Re: Finished cladding around oven

Posted by Rado (144.134.149.82)

In Reply to: Finished cladding around oven posted by Shawn

Shawn,
Best would be to wait about 10 days after cladding was poured. Cement in concrete cures in 3 days but because heat is involved best is to wait longer for more water slowly gets out, there is lots of water in from mixing the concrete and also water is stored inside stones. There is also chemical water inside that can create steam when slightly higher then water boiling temperature is reached. So after ~10 days drying fires are set inside, flames can get to the ceiling but each fire should last for 15-20 minutes only. After each fire, let the heat to soak through the oven walls. Make even 4-5 water removing fires a day, each assists real well. Watch oven walls if water drops form on them, both on walls inside the oven and also in vent on exhaust. If you water drops slow the process down, just stop fire so the powerful steam inside the material won't create, let the heat travel deep oven cools down a bit then set another short one. These drops are a good monitor/sign, as they start appearing less increase drying firing to 30 minutes, eventually they stop appearing. Necessary is to apply the waiting times between each fire so the heat soaks through and distributes inside the wet walls. r

Re: Finished cladding around oven