Permsteading.com

Lolly, is it cellulose blown in or fiberglass blown in? If it's fiberglass, it might be of some good. If it's cellulose, I don't know, I've never played with any of that. Oddmar did have good luck with making insulated chimney with cellulose, so maybe?

I'm pretty sure it's cellulose. Most of it has been shoved into large garbage bags, and there is undoubtedly some plaster mixed in with it. (I hired someone else to clean it up) I might put the bags into the garage until the weather breaks and I can take it to the farm and play outside with gooey stuff.

I am glad you have a good supply of clay for your stove project from the County's work on your ditch. Will you try and dam up the water , or dig a deeper hold at one spot for your irrigation project? Is there actually much flow of water through your ditch?

Welcome, alex52e. I think it's by volume. 1:1. At least that's how I built mine. Also see Colin's tiny bell RMH thread where he gets pretty explicit about his mix. I've read that vermiculite adds strength to the mix while perlite weakens it, but I can't say from experience. I don't think you'll want to use the gardening sources. Find a brick or fireplace shop that will have it specifically fire fire insulation purposes. You might even try the big box hardware stores. The vermiculite I used was extremely fine black material that also very light weight and says zonolite on the label.

Yep, by volume. I don't have much experience with vermiculite, but either will work. I do actually use Perlite from the garden supply places. I've bought both masonry grade and horticultural grade and both worked just fine. Those little bags at the box store will get expensive quickly. If you have a grow shop near you they will sell perlite in large bags. You can also ask at whatever masonry place you source your fire clay, they can probably special order it in for you.

Matt, thanks again for the answers. I haven't looked for a masonry source yet. I was just getting a rough estimate on cost and using lowe's online to get them. When I actually begin sourcing materials I'll be sure to check around for a masonry place. Living in the hills of WV (read backwoods), I'm sure they are around.

The Home Depot site has the large bags of perlite.

What is everyone's experience with dry time. I cast my core yesterday. But its been 24 hours and it doesn't seem dry enough to start a fire yet. How long are folks waiting? Is it good to wait longer or is burning it the only thing that will set it?