Painting - The Fire Brick D130 Instruction Booklet

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Painting

10. Painting
PAINTING THE FLUE GALLERY
The PreCast Flue Gallery comes in the kit in a plain cast finish, which is a light grey colour. You can leave it in
this finish if you want a more natural look, or coat it with high temp paint which sets it off against the bricks.
Make sure the oven is fully cured before you paint the flue gallery, to avoid blistering when the oven is fired.
There are a range of high temperature paints available, however there are very few colours to choose from.
We have tested almost all the available high temp paints and the best performing paint we found was PPG
Temptec 328, which we have available as an optional extra in spray cans coloured satin black.
Mask off the edges of the brick work with masking tape and paper. Ensure the surface is clean and free from
dust, wipe the surfaces down with a solvent such as mineral turps or paint thinners to remove any traces of oil
and allow to sit for one hour before painting. Apply the paint in several light coats leaving at least 30 minutes
between coats and allow to dry for at least 12 hours prior to firing the oven again. Please note that while you
can spray paint the flue gallery before you install it and touch it up later, we recommend that you wait until it's
installed and cured with the oven, to minimise the chances of blistering in your coating. There is plenty of paint
in the can, keep the remainder - if you get any small blisters these can be sanded back and resprayed.
ACRYLIC ROLL-ON RENDER
Once you have cured your oven, you need to apply at least two coats of Acrylic 'Roll-On' Render over your Perlite
layer, as the perlite render is very porous and will absorb almost all of the rain that falls on it.
Acrylic Roll-On Render is essentially a thick, elastomeric paint with a fine aggregate similar to sand mixed
through it for texture. This creates a stretchy water resistant membrane over the dome of the oven. There is a
5L tub of this render included in your kit in pure white. You could have this tinted to a different colour at your
local paint store, or coat the dome in white and use another roll-on render coating over the top.
Wait until the oven is completely cured and dry before you put it on, or you will get bubbles forming in the
acrylic layer from escaping steam. This means doing the full 7 days of curing and at least four major firings.
Wait for a day of good weather with no chance of rain to apply the first coat, nice and thick, allowing at least 12
hours for it to set before applying the second coat. The key is to make sure that the roll-on render doesn't get
even slightly wet for a minimum 48 hours after the last coat is applied. Any rain or dew on the roll-on in the first
48 hours can cause serious issues. Use a normal paint roller or brush to apply the roll-on render.
You're not limited to just leaving the oven in a rendered finish – you could cover the dome with tiles, slate, river
pebbles or even another layer of bricks. What you do from here is up to you! Once you've driven all the water
out of your oven, the render will only get mildly warm from being fired, so there are a wide range of materials
you could cover the dome with. Get creative!