Mattone Barile - We suggest using a Sawz-all / Recipicating saw and cut the foam form in a zig-zag motion. It will come out in small chunks, and it will take a bit of elbow-grease, but it should start coming out in large chunks once you get to the middle.
Cortile Barile - Strip all (5) pieces from the foam molds using a handsaw and a chisel (if available). Remove as much foam as possible before assembling.
Mattone Cupola - Try to use a Sawz-all / Recipicating saw to remove as much foam as possible. You may need to use a crowbar or chisel to remove the smaller pieces that don’t want to let-go of the form.
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Rules of Thumb when removing the oven foam forms:
You don’t have to get all the little foam balls that are clinging to your oven / oven components as your curing fires will melt these non-toxic foam balls into oblivion.
You are going to use a lot of Lawn & Leaf bags when capturing all of the removed foam. Make sure you have plenty of bags on-hand before you begin stripping the foam off the forms.
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If you other question is, “Why does the foam have to be so hard in the first place?”, we encourage you to click on the forum post below that covers that topic.
Hello there, and happy father’s day! Was more than happy to spend a couple hours of my father’s day cracking the foam off and out of my cupola. Dunks in the pool between shifts, it’s hard work! 2 quick questions - there are bits of foam that will undoubtedly be left behind. I saw the instructions above that say not to worry about these, and that the fire will take care of them. But surely the foam is made of chemicals that will melt and stay in the oven somewhere, no? Are we really not to be concerned about melted foam bits inside the oven? And my other question involves the chimney, instructions say to use heat resistant adhesive - any more help here? What temperature is safe? There are many silicones that withstand up to 450°, but is that enough? The hot gas is going up the chimney could be as hot as the fire itself I assume so not sure what to use here. Fireplace mortar ok?
The foam will burn away completely while you are doing curing burns. You already know how tenaciously it clings. Because of the second issue you’re asking about (high temperature burns) it will not be an issue by the time you cook. Pretty much any mechanical method you use to get rid of it will cause damage to your oven. This is what BrickWood sells with the DuraTech kit. It withstands the hottest temperatures your chimney will ever see.
Awesome thanks Matt. Feel better about the foam. And try as I may, I searched all the product pages and couldn’t find the high heat sealant. Thanks as always for the direction!
The curing fires will “melt” any additional foam balls that cling / stick to the walls of the oven. The foam is non-toxic so you don’t have to worry about harmful chemicals… and NOTHING will survive the 1000°+ temps that your oven will soon see.
We include a tube of High-Temp Silicone w/ every exhaust kit order, so you shouldn’t need to purchase any. But if you do, as Matt stated, our Xtra Bond High-Temp Silicone is bulletproof! We’ve sold 1000’s of tubes - and we have never received a single complaint about the product.