Hey Matt,
I have removed the forms for the hearth/firebrick deck area and inlayed the firebrick over the last couple of days. The curved front came out pretty good. I knew I would run into this issue of bubbles in the cement on the vertical surface and spent some time vibrating the form after the pour.
I floated the top pretty well I thought I think it actually looks like bluestone after putting the coloring in. I’m looking for a recommendation to for a lack of better phrase spackle the sides where there are air bubbles. I understand I will need to wet sand this and seal as well.
Thanks,
Dave LaCroix
Branford, CT.
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The curve does look fantastic, and your hearth brick are well laid. I think the front-to-back technique we discussed worked out well for you.
The pits along the side? It’s a tougher issue. You are talking about resurfacing the concrete—which can’t be done with more concrete, because new concrete won’t adhere to the existing cured concrete.
You can use a product like Quikrete Concrete Patch, and spread a thin, uniform layer around the entire vertical surface. It will fill the holes and become water-resistant when dry. The drawback will be that it will not be tinted like the top surface, but looking at your close-up (the last photo) you weren’t going for that anyway. The benefit is that it will take care of the inconsistencies that are unavoidable when you see a cross-section of poured concrete.
Good luck—you’re getting closer!
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Thanks Matt,
I was hoping your were going to tell me to use a portland cement or a stucco mix.
The Qucikrete product sounds interesting though. I did not use the Quickrete liquid colors to tint it. I used a dry powered color mix from Direct Colors. I mixed one cup of dry color with one gallon of water (stir well) to one bag 80lb bag of cement and mixed it up, it seem to work well and the color was consistent throughout the entire pour…
Because the patch mix is pre mixed RTU and Laytex/Acrylic based it may work. I may try a small area on the back of the oven after blending the powder and the mix together. If it dries the mix out a little maybe all the better to make it like joint compound consistency?
Thanks again for being my Pizza Oven Guide!
Dave
If it was the horizontal surface, I’d have you use self-leveling concrete (protecting your hearth of course!), but the vertical surface is a different animal.
Stucco will not stick by itself (because it’s really just mortar, and mortar applied to cured concrete will not adhere). And portland cement is in the same family as one of the components of a dry mix.
Quikrete has a help line: 1-800-282-5828. They could tell you whether those two products would work together, or if they would recommend something different. I think that would be the way to go, rather than purchasing it and trying a test patch.
Hey Matt,
If you would like to share this with you others concerning the air bubbles in concrete if the need arises.
I explained to Quickrete exactly what I was doing, applying a skim coat to a vertical surface that I had colored with the Q5000 mix and sent pictures of the issue.
They recommended 2 of their products:
1.) Vinyl Concrete Patch
2.) Polymer Modified Structural Repair
I selected the the Polymer Modified Structural Repair after reading both specifications. It seem to be the better choice on vertical surfaces like mine and I saw pictures of it being used on a vertical surface.
I’ll let you know how it works out.
Dave
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I had a couple of bags of SBC left over and used it to cover all the exposed concrete vertical and horizontal. Time will tell how well it will hold up.
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