42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

[shuboyje]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

One advantage of a low dome oven is the fact that you can built you soldier the same height as your door. At that point tying the two together at the top is as simple as bevel ing the angles to match.

On the flip side I would not personally consider 18" to be a low dome oven, and using my method would not work well due to the taller door.

Just thought I would chime is since I have built two low dome ovens and can give a good amount Of guidance on them that others cannot.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Blockwork begins The entire structure includes the pizza oven base, an adjacent fireplace, a inserted gas grill, with side counters and small fridge, and a pony wall for seating.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Great to have a three day weekend to kick off this project. In addition to remembering and being thankful for the men and women who serve and have served, I am making decent progress on my project!
An observation on elevation. My 6 inch foundation is 4 inches above the patio pavers, 5 courses of blocks will be (about) 40 inches high (using mortar), top of the stand 4 inches, Insulation board 2 inches, floor 1.25" for splits and + 2" for tiles
I get 53.25 inches to the cooking floor and 64.75 inches to the top of the arch. I am 6'2" inches tall and prefer not to stoop when I work, however - will this oven be too tall?

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,
Good-looking start to your oven. Final floor height is usually slightly higher than elbow height with your arms hanging straight down and your forearm held parallel to the floor.

I used a plywood dome template rather than an IT. With the template in place, it was easy to butter a brick and push it into place so that the face barely touched the curve of the template. You really only have to use the template every 4th of 5th brick to stay in round.

Looking forward to seeing your build. Where in OC are you?

John

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Hi John
My sons and I made some great progress this weekend.

dvm

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

I am enjoying this project ... and learning a lot as I go. Dan at Backyard Flare drew a series of block by block diagrams for the project. Outdoor Fireplace and Fire Pit Design Plans by Backyard Flare, LLCHe is a good guy who worked up the design from my measurements and responded in a timely manor to my requests for revisions.
Things I have learned so far:
1) Sticky mortar is good mortar
2) Run conduit under the slab to emerge in the cells of desired block (as opposed to installing the first row of block then running conduit horizontal within the structure)
3) This tool is cool. Amazon.com: QLT By MARSHALLTOWN 14739 Rebar Bender: Home Improvement

[brianventura]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

brianventura
I like the simplicity (function!) of the plywood template. Aside from having the bricks touch the wooded guide, was it difficult (necessary?) to determine the angle of the "oven" face of each row of brick - I am trying to understand if the "clamp to the desired angle" feature of the IT is and important feature lost using your method. Forgive me if this is a dumb question - I have not yet placed one brick. (But I will be building my stand this long weekend).

dvm,
I apologize for not getting back to you sooner but I was away. Yes, I determined the arch for the dome by placing bricks on the floor and getting the angle that I needed to cut the board. It may have been a crude method but it worked for me. I'll attach a photo of what I mean. The photo is before I put them on a foam core board to trace the bricks.
Hopefully this is of some help to you.
By the way everything is looking great.

Brianventura

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Brianventura
Thanks for the encouragement, one key to everything looking good - carefully pointing the camera away from the oops and frustrations.

[Neil2]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

"Yes, I determined the arch for the dome by placing bricks on the floor and getting the angle that I needed to cut the board."

Nice. Simple and foolproof.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Discovery:
One can make a poured concrete arched lentil (reinforced with lots of re-bar) over the front of the wood storage. I made the forms out of 3/4 plywood with 2x4 spanning the bottom then covered by a strip of 8 inch metal flashing.
Lesson Learned: if the space between the 2x4 is wide - the result will be scalloping as in the photo: I plan to "clean that up" with the grinder. I also learned that attaching photos is better than inserting them

[deejayoh]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Nice work. I wish I had put in an arch for my lintel. FWIW, I've used the grinder a fair amount to smooth out my work . I think most people use a couple layers of luan for the arch forms. It's a bit stronger than the flashing.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Ok, the forms are in place and ready for us to pour the top of the stand this weekend. Jumping ahead a bit, I cut a wooden template for the oven floor (which will rest inside the walls). Since I am using a FB Pompei kit I have 18 inch square by 2 inch tiles for the cooking floor. I wanted a bit more mass So I first cut 2.5 inch bricks in half to make splits, and now I am cutting the large tiles to fit inside the dome. I decided to place the large tiles on the diagonal to avoid catching my peel on a seam. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the "Rigid" brand 10" tile saw I bought at HD several years ago can just cut these tiles on the diagonal!
So my question is..how do I get from sludge in the tray of the saw to a usable material to be placed under the floor tiles with a notched trowel?

Suggestions welcome

dvm

[deejayoh]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

The sludge will shed any water content pretty quickly when you muck it out of the tray. Scoop it into a bucket, pausing for just a moment to let water drain away from what you mucked out - and you will probably find that you have fairly firm chunks of fire clay. Then just toss an equal volume of sand into the bucket with the fire clay, mix them up with a trowel (or gloved hand) and wa-la, you will have your tile bed - with probably just about the right amount of moisture.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Ahh simple as that! Thanks!

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

I finished cutting the FB floor tiles to fit the floor. In this photo, the wooden template is raised up on blocks (allowing me to mark the underside of the tiles for cutting). I set the entry tiles square, and the oven floor tiles on the diagonal. These will rest on regular fire bricks which I split to 1 1/4 inch thick which will rest on 2 inch ceramic fiber board ... at least that is the plan.
dvm