Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

I've been slowly working on the stone veneer for the outdoor kitchen. I'm almost done with it now--just need to do some patchwork on the textured cement board and paint it before I can do the pattern of stonework up the corners.



View from the front. You can see we actually have dirt and plants in the raised garden bed! We have strawberries, spinach, lettuce, brussel sprouts, a couple flowers, yellow pear tomatoes, spearmint, basil, dill, parsley, rosemary, oregano, and cilantro growing. Ainsley declared our trip to the nursery "The best errand ever!"



While I was working on the veneer today, Ainsley brought out her sketchpad and made a poster so that everyone would know this is the Pizza House. Her very creative spelling, translated, is "My House is the Pizza Place. The Pizza Oven." Signed by the artist, of course.



It warms my heart that she loves the pizza oven so much. She attended a birthday party at a kid's instructional kitchen place, where the lesson of the day was pizza. You should have seen her showing her preschool buddies the proper way to toss and shape dough (not quite what the instructors were teaching), and asking if perhaps they had any olive oil instead of sauce, since she likes a quatro frommagio pizza. At the end, as they were all eating the pizzas, the instructors asked all the kids if the pizza was worth two thumbs up. Most of the kids cheered, except mine--who quietly considered and gave it two thumbs down. I quickly made her stop and told her that wasn't polite, but I (and some friends we've invited over for pizza) were holding back our laughter. I've created a five year old pizza snob. ;-)

New baby girl is due on May 20th. I'm in the final stretch and feeling pretty good, but predictably huge and ungainly. I don't think I'll be crawling up to do the roof until after the baby is here and my center of gravity is back to normal.

[exceloven]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Nikki,
Whats up? 1/18....that was the last time you updated us on your build. Time for an update. Did you already go to Italy? I can't remember, is the baby getting close. People need to know!

Mark

[aceves]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Hi Nikki!

Your oven is looking great!! I like the stonework!! Stop by and check out my thread. I have added pics - finally!!!! My design will be similar to yours, but with a sitting area added to the corner install. Keep up the good work!!

aceves

[MAVANO]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Hey Nikki good idea on the pennies roof ,BUT pennies are no longer made out of solid cooper but you could search for older ones don't know the year they stopped making them but I SERIOUSLY think your joking.

[MAVANO]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Hi Nikki it looks like you're doing exactly what I did (except the stone face I wanted to keep costs down) I used cement boards for the whole enclosure and placed the corrugated composite material on the roof screwed it down in the valleys and sealed the screw head with roof (black pitch like) caulking for water proofing , the material for the roof come in 4x6 sheets at Menards in 4 different colors I thought Terra cotta color would be appropriate for your surroundings, BDW it looks awesome good job, I'm sorry I did not take any pict. while working on the enclosure you're doing very well ,be sure to waterproof your cement boards I used a waterproofing mix called SUNNYDAY it comes in a powder form in buckets you mix it with water and add color that is used for coloring concrete I purchased both at Home Depot ,mix it to a consistency for walls and trowel it on any way you like, mix the coloring with the water then add the powder, you be the judge on the amount of the color to add . made any bread yet Bye.

[sarah h]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Oh, to be in Arizona, where it's 76 degrees ...

Nikki, it's looking really good!

Sarah

[Les]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

I bet I could get a lot of friends to donate pennies from their coin jars, too. ;-)

Now you're talking - that gets the price per foot down to around zero! Not to shabby. If you can't get your hands on one of those smashers - you could use a ball peen hammer if you have the patience. That would look pretty damn cool.

Les...

[egalecki]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Looks really good, Nikki. I don't know how you're doing it, but when I do the stone like that, I lay it out in patches on the floor before I put it up on the oven. Still a puzzle, but it takes less time to get it up and wastes less mortar that way.

Are you counting down for your trip yet?

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Hey Mavano--I remember seeing the pictures of your build, but not making particular note of how you did the enclosure at the time because I was still thinking I'd do a dome finish. Do you have any more pictures of the enclosure and roof part of your build? I'd love to pour over them.

My husband and daughter are away for the weekend on an Indian Princesses campout, so I spent some hours working on the stone veneer work on the stand. I'm taking it slowly, but that's mostly because I'm just very slow at this surface work. It's a big puzzle, and I've never been a particular fan of puzzles. Still, it's satisfying, though I wish I could progress a little more quickly. I definitely have many days of work ahead of me. I'd better get cracking before it gets too hot. Highs of 76 today.



Les--I love the idea of pennies! Imagine getting your hands on one of those penny souvenir smusher machines. It would look like itty bitty fishscale shingles. I'm enchanted. I bet I could get a lot of friends to donate pennies from their coin jars, too. ;-)

[MAVANO]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Hello Nikki I did the same exact inclosure My local menards has a 4x8 sheets of corrugated clay tile looking roofing materials I placed them on top of cement board for the roof, by the looks of the corrugated clay tile on the house ,this could be your solution to the roof, btw it look very nice good job.

[carloswlkr]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Nikki, Congrats on your oven! I'm away from my build for a week and going through withdraw syndrome! Love the pictures of your first fire and pizzas. More inspiration to wet my obsession!

I'm still not sure how I'm going to do my enclosure... an igloo / dome, or walled structure. It rains so much here in Costa Rica that I'd probably be safer with walls and a roof, but my wife prefers the look of the igloo. I've still got several weeks of dome left to go before crossing that bridge though!

congrats again!

[Les]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Nikki - there was someone here a while back (redbricknick?) that was talking about using pennies - that puts it around $6.00 / ft. Very affordable, just a pain to install.

Les...

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

I found a company that makes copper plated aluminum shingles for about $350/100sf. Now that's getting affordable. I'll post details as I talk with him and figure out what the cost including all accessories would be. They also make solid copper shingles, but the cost is close to $1200/100sf for those. I'm all about the cheaper option. ;-)

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Hi Nikki, Your pizza pics look wonderful! So does your oven. You've made it look almost easy.
Your copper roof sounds great. I new it would be really pricey. Have you looked into metal roofing? You can paint it copper or patina or possibly just buy it colored I think.
BTW, your pics documenting everything you've done have really helped me so far (like pouring my base and a good idea of what the dome WILL look like).
Thanks, Dino

[mfiore]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

I went to Bianco's on a work related conference once. I agree. The wait was quite enjoyable. We sat outside at a picnic table with some olives, a bottle or two of wine. The wait was a few hours, but it was relaxing. I think it might be tough if I had my kids with me.