Long Time No See!

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Apologies for the ridiculously long break from posting on the blog. I wish I had some sort of amazing excuse, like I have been trekking through the rain forests  of Borneo or have been away swimming every river in South America, but alas, I have not! Life has just run away with me, and by life I mean the day job. What can I say apart from sorry to anyone who was expecting this blog to be full of up-to-date, exciting articles relating to the world of clay ovens, pizzas and such like. Well anyway, I’m back (hooray I hear no one shout!).

It’s been a very wet and miserable winter here in southern UK. We have had floods and super high winds which resulted in a 24 hour power cut here at home on Christmas Eve (which was actually quite nice). It’s hardly been clay oven weather. You’ll see that I did some major repairs on my oven last May. I covered the oven up ready for winter in late September this year and I have not had a look since the onset of the dreadful weather. If I’m honest, I’m too scared to uncover it. I noticed a small hole in the top of the tarp, which covers it, this week. I fear the worst. I’ll have a look this weekend (weather pending!) but I know that I should have built a really good roof for it this year, as intended. I just never got around to doing it.

There are some fantastic and elaborate roof designs you can choose from, with many examples on the web (and some here on my site). I was thinking of doing something really simple – like the traditional example shown in the image below. Obviously, one would need to cover the sides during the worse of the winter months but a tarp over the top would do.

Traditional oven and simple roof.

I’d probably extend my chimney out through the top of the roof structure using a commercially available stainless steel chimney pipe.

Here’s a few examples from the Your Ovens section of my blog :

Whatever you choose to do, don’t leave the oven out to the elements, especially if you live in a place where it rains regularly. Learn from my mistakes  – this is what happens.

Don't try this at home!

Don’t try this at home!

If you have any examples you’d like to share, please do so either link to a photo on the comments section (below) or drop me an email and I’ll upload the photos to the blog.

It’s nice to be back!

Speak soon

Simon

6 thoughts on “Long Time No See!”

  1. Hi Mark, How has the lime mortar worked out for you? I’m keen to get going, but I’m not sure I can justify the effort without some sort of weather resilience. Thanks

  2. I too have rain/winter issues with my oven. I live in Pacific Northwest of American and it rains all winter long…if it’s not snowing. No roof on the oven yet but I have multiple tarps and hope it’s enough. It worked OK last winter. I always share your site when friends ask how I built the oven. Thanks loads. Stay safe! GB really HAS had a terrible winter this year.

    • Thanks Jeanette. Yes the rain just doesn’t seem to want to stop this year. Im thinking my next blog will be on the topic, How to Build a Traditional Ark!

      Best of luck

      Simon

  3. Hi. Thanks for all the info on the blog. The book is great and was one of the sources that inspired me to build my own oven. I was wondering if you’ve had any feedback from people who have lime rendered their ovens? After some research and a chat with the (very knowledgeable and friendly) guys at Conserv (http://www.lime-mortars.co.uk) I decided to apply 2 layers of Non Hydraulic Lime render (10mil each inc fibers for strength) and a final finishing layer (6 mil). I’m now waiting for spring before I apply a waterproofing liquid called Namurian Water shield. The guys tell me that this will make the oven weatherproof but breathable to draw out any moisture that builds up inside the oven. I still intend to cover the oven to protect it from the winter rather than put a roof on. We’re in Cheshire so weather isn’t too severe.

    I would love to hear from anyone who has taken the same route to protecting their ovens as any tips are most welcome.

    Thanks
    Mark Lee-Kilgariff

    • Hi Mark. Thanks for the post. I have not used it so can’t comment. Some of the blog visitors might have done though. Anyway, please make sure you let us know how it goes and share a few photos.

      Simon

  4. Hi. Thanks for all info. The book is great and your blog was one of the sources that inspired me to build my own oven. I was wondering if you’ve had any feedback from people who have lime rendered their ovens? After some research and a chat with the (very knowledgeable and friendly) guys at Conserv (http://www.lime-mortars.co.uk) I decided to apply a couple of layers of Non Hydraulic Lime 2 base coat (10mil inc some fibers for strength) and a final finishing layer (6 mil). I’m now waiting till spring to apply a waterproofing liquid called Namurian Watershield. The guys tell me that this will make the oven weather proof, but breathable so that any moisture build up can escape throught the walls. I plan to cover the oven in the worse other Cheshire winter but so far, the oven seems pretty solid.

    I would love to hear from anyone else who had taken this route as any additional tips are always welcome.

    Thanks

    Mark Lee-Kilgariff

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