My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

[dhs]

Hi everyone, I figured it was time to post about my own project after being inspired by so many others on here. My oven is a low pizza oven. I have a good amount of metal work experience but little to none in masonry. Because of this, my entranceway and landing are out of steel as will be the chimney flue.

Here are some pics of the progress so far:

[Tscarborough]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

It looks good. I like that metal entry, very sharp. I would caution you that you should remove the excess mortar from the faces of the brick that will lie in mortar joints. Scrape it off and make every effort to keep those areas clean, as the old mortar will impede bonding.

[fxpose]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

If they sold inner arches like that there will a lot fewer headaches. Also adds a nice commercial touch to the oven.
Very nice metal work and the rest of your project so far!

George

[dhs]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

Tscarborough thanks for the tip. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done for that row. I am not too worried about that joint but may have troubles where the slurry mix was used to fill the 2nd and 3 rows of bricks. I knew ideally I should have done this all in one fell swoop but decided to divide it up. I only partially (1/2 to 3/4) filled the mortar joints on those rows. the idea being that when I went back and put the planned overall mortar over the top it would bond together as one mass. Live and learn.

thanks guys. I am very excited to fire it up in the coming months.

[Tscarborough]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

I don't mean the mortar on the outside, I mean the surface that will have more brick laid to them. It won't be an issue anyway, it is just best practice for laying masonry.

[shuboyje]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

What is your plan to buttress your multi-brick soldier? Insulating concrete with rebar? I wrapped my soldier in stainless cable anchored to a metal door frame, but it doesn't seem that would work for you.

[dhs]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

Shuboyje, I could easily fit a strapping or a cable around the base row of bricks for the dome. There is space behind the entranceway plate for this. In my mind this would constrain outward movement of the dome and I believe allow the soldier course to only support downward pressure. What do you think? Up to now I had not really addressed this concern. Thanks for bringing it up.

[shuboyje]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

In my mind the mortar joints at the weak spot, so if the oven is going to fail from outward thrust that is gonna be where. That was the reason for my original post...you have multiple mortar joints in the soldier to contend with. It seems like the easiest way to do it would be insulating concrete, which is what you can see in the 81 inch build in the commercial section, but in my mind metal seems sturdier then the brittle vermicrete.

[dhs]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

I agree, the horizontal mortar joints in the soldier course look to be a weak point with any side motion from the dome forcing them 'out'. I believe the whole soldier course is pretty weak in that direction relying on the mortar strength (which is pretty strong though, no?)

I needed to have the joint in the soldier course to get the internal wall height I was looking for. I believe your idea of strapping to contrain the spreading for the dome is a very good and worthwhile addition. I am not sold on the necesisty of reinforcing the entire soldier course. I'll have to ponder this for a bit. Thanks for your input.

[shuboyje]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

I think you are right. A single band around your beveled top brick should support the horizontal load. Not sure what I was thinking before. Just out of curiosity what are the dimensions and shape of your dome?

[lwood]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

Hi dhs, I'm also curious about your dimensions. I have what I consider a low dome oven and wondering what you consider "low dome". What is the oven inside diameter and dome height, if you don't mind me asking. BTW great steel work, that's on my next oven.

[dhs]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

Here are the dimensions I went with. (numbers are rounded)

43" diameter, 16" dome height, 10" door opening height.

Dome shape is probably better shown when I finish the dome from the interior but I would describe it as an even arch in the center (best I could eyeball, sand is supporting the dome) with a steeper transition area out near the walls.

thanks for the input guys

[dhs]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

btw - what about the dimensions of your low dome ovens? Similar? Being my first oven I am looking forward to finding out how it performs and have fingers crossed it will kick butt on pizza.

[MetalHead]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

Ok been out for a while. I like this style oven. Are there other examples here and how well are they cooking/venting?

[dhs]

Re: My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

I can't speak to the performance but my dimensions are from observations of pics and videos of artisan made Naples pizza ovens. I feel I have the shape pretty close but there is a pretty big x factor of uknowns.

FWIW - The internal height to door height ratio is very close to the ideal .63 mentioned many times here. What I found interesting, and I don't know if anyone else has made this connection yet here, the height of the door and the soldier course height are very similar. That takes a lot of the mystery out of it for me.

PS - the door height being right near the soldier course height - From an ease of construction standpoint, this 'coincidence' makes a huge amount of sense.