PNW 36” WFO with Pizza shed and Pavilion build

[Andrew Martin]

I’ve been slowing picking away at getting my “pizza shed” built so I can work on the WFO build undercover. I have the walls up, siding on, metal roof on and now forming up for the insulated concrete pour. I bought a new 10‘ wet saw for cutting firebricks for this project and future tile and stone projects.

[Andrew Martin]

A couple more progress photos

[Chris.s]

Looking great, can't wait to see more of this

[Andrew Martin]

We mocked up the forms a week ago Friday and I pondered them while having my coffee Saturday morning... After 4 shots of expresso I realized I’d made the round form for the insulated p-crete pad a bit too large. Easy fix as my form material is plastic garden edging (ripped down to 4”) that cuts nicely with a sharp utility knife. Perhaps I overstepped my “serf” status by adding a cavity in the center for 1” firebrick but I’d read that having a little more mass in the center of the floor could be beneficial for baking breads. And my sweet wife is definitely planning to bake bread with her sourdough posse! The P-Crete was mixed 5:1, perlite to mortar and the forms were filled with 6 cubic feet of perlite and about 3/4 of a 90 lbs bag of mortar. We covered the entire form with 6 mil poly to slow the curing process in the summer heat. We returned to this project on Friday, stripped the forms, sprinkled some ground fire clay into the center cavity and laid the 1” bricks in to test fit then recovered with the 6 mil poly. Also note I added 4 rebar pins into the structural concrete base projecting up into the insulated base and added steel wire to p-crete form for attaching the wire mesh that will cover the ceramic blanket insulation later.

[Andrew Martin]

Made some actual oven progress this week but not as much as we’d hoped. Distractions like digging up a 3 foot deep septic system and acquiring, moving and properly storing over 800’ of 1/2”x 12” wide old growth Western Red Cedar paneling consumed most of our week. The cedar paneling will line the 3 inside walls of the “pizza shed” and close off one of the now open sides of the pavilion for privacy. On Friday we laid out the herringbone pattern of fire bricks for the oven floor, marked our outside circle to show where to cut bricks, numbered them for reference and set them back in place. Then we cut the first standing course of half bricks and stood them up around the 36” inner circle. We ended up with a 1/2” gap in the circle so we closed the gap by moving all the half bricks inward slightly. With this “field adjustment” the inside diameter of the oven will be roughly 35-1/2”. Tomorrow we are planning to mix the fire clay and sand paste for bedding and leveling the oven floor bricks.

[JRPizza]

Nice start. Go Huskies!

[SableSprings]

Looking fabulous Andrew! (+ one on the Go Huskies!). One suggestion on your layout. It's very nice to build in a reveal for your oven entry (most consider it a necessity...). Making that little 1" lip around the opening allows you to tightly close the oven with the fire door...really nice when you want to retain heat or do longer term baking/roasting.

I'll be interested in how you like that thicker section in the middle of the cooking floor. It will be a cooler spot during shorter firings and present you with two different floor temps when baking or having pizza. I have put a lot of bread through my oven with just a single firebrick thickness on the cooking floor and not sure if I'd like to have to work around a cooler or hotter middle section. But if you're only baking a couple loaves, then having choices will be a wonderful option. My angle is that I load the oven with 8-10 loaves each batch and having to "hit" the right spot would make my load limit smaller each time...but that's me...

Watching your progress with much interest. Keep posting those pics!

[Andrew Martin]

I appreciate the input particularly about the additional mass of the 1” fire brick under the standard oven floor bricks. I cast the space for those additional bricks in the insulated base a 1/4” larger than the bricks themselves and set them in fire clay with the idea that I could remove them if they were dysfunctional in my real world use. It might be a challenge reach in the oven door to pull up and the remove the floor bricks to get to them and replace with ceramic insulation board but I liked the idea for big batches of bread!
I do intend to have a release on my oven entry. It seems mandatory to my way of thinking. Thanks again for your consideration and comments. (Alex is starting his second year at the U-Dub soon and recently had his preferred major, Aeronautical Engineering confirmed!)


QUOTE=SableSprings;n428181]Looking fabulous Andrew! (+ one on the Go Huskies!). One suggestion on your layout. It's very nice to build in a reveal for your oven entry (most consider it a necessity...). Making that little 1" lip around the opening allows you to tightly close the oven with the fire door...really nice when you want to retain heat or do longer term baking/roasting.

I'll be interested in how you like that thicker section in the middle of the cooking floor. It will be a cooler spot during shorter firings and present you with two different floor temps when baking or having pizza. I have put a lot of bread through my oven with just a single firebrick thickness on the cooking floor and not sure if I'd like to have to work around a cooler or hotter middle section. But if you're only baking a couple loaves, then having choices will be a wonderful option. My angle is that I load the oven with 8-10 loaves each batch and having to "hit" the right spot would make my load limit smaller each time...but that's me...

Watching your progress with much interest. Keep posting those pics![/QUOTE]

[Andrew Martin]

Some progress photos of my 36”oven. My nephew Alex is really starting to enjoy the challenges!

[Andrew Martin]

Working on the oven as much as possible. We began consulting the brick cutting spreadsheet for bevels and miters with some success. Alex has been laying most of the bricks now as there’s only room for one man to work. I’m his “tender” cutting bricks and mixing mortar and I couldn’t be prouder of him.

[Andrew Martin]

Our oven build is progressing as fast as possible considering other distractions and poor air quality/smoke from wildfires. Alex took the day off today but I worked with a heavy mask on to minimize my exposure to dangerous air conditions.

[Neil.B]

Great job and congratulations on closing.
Love the cedar, do you have plans on using any to make a pizza peel?