Durham NC Pompeii Build

[fremen325]

I have officially started my pizza oven build.

1st step: Get the wood split and drying. Done. (I have a full rack of pear and cherry wood that needs to be split but will do that another day).

2nd step: Do the other things that need to get done before you start. In this case, I am building a patio that abuts the house. I get water seepage into my crawlspace so I trenched out the wall and applied water proofing tar to the foundation wall. Today I will pour drainage gravel against the freshly tarred wall. I need to finish leveling out the patio area and set the posts for the stairs from the deck.

3rd step: Prepare the forms for the oven's slab. The green paint is approximately where the oven will be built. I checked with our building inspections department yesterday and no building permit is required. They did recommend that the oven be at least 10 feet from the house and my plans have it at 13 feet so am good to go!

[NCMan]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

Best of luck w/your build and welcome to the best WFO related Forum on the web!!

[Greenman]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

Welcome. You have obviously done some planning. What are you planning to build, an igloo or doghouse? How big?

You will find plenty of information on the forum and if you ask you will get plenty of quality advice as well.

All the best with your project.

[fremen325]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

Currently, the plan is for an igloo style oven. I was hoping to get the form in place for the slab today but it looks like it is about to rain.

[Greenman]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

I had a temporary cover over my build site and was happy that I did. Kept the project ticking along regardless of the weather.

[fremen325]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

I have made a bit of progress this week/ weekend. I am ready to pour the slab but need to see if it will be easier/cheaper to order up the concrete in a truck or buy it by the bag and rent/buy a mixer. If I do a concrete truck, I will have to get a couple guys to help run wheelbarrows which probably tilts the total cost and hassle towards favoring the 80*50# bags of concrete.

[texman]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

will your oven slab be at the same level as your patio?
wondering about the drainage from roof getting into your wood storage area.

Texman

[fremen325]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

Texman,

Yes, essentially the slab will be at the same level as the patio. I am actually thinking of not having the storage area facing the patio but instead facing away (towards the camera in the pictures above). While we dont have rattlesnakes here, we do have copperheads (I have killed > 10 in the past two years on 2/3 acre site and have gotten tagged by one while clearing the adjacent lot. Not a good thing.) and I dont want to tempt them into thinking the storage area is a good hiding place as I have a 4yo daughter that plays in this area. My thought is to only store my ash bucket under the oven anyways as I have all my wood on racks less than 30 feet away.

[texman]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

several builds have left the oven stand open at both ends for airflow, etc. that could help with the water and snakes. having the wood close and handy is nice, but not that big of a deal since you load the oven and burn. i make a rolling storage to hold the wood and cover the opening that works well and stays out of the way and makes the wood easy to access when i need it.

Texman

[fremen325]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

81 bags of 50# concrete later, I finally got the slab poured. The form bowed a little bit on the side but overall, I pretty happy with the job. I will keep the surface moist for the next day then hopefully remove the form pieces on Saturday.

[texman]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

congrats
Take a rest and a favorite beverage. Nice job and nice setting you have.

Texman

[NCMan]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

freman325......nice progress. I bet you're happy to have that phase completed. Looks good.

[fremen325]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

I made a bit more progress yesterday. I removed the form and finished laying the border for the patio. I will probably have to switch the focus to the patio as my wife is wanting the patio done first.

[fremen325]

Re: Durham NC Pompeii Build

I have continued working on this project off and on for the past few months. I was able to complete the patio and stairs which made the wife happy. Now that she is happy, I was able to turn back to the pizza oven last weekend. I built the block stand and did a practice run on the inside of the block stand (where no one will ever see) using masonry coating with a colorant added. Once I am done, I will do a second coating on the exterior without the colorant as I think that will match the foundation walls on my house.

Next up is the framing for the hearth floor. I was thinking of doing 2 straws in the hearth floor pour for thermocouplers. One for the actual and then a spare hole. For those of you who have done thermocouplers, will I need to plug the hole for the spare? It sounds like they fail frequently which is why I was thinking of putting in a hole for a spare.

[fremen325]

Durham NC Pompeii Build

I have made some progress this month.

1. Structural concrete layer formed and poured.
2. Insulation concrete layer poured (used perlite and portland cement mixture).
3. Cooking floor cut and laid out. I made an error here in that I marked the location of the floor on the insulation concrete slab but then covered my marks with fireclay/sand/water underlay layer. I had to wing-it in placing the floor and was ultimately skewed by about a half inch (1cm) and a few degrees offset. I dont think anyone but me will ever know looking at.