We drystacked the base yesterday. It was really pretty easy (we also did the cement and rebar per instructions) and then spread on the quikwall. It did crackle a little bit today, though. Maybe we didn’t keep the blocks wet enough? Are the cracks a structural problem, or just aesthetic? Should we put on another layer of SBC?
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Aesthetic. Once your concrete infill cures, you’ve in essence driven concrete pilings down through your wall and tied it solidly to the base at all four corners. The Quikwall holds the blocks in place until the infill cures, and then presents a solid surface for any veneer or paint you will apply. Those superficial cracks will be filled by stucco, mortar, thinset, or whatever else you’ll use to finish the base.
There is a slight chance of weather exposure until you finish it, but I think it’s not worth worrying about.
Nice tint! And if that is going to be your finish (none of the stuff I mentioned above) then for aesthetic reasons you might want to consider a second coat. If you do that, you’ll need to either be exquisitely accurate with matching the first coat tint or plan to do the entire wall again. Here’s where it gets “fun,” because you will need to decide whether the time and materials are worth it to you.
In any case, that wall is tied to the base with rebar and concrete, and it’s going to take your slab, your oven, and the weight of a few pizzas just fine.
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Thanks for the reassurance! We definitely have a lot of quikwall left over - it took less than 2 bags. Maybe we’ll consider redoing the whole base when we’re done. And it sounds as if we can use it for the oven too instead of stucco over the lathe (but maybe we should add the acrylic too?). But spreading it on was definitely easy enough. Very glad we did this instead of mortar!
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I used the acrylic when I used it over the lathe, and have had no cracks or other issues. The only tricky part we had was tinting the different batches equally. It ended up looking splotchy, and we eventually painted everything.
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What color tint did you use there? I have Terra Cotta and buff, but the bottles look identical because the tint is so concentrated. I think I settled on the buff to complement the red clay brick but hard to tell what it will actually look like after mixing and drying.
Thanks
It’s actually the buff, but with quite a lot of color in there! I meant for it to be lighter, but my kid kept emptying the bottle into the bucket.
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Awesome thanks! I’ll try and keep the kids away…
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Hi Bryce and welcome to the BrickWood forum.
Although it’s not an oven base, your project certainly demonstrates that SBC like QuikWall does the job. I hope it’s an inspiration to our builders who are considering this method instead of mortar for their bases, and I really appreciate the photos!
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I used SBC for my oven, and I am extremely pleased with my results. I have a photo diary on the forum here, and you can see the results. Look for “Discenza” in the thread title and you’ll see what I did. It’s lasted almost a year now, and holding up strong. I didn’t bother with tint, since I applied “stacked stone” tiles on the entire base.
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Just a quick note that my quikwall has been bulletproof since building the oven. No issues. No cracks.
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Thanks for the update, Mike! This is good validation for this method.
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I’m having a really hard time finding SBC quikwall. Lowes and home Depot don’t have it. Where do you buy it?
Hi Jeremy and welcome to the BrickWood forum.
Try this link to see where Quikrete products are distributed in your area.
I did look at the local big box stores and they say they are out of stock.
Thanks for this! I’ve been slacking on finishing the aesthetics of the pizza oven with surface bonding cement on the cinderblock base, though we’ve been using the oven almost weekly since we finished before thanksgiving.
Edit. Also to add, I’ll have to agree with Jeremy. Finding surface bonding cement bags was null in the DFW area. I ended up having to order from Home Depot in pail form and have it delivered, which I’m pretty sure was much more expensive than it should have been.
Glad to hear your oven is seeing regular use. I know how much went into building it, and it’s gratifying to enjoy cooking with it after all that labor.
My feeling on the SBC is that QuiKrete makes it available through big box stores, but it’s more of a trades product than a retail item. It’s hard to say about the cost, but in my experience Home Depot doesn’t usually charge a lot more for special order. It’s the delivery that can get expensive, and so I usually have it delivered to the store and pick it up without a delivery charge.
The big box stores usually carry liquid bonding agent in a plastic bottle that can be mixed with regular concrete so that the new stuff bonds to the old stuff. Just search bonding agent for concrete.
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