Highfield Bread Oven

All moved in.

2011-08-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

Immediately after the final building inspection on tuesday morning a visiting friend and I moved all the equipment which had been living in the basement of my parents house, into the bakery. It certainly is more full now. Feels almost cozy and certainly, and finally useful for making the bread.
a couple pictures (and a movie!):

Trimming up outside

2011-08-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

And the mostly finishing touches on the outside.
There are a few things that I would like to add but they are not required for the building inspection
and I am flat broke and need to get rolling with this whole bread business side of the project.
So, some final outside pix and then on to inspections and licenses and insurance and then
finally, some bread.

The Front

The Back

The Porch (with trash cans)

Insulation, Drywall and Painting.

2011-08-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

I did not take any pictures of the insulation and drywall aspects of this project.
Perhaps this is because these processes are truly miserable.
I managed to come to the insulation phase of this project on what was one of the hottest, most humid days of the year.
Given the itchy unpleasantness of insulation I also wore long sleeves and pants and by the afternoon nearly passed out.
But fear not, all was fine and I finished up the next day and proceeded with the drywall.
Drywall is another miserable task beginning with the hoisting of large heavy panels that break or mar easily
and is followed with the unpleasant task of applying joint compound, sanding and repeating
and repeating.
hot and dusty and disgusting.
at any rate, when it is all done it is time to paint!
So here are those pictures:

The Kitchen. Replete with three-compartment sink.

The Oven, with blue bathroom visible to the left.
Those great tables (and the 3-compartment sink) came from an on line auction
of the equipment from a closed SuperFresh store in Rosedale, MD)

Balcony Rail (will keep me from falling out of the office.)

Siding. (and windows).

2011-08-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

For the long absence, I apologize.
there are many excuses, not the least of which is I have been busy building.
but perhaps more legitimately I have no patience with the slowness of the internet in these parts.
At any rate some pictures.
In this installment siding and windows!

House wrap, like Christo, but for a reason.

Siding. (and windows).

And in Blue!

A Roof

2011-05-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

Finally I have a dry space in which to work. My dad helped me by holding these panels in place while I scrambled up the ladder to secure the tops all around. Then I began to put all the rest of the fasteners but before I could get around to the front a delightful 15 minute thunderstorm whooped up and tore the front panel off the side I had yet to fully fasten. It made a sound like a crack of thunder which is what I thought it was at first. at any rate, if you see some dirt on that front panel, that's why. It ought to wash off with the next rain, which, with the way things have been going of late in Maryland, shouldn't be too long.

A view from the new roof of the incoming storm.

Sheathing

2011-05-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Sheathing is the proces of applying sheets of plywood (or OSB in this case) to the outside walls and roof of a structure. Sheathing doesn't protect a structure from the elements. This is the job of siding and roofing. Sheathing gives the structure strength by tying all of the framing members together. Before the Sheathing was installed when I stood on the loft of the building the whole thing swayed slightly. With the sheathing installed the whole thing is "solid as a rock."

Up next: Siding, Roofing, Windows and Doors!

Framing

2011-05-04T06:14:00.000-07:00

Lots of wood, stacked neatly into pretty repetitive piles and the building has become, as my mom says, "real."

Concrete Block

2011-04-19T18:03:00.001-07:00

The first move vertically is this: a single course of concrete block. Humble, homely, but sturdy and ready to be framed upon.

Plumbing and Concrete

2011-04-14T16:24:00.001-07:00

After the septic was installed and the trenches dug I set about trying my hand at the plumbing. Though i did a job that was apparently "not half bad," not half bad is also not half good as far as the building inspector is concerned and the plumbing was (slightly) reworked by E.T. Kimble et fils of Sudlersville, MD.
That having been completed I prepared the site for concrete by putting down a layer of stone covered in plastic covered in wire mesh. The stone allows moisture an easy path away from the slab and the plastic prevents water vapor from migrating through the slab. This is more of a concern in a finished basement setting where carpet etc. would get moldy although, no one wants moldy bread so i may as well do this right.
I also had to build a form which was a bitch and six halves, primarily because i built it and then it rained and rained again, each time making the ground softer and each time upsetting the delicate balance. then the plumbers came and completely fucked the whole thing up with no delicacy whatsoever.

But finally, after much purgatory, i emerged to today, a beautiful sunny day on which Gillespie and Son, Inc. brought some concrete and Edwin Wright and his son Ebby (and some guy named Gene) finished it to a wonderful smooth finish.
Finally, this project has risen up out of the mud and it is starting to look like a building and starting to make me feel great!
(I have also had a few drinks this evening.)
shiny new concrete.

Septic System

2011-03-31T21:11:00.002-07:00

The septic permit issued after the perc test was done required a 1500 gallon two compartment tank (this is a larger tank than the one for my parents' 3 bathroom house) equipped with a pump which would pump the effluent up to the existing distribution box.

For those unfamiliar with Septic Systems a brief primer.
A Septic System consists of three parts: a tank, a distribution box and a drain field. Effluent from the house (bath water, laundry soap, poopy, etc...) enters the septic tank. in the tank solids settle to the bottom and liquid rises to the top where there is an outlet. The outlet drains via gravity to the distribution box (or D-Box (different than a D-Bag) in the parlance of the trade). The distribution box splits the one input into multiple outputs that lead to the drain field. The drain field is an array of perforated pipes laid on gravel at the permeable layer (that part of the subsoil that water can easily travel through. The liquid effluent (having been separated from its solids) flows through the drain field and gradually seeps into the ground where it is continuously filtered by dirt and other particulates until it reaches ground water. The septic system doesn't so much keep you from dumping sewage into water as much as slows it down considerably.

The system being installed for the bakery differs from this model in two ways. A. it has a two compartment tank (most septic tanks do) this allows for "double separation" and keeps more "shit" (solids) out of the drain field. B. It has a pump. This is because the current D-Box is uphill from where the bakery is located. Typically these things are all gravity fed.

The work is being done by Raymond Harrison and Sons Septic Contractors. The excavator is being operated by a very talented guy named Andrew. It's nice to see someone so good at something you had never considered being good at before. So tuesday the tank was put in, yesterday they laid most of the line to the D-Box and today they finished the line and began work on the inlet side of the box. While they are here they are also excavating the slab and footers for the concrete foundation of the bakery building.
What fun! What a mess!
The trench with pipe being laid in it. (the tank's top is visible in the foreground, Andrew is visible in the middle distance, in the trench)

Backhoe and Oven, together at last.

Stucco: Finish Coat

2011-03-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

I chose Charcoal as the color for the finish coat. And when applied I thought it looked grand, a nice rich dark grey, but, alas, all good things must come to an end and as the stucco dried the color ended up lighter. It still looks good but it is sort of like a slightly darker, bluer shade of portland cement. oh well, it still looks pretty snappy.

Stucco

2011-03-14T09:49:00.001-07:00

Given that I have had some delays with the health department (which I will tell you all about in due time) I needed an outlet for my building enthusiasm and figured it was long past time to finish the exterior of the oven. When last we left the oven it had been surrounded by a steel stud wall and sheathed in concrete backer board. This was functional but pretty hideous and so something had to be done. Given the enormous amount of cement already in this 70 sq.ft. I thought a little more wouldn't hurt and so I decided to finish the oven with stucco which is essentially the same as mortar.
Stucco goes on in two (or three coats) and given that I couldn't find any info on the pros or cons of one or the other I decided to go for the 2 coat. The first coat is called the scratch coat because once it is partially cured you scratch it to ensure good adhesion with the second coat.
The concrete backer board had to be covered with wire lath, a miserably sharp product that helps the stucco adhere to smooth surfaces. I did not cover the concrete block with wire lath, although some do, and at times I wished I had because the concrete block did not grab the wet stucco with much ease. Now that it's up though I am fairly confident that it is not going anywhere anytime soon. Enough talking:
Some rounding of corners on the front of the oven done with left over stucco

Stucco around the back

Wire Lath on the front corner of the oven

Perc Test

2011-02-16T14:49:00.000-08:00

Perc Test is short for Percolation Test, a test of how well (or poorly) water percolates through the soil. Typically this consists of digging a hole to the permeable layer (sandy or gravelly layer) and filing it with water and seeing how quickly it drains. This test was important because it would determine if the existing septic system at this residential property was adequate to serve the bakery as well, or if we would have to upgrade the system. Because the property is in the "critical areas" (within 1000 feet of tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay) if improvements were required it would have necessitated an upgrade to a nitrogen reducing septic system, a very expensive proposition that would have made the bakery project impossible at the current time.

Well, out came the backhoe and the Health Department today to see what was necessary. The backhoe dug down as deep as it could (about 17 feet) where the heavy clay soil of this part of the eastern shore becomes sandier. The Health Department didn't need (or want) to put water in the pit. They just had a look at the soil, thought a bit, and decided that augmentation of the current system was unnecessary. Hallelujah.
What will be necessary is to install a 1500G two compartment tank near the bakery which will be outfitted with a pump that will pump the effluent up to the existing drain field. Not cheap, but not impossible.

In further health department news here is a picture of the Food Service Plan Review Application. Yes sir, that binder full of bs is just an application. Not pictured is the check for the $350 plan review fee. I do love a good bureaucracy.

Up next!: we put in a septic system! excavate a slab! and build a bakery!

Oh Yes, i am building this bakery.

2011-01-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

So apparently the "perhaps longer" to which i referred in the last post meant over 2 years. But fear not, I am back, and the loan for the building of the building has just been approved! I suppose this means the economic downturn is over. And now it's time to give the local economy/government a boost with some much needed and seemingly endless permit fees. stay tuned!

Hiatus

2008-10-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

So you are wondering where I went.
Well as I began to bake for the farmers market I realized to things.
a.) It is very difficult to prepare dough in a basement and then
cart it up a flight of stairs and outside 100 yards to the oven.
b.) The health department is seriously a pain in the butt.

The health department, you see, was ok with me selling bread at the farmers market but nowhere else (and even the farmers market seemed like it was a bit of a struggle)

long story short I need a building around this oven to
a.) make it significantly easier to bake bread. and
b.) make the health department happy.

result:
I have returned to my life of trucking for the winter, possibly longer, in order to make this possible.

Thanks to all the people over the last few weeks who helped to make the farmers market a success.
Keep your eyes out for when the breads return for the summer.

in the mean time check out the trucking blog

A Roof

2008-09-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

I put this roof on, just in time since it rained most of yesterday and the forecast is for this to continue which ought to make baking bread and selling it a joy. I will be at the Farmer's Market in Chestertown on Saturday morning at any rate.

Some tools resting in the shade of the new roof.

BREAD!

2008-09-23T15:13:00.001-07:00

Finally some bread out of this oven!
As you can see, after being properly fired the oven has burnt all of the soot off the walls and ceiling of the oven.
(You might notice that some bricks have fallen from the ceiling, these are the keystones (!) that I made too short) but fortunately i filled the void with concrete which is acting as the keystone. I would be lying if I said this whole thing wasn't taking a few years off my life. Soon when i have a period of time when the oven is not in operation for a while (and thus cool) I will climb in and fill the rest of the void with more high temp concrete.

I made these breads in my basement "workshop" and then carried trays of the baskets (in which they were rising) up and out to the oven. The loaves I made had the same base dough (a 75/25 whole wheat dough) one with soaked mixed grains and one with raisins and walnuts.

In they went, 9 at a time, on the large peel I made, It worked wonderfully. I haven't made tools that are long enough yet to clean out all the way to the back so I put nine in and then 6 more and then two on each side with the small peel that I showed in an earlier post.
Even by the time I got to putting the final loaves in I could see that the first were springing nicely and after about 40 minutes I pulled from the oven these really beautiful loaves.

The Multigrain

The Raisin and Walnut

I don't know if it is brick oven or if it is more the idea of the brick oven but I've never made bread I thought looked nicer than these. and it was delicious. and I suppose that is, of course, because we eat not just food but ideas; and this idea is pretty tasty.

At any rate I took this bread into town and managed to sell it all in a matter of minutes.

Food!

2008-09-23T14:50:00.001-07:00

Even while the oven was still drying out I began to put food in it:
Like this pork shoulder which I slow roasted for 6 hours and then shredded and mixed some BBQ sauce made by a friend of the family from North Carolina. As such the sauce was more a highly spiced and sweetened vinegar than what most of america thinks of as a BBQ sauce (spicy ketchup). It was delicious. The color on the pork skin was pretty awesome.

I catered this small dinner party and as part of the first course I served some flatbread that I threw in the oven while there was a fire roaring in it. It was essentially just a pizza dough stretched out into rough ovals. The hot oven puffed it up and browned it beautifully in a matter of minutes (2 or 3 I would say).

Stud Walls and Insulation

2008-09-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

In order for the oven to work properly it needs a thick layer of insulation and in order to hold this insulation in the oven needs an exterior wall. It can be built from 4" concrete block but by building a steel stud wall with an exterior sheathing of concrete board (like drywall made of concrete) you end up with an extra 4 inches of insulation.
Steel studs are flimsy things until they all get tied together and sheathed with drywall (or concrete board). They are sort of a bitch to work with. i think I prefer wood although steel studs may be "the future of the industry."

In the front I made a little slot to put the temperature readout meter. I also had to build the face up square in order to meet the steel stud walls flush. I also spent this time corbelling the chimney back and in due time I will mortar on a 8" insulated flue pipe which will take the chimney through the roof of the shed that will cover the oven and the adjacent rooms.

The next step was to fill all that space with vermiculite. Vermiculite is a mineral that, when heated, will expand into little puffy worm shaped rice krispie looking things (worms=verm-). It is used most commonly to condition soils. It loosens up heavy clay soils and retains water in sandy soils. Becuase it is so light weight it also makes a great loose fill insulation and is fireproof and so can get hot where it touches the oven cladding without burning up. At first I though 20 bags would do the trick but I ended up needing 5 more and at $18 a bag this was not so cheap.

So now on to the baking!

The First Fire

2008-08-31T06:58:00.001-07:00

After a few days of gentle space heater heat i figured it was time to up the ante and light some small fires to get things going. Very exciting!
My first thoughts were "it works!" but then again I could also light a fire on the ground.
The chimney (stubby as it may yet be) draws the smoke well provided there is no draft across the front of the chimney (more reason for a building asap).

The Curing Begins

2008-08-31T06:35:00.000-07:00

So the curing process takes a while. If you heat up the oven too fast while it is still wet the water can expand explosively and crack the bricks, at least that is what i imagine might happen. For the first 3-4 days I put a little space heater in the oven which warmed up the surface of the bricks and got rid of some of that moisture. In the mean time I set about doing some things that needed to be done.

My dad had been working on a design for the bakery building but we continued to disagree (civilly) and so i decided to design it. It'll be simple, just a building to keep out the weather while I bake bread.

I also have been building some tools to use in the oven. Some of these just consisted of taking short handled tools that I already had and putting long handles on them (usually old shovel handles). but in the case of the peel I made it all from wood I found in the basement.

This peel is for loading bread into the sides of the oven after a larger peel (which I will be making soon) loads bread into the bulk of the oven. They are a bit bulky but sturdy and will no doubt make me strong.

Arch Cladding

2008-08-30T05:18:00.001-07:00

So I had to wait to do this final pour until i could get some help and it seemed to be scarce but eventually i did find some help and managed to pour the top cladding in less than 4 hours. This was the biggest pour yet and was exhausting but then it was done and with it the oven is functionally finished meaning that at this point the dry out procedure begins and the only remaining step is to build a wall around it and fill the void with loose vermiculite as insulation. The oven will work at this point (after curing) just not efficiently. There is of course a lot of "pretty work" to do, unless I want to retain the rustic appeal of concrete block.

The arches covered with foil ready for the pour. The foil breaks the bond between the arches and the cladding so that there is some freedom of movement when heat makes things expand.

The finished arch cladding.

Outside Arch and Chimney (hood) Beginings

2008-08-23T11:43:00.001-07:00

After the wiring I started work on the Outside Arch. This Arch supports the outside wall of the chimney and creates the exterior visual entrance of the oven. pretty awesome. The back wall of the chimney rises from over the doorway to the oven and the sides gradually corbel up (step inwards) until the chimney is at 8"x8" inside dimensions. at that point it will be done until the building is built and then we will add a 8" insulated flue pipe to take it above roof level. A better name for this thing is "hood" rather than 'chimney' since it is outside of the oven and merely provides an escape for the smoke from the fire that isn't the room outside of the arch.

The whole thing is a bit whopperjaw at this point but a.) it is a charmingly amature structure and b.) this can be corrected in successive courses of brick.

Wiring

2008-08-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

Even a low tech thing like this brick fire box needs a little 'lectric these days. (look at all those wires.)

There are 6 temperature probes that help to find out how deeply the heat has penetrated the masonry. Three are in the floor and three are in the dome. They are 1" from the surface, 4" from the surface and abour 10" from the surface (or in the brick, between the brick and concrete cladding, and on the outside of the concrete cladding, respectively).
here's the hole in the oven floor through which the wires will be routed.

The view from inside the oven, probably the last time this view will be possible.

All of these are hooked up to a multiple readout meter that allows me to switch from one reading to another to another. (It's 67 degrees inside that brick!)

The wires are routed through the catacombs underneath the oven for the floor probes and through the (eventual) outer insulation for the dome wires all to the meter which will be mounted to the right of the oven door in a little nook that I will create whenever I get to these decorative (i.e. non-functional) walls.

The Arches

2008-08-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Later in the afternoon, after I had returned the cement mixer from the morning's wall pour, I returned with the wet saw ready to begin the arches. I first cut the bricks that would sit atop the walls and meet the bottoms of the arches and then mortared them into place. While the mortar cured I set about the precise details of constructing the wooden arch form, an arc of plywood that would support the bricks while they were being laid.
That done I attempted my first arch but quickly found the mortar would not be nearly strong enough on its own to support the tapping and pounding necessary to get arch bricks into proper alignment. What I should have done was to mortar the beveled top bricks to the top of the wall when I built the wall and then pour the wall concrete so that it would come up to the bottom of these bricks and catch the outward thrust.
By this point I was tired and frustrated and gave up for the day but just then a friend scott called saying he was willing to come by and give me a hand for and hour or so before dinner and so, when he arrived, We mixed a bit of concrete and poured it around the top of the walls, increasing their height by a few inches and securing the top beveled wall bricks from sliding backward.

The next morning I awoke and in the freshness of my mind realized what I had been doing wrong, acknowledged that I had fixed it, and set about the project again with renewed zeal and before long I had my first arch (it was also my birthday). In the photo you can see the first arch with the arch form, having been removed, sitting atop it.

I carried on and by lunch I had completed most of the arches and after lunch finished the last of them and closed in the dome. The closing in on the corners got a little messy but, since my oven was slightly larger than the plans I had only a few whole bricks left and many offcuts and made do with what I had, the result being thoroughly satisfactory and vaguely cubist.

I returned the wetsaw, a little late, and enjoyed the rest of the day. It was cool dry and breezy (a lovely birthday gift for anyone born in early august) and later had some friends over for a small party a key feature of which was regarding the oven which now most certainly resembled a chamber in which one might someday (soon) bake things.

The next day it was off to Minnesota to cater the wedding of a friend's sister and so the concrete cladding atop the oven would have to wait til my return, just as well since I had not yet received the temperature probes that I would need to embed in the cladding to monitor the heating of my masonry behemoth.

Pictures:
The arches are complete and the row of bricks set against the doorway rises to meet them.

The inside of the closed in front right corner, Braque- esque, if you will.

The interior of the completed chamber.

The oven at the end of a long week.

The Concrete Walls

2008-08-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

I was wishing that I could find some help for some of this concrete work but seeing as most people I know seem to have "jobs" they are not ready available in the steam of a Delmarva morning to mix and pour concrete.

I headed to the hardware store and picked up three 5 gallon buckets and rented the concrete mixer for the 2nd and not final time and then spent the morning shoveling gravel, sand and cement into the mixer (6,4,and 2 shovels respectively) and then dumping the mix into the buckets, then lifting the buckets onto the lip of the oven, then climbing up into the oven, and then lifting the buckets oven the forms and into the oven and dumping them into the void between the brick walls and the OSB forms set up to hold the concrete. After three hours and at least 8 batches of concrete I was finished and thoroughly disgustingly sweaty and gritty. But now I had walls and the next step would be to build the formidable arches.

Forms

2008-08-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Today didn't feel very productive mostly because I spent a long time trying to drill through concrete. I set up the rebar that will reinforce the walls and drilled the holes for the temperature probe wires. (That is why in some pictures you will notice a brick missing from the floor (i am still waiting for the wires via post)).
Then I built the forms that will hold the concrete for the walls. I also built the form for building the arches but I can't build the arches until the walls are poured and to do that I am gonna need some help.

Walls

2008-08-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

And up go the walls!
I built the side walls first.

and then built up the back wall to meet the arched ceiling and built up the entryway.

When I went to take pictures apparently I woke the cat who must be under the impression that i am building him the most lavish lounging spot on earth.

Bricks

2008-08-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from NYC, eager to come and help with the oven before it was completed, came down this weekend. What she got, it seems, was the unenviable task of loading and unloading bricks.
You see I ordered the bricks last Monday and was told that they would be in on Wednesday or Thursday. When I called on Thursday afternoon I was told "oh they'll be in the first of the week." No explanation or apology. So the bricks didn't come until this Monday and Maddie was down for Sunday and Monday and so we spent Monday loading and unloading bricks. The old truck I have is weak in the springs and carting back 150 red bricks and 535 firebricks and a quarter ton of sand (like 2 and half tons) took 4 trips.
We did manage to get the floor of the oven down and it was exciting to finally see a part of the oven that would not be hidden by another part. Indeed the surface upon which the bread will cook!

The Hearth Slab

2008-07-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

So, like I said in the last post think of the oven as a chamber made of brick wrapped in a layer of thick concrete wrapped in a layer of insulation. The brick and concrete layers are what hold the heat from the fire and then radiate it back into the chamber for the bread baking.
The hearth slab is the bottom of this concrete layer and the platform on which the oven itself is built. It is made from a concrete made of the high temp "ciment fondu" mixed with sand and 1/4" crushed rock to make a high temp concrete. It is reinforced and in fact, held up by a grid of 5/8" re-bar. The slab does not extend all the way to the walls but "floats" suspended by the re-bar supported on the outer foundation walls. This construction allows for the oven to expand when heated without cracking the foundation walls.
We built forms from 1x6 lumber that had slots cut out so that it would fit over the re-bar. Here Sarah is cutting out the slots.

Here's the form in place ready for the pour.

We rented a small concrete mixer although I could have used a big one. We would mix up a batch, dump it into a mortar pan and then heave it up and tip the mortar pan into the form, over and over again. It was exhausting.

The next day after the forms were removed I filled the gap with the vermiculite/ cement mixture to prevent junk from falling into it in the meantime.

Insulation Layer

2008-07-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

I was eager to get going now that I finally was in possession of the cement.
The oven can be thought of as a brick chamber surrounded by a thick layer of high temperature concrete and a blanket of lightweight insulation.
The insulation consists primarily of vermiculite. Vermiculite is a mineral that when heated up expands into puffy worm like (thus the "verm-") particles, sort of like rice krispies. It is also used as a soil additive to loosen up clay soils or retain water in sandy ones. Once the oven is complete loose vermiculite is poured over the oven as a loose fill insulation. Beneath the oven it has to adhere to itself and the bottom of the oven and so is mixed with a bit of portland cement (the primary binder in concrete) and poured onto the forms that carrie helped me make last time i did any real work on the oven.
Before the vermiculite is poured 6x6 mesh is put down with some of the struts bent up. The mesh will help to hold the vermiculite layer up. The bent struts will hold fast into the concrete layer above it.
Once the mesh is in place the vermiculite cement layer is poured wall to wall to a depth of about 3 inches.
Sarah (my sister) regards the pour of the first batch of vermiculite as we both realize that this is going to take a while.

Cement!

2008-07-27T07:55:00.001-07:00

Finally, the Calcium Aluminate Cement!
On my way back from finishing my trucking job I stopped by Kerneos in Chesapeake Virginia, importer of Ciment Fondu, a high temp calcium aluminate cement that will make up the bulk of the "thermal mass' of this retained heat oven.
I trucked it up the Delmarva and up the driveway. Finally!

Uggh

2008-07-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

I wish I had more to post here but last week when I called up Lynn at Kerneos (the north American distributor of LaFarge's Ciment Fondu (the high temp cement)) she said that since it was the end of the month they did not have any pallets that they could split(??) and so we must wait, til when I do not know. One of these days we'll get that god damn cement and finish this oven, one of these days.

Calcium Aluminate Cement

2008-06-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Soit appear that after long delay and much searching we have found a source for some gd calcium aluminate cement.
this is a cement that can withstand high temperatures without getting weaker. It has proven to be profoundly difficult to find (at least in quantities less than a pallet (3760 lbs.)) well finally I talked to a nice woman in Chesapeake, Virginia who said if I give her a days notice she could sell me the 14 bags (~1300lbs) that I need. Thank God.
Now I just need to find a friend with a 3/4 ton pick up who wants to take an all expenses paid trip tidewater Virgnia.
Any takers?

Preparing for the Hearth Slab

2008-05-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

This weekend, with the help of some friends, I got done a few of the things that needed doing before the hearth slab (the platform for the actual chamber of the oven) could be poured.
My friend Carrie from Philly was down, as was my sister and her friend Jordan, who I had picked up in Athens, Ohio on my way back from Laredo. It was also the weekend of the Chestertown Tea Party so somehow we managed to get this done between bouts of drinking.
Two things needed to be done. 1.) The top course of the foundation needed to be filled with concrete creating a stronger monolithic "bond beam" to help support the weight of the oven (which is suspended around the perimeter on Rebar (will make sense in the next posting)). 2.) Wooden forms needed to made to support the insulation and hearth slabs (which will be poured next time I am home.)
The concrete mixing went quickly with all those hands but we were a bit short so Carrie and I ran up to the Lowe's in Middletown and bought a few more bags and the wood for the forms. We also picked up a bag of manure for my mom. (happy birthday!)
Here are the pictures:
Jordan, Sarah and Carrie fill the bond beam while I stand around and watch.

The wood forms in place.

We're so happy.

Foundation!

2008-04-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I spent a lot of time in the very warm sun laying blocks for the foundation of the oven. It's nice to see something rising up out of the ground at last!
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:
Here is my dad and the piles of blocks. He helped with the layout and then more on the second day laying blocks.

Here you get a good view, from the back of the slab and the piles of blocks and the ovens relation to the other buildings on the property

At the end of work the first day (it was just me and it was hot so I got the corners built up and the lintel over the ashpit.)

The cat was not much help but enjoyed lounging on the cool concrete blocks

The (almost) finished foundation. The top course doesn't have any mortar yet because some of the blocks still need cutting (see next picture).

This picture shows the internal support for the slab (which is not connected to the outer foundation and will eventually be filled with concrete and have rebar sticking up out of it and into the slab.) and the outer foundation. The top course of blocks have cutouts to hold rebar and the top will be filled with concrete to make a strong monolithic bond beam that will support the hearth on rebar, all will make sense later)

The Second Pour

2007-12-31T16:40:00.000-08:00

So the day after christmas, bright and early, my body working on a good head cold, the Concrete Man came again.
He rolled up the driveway looked at the sight and then decided to head back down the driveway and back up. This is harrowing, if you know the driveway and the general size of a cement truck.
He unfolded the spout and pulled a few levers and lumpy wet concrete began to plop grotesquely into the pit like so much elephant dung. My dad and I hoed it into place and The Man helped out with a shovel. Eventually it was full, overfull really, and The Man and I screeded it into place, that is we took a 2x4 and layed it atop the edges of the frame and sawed it back and forth while pulling it from one end to the other. This pushed the larger aggregate (gravel) down and pulled the more liquidy components to the top leaving a smooth surface. The man pulled up onto the driveway where he cleaned out the truck (leaving us a nice patch of concrete) while I used a small float (a hand tool that is basically a 5"x12" piece of sheet metal with a handle) to make the edges, that is, the only part that will not be under more block and brick, even smoother. As we cleaned off the tools it began to drizzle so we put a piece of heavy duty plastic over the fresh slab. This had the unfortunate effect of leaving a strange lined finish on the slab from the creases in the plastic. Oh well. I will include pictures when I am home next.

The first pour

2007-12-22T11:50:00.000-08:00

For some reason when the people came to pour the concrete for the foundation they brought not quite enough. i think this is because the trenches (the part of the excavation that extends down 24") ended up being deeper and wider than anticipated. So right now we have a below grade slab but they will come back and pour more until it is just above grade.
You can also see in the above picture what a mess has been made of the lawn already. It is beginning to feel like a construction zone.

Today My dad and I built the frame for pouring the remainder of the concrete out of old 2"x6"s and set up the 6x6 reinforcing mesh on top of bits of broken brick. I think this slab will be ridiculously strong since the frost walls are 6" deeper than they have to be and the slab itslef is going to be something like 10" thick. Which is good because there is going to be a whole lot of brick on top of it.

Foundation Plans

2007-12-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

My father is an architect or, more specifically, a Preservation Consultant and Architectural Historian. He is doing a little side work for someone who has a backhoe and they have worked out a trade. My dad will do this work for him and he will excavate the remainder of the trenches for the foundation slabs. I should also make it clear that my dad is building a shed concurrently with this oven project so this guy is going to take care of the excavation of both sites which are approximately 20 feet apart.

Perhaps you are thinking "but Mark, you already dug up the sod" Yes but while the general thickness of the slab will be about 6" of steel reinforced concrete, the perimeter must extend down below the frost line to prevent the thing from heaving. In this neck of the woods that means 24" which isn't too bad. (in colder climates it can be 4 feet or more.) I tried to do it by hand but after about 14" the clay soil was so tightly packed (and still relatively dry from the summer and fall drought) that it was too difficult.

So this guy is going to come in, dig out the trenches and then we're going to get the concrete folks to come by and pour in the concrete and this same guy is going to finish the concrete (make it smooth). What a bargain!

All that is scheduled to happen on the 10th.

I also contacted Alan Scott today to procure plans for building the oven. Once I get paid, he gets paid and I get some plans.
Check out his website if you want to see what these things look like.
Also see Bohemian Bread's site, a baker in Vermont who publishes a lot of very useful information including pictures of the construction of his own oven.

The building will progress in stages. The Schedule looks more or less like this:
December: Pour Foundation Slab
January: Build foundation walls
February: Pour Hearth Slab
March: Lay bricks for Hearth floor and walls
April: Build vault of oven ceiling.
May: Build exterior walls and pour cladding (the thick layer of refactory concrete that retains the heat)
June: Fill with insulation and cap
July: Finish work (exterior decorative brick etc..)
August: I should have me a bread oven!

What thishere blog is all about:

2007-11-16T15:05:00.001-08:00

So I am trucking, as you may know from reading my other blog, in order to make money to pay off the misery of credit card and student loan debt and to make money to build a brick oven which will be the base for my bread baking business. This blog will be a chronicle of the building of that oven and bakery and business. Mostly there will be a lot of pictures of holes in the ground and bricks and concrete and big messes but hopefuly there will be pictures of friends and hard work and, at the end, fire and beautiful breads.
Today was a good day. Today the ground was broken. This had been put off for a long time because it had been so dry and the dirt was like concrete, not appreciating the fact that we wanted to dig it up and cover it with concrete. In the last weeks there have been a few good rains and so today my dad and I marked out the spot for the bakery building and the oven. and I removed the sod from the area where the slab for the oven will be poured. The oven will be a direct fired "Alan Scott" style Roman or Black oven with a 4'x6' hearth. Essentially the way these ovens work is you light a fire in them and let it burn for a long time and then remove all the coals and ash. At this point a great ammount of heat has been stored in the brick and concrete mass of the oven and it is with that retained heat that you can bake bread for many hours. Alan Scott is a guy from California who studied and improved the design of these ovens and builds them for people but also sells plans on his website
http://www.ovencrafters.net
Here are some pictures from todays work. (sod is Heavy. especially when it is full of recent rain and largely clay, as the dirt around here is.

The sod half dug up

the sod is gone!

my dad wanted me to take this sod and build a little berm to keep water from going down the hill in this area. He is peculiar like this.