago Tribune Sunday newspaper. 

Picture 14

As picture 14 shows, I have not sealed the area between the arch and the dome.  I just wanted to start the fire.  But it also served another purpose, curing the refractory cement purchased from Menards (the yellow sticky cement).

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