42" corner build, Devon

[Baldywills]

Nice work, ensure the dome sits on the CaSi and not the hearth which would act as heat sink. What are you plans under the CaSi? Do you have weep holes in the hearth? The current recommended practice is to lay spaced out ceramic tiles with weep holes as the base layer under the CaSi.Yes, elbow height is a good rule of thumb.

Cheers Utah,

I must admit I am not planning on doing any of those things you say.

The dome will start on top of a soldier course, so will be using the entire height of the bricks on the outside of the CaSi board and oven floor. I had done this previously with my first oven and didn't get any water issues.

By using the bricks on the outside of the oven floor and CaSi board also allows me to effectively 'seal' the board inside so there is no chance of it becoming waterlogged. I do have plans of a few week holes through the concrete but wasn't going to lay ceramic tile just a bed of light sand for the board to sit on.

To complete the picture I will also be putting a roof over the entire oven so there should be no water ingress. - well that's the plan.

All the best

Gary

[UtahBeehiver]

Nice work, ensure the dome sits on the CaSi and not the hearth which would act as heat sink. What are you plans under the CaSi? Do you have weep holes in the hearth? The current recommended practice is to lay spaced out ceramic tiles with weep holes as the base layer under the CaSi.Yes, elbow height is a good rule of thumb.

[Baldywills]

Am going to starting bringing together the oven floor so started yesterday with the calcium Silicate board. I picked up a special deal on 'seconds' of these 40mm boards, as you can see I have cut two circles which I will lay on top of each other giving me 80mm under cooking floor insulation. I do have enough spare blocks (gazillions of em) to put another layer of insulation on but don't want to raise the oven floor too much. The floor height is currently just a little higher than my elbow and I am sure I have seen somewhere the recommended height is elbow height.

I will use some more of the calsil boards to surround the BBQ but apart from that I have a few spare. If anyone is in Devon (UK) give me a shout if you need calsil boards.

Have to go and work on my beehives this morning but hoping to sort out and cut the bricks for the oven floor this afternoon - in the sun. ☀️

Gary

[Baldywills]

Have managed to do a little bit of brickwork over the last couple of days but am hoping that I should be able to get started on the oven floor over the next few days.

My concrete worktop is fine as a base but unfortunately it was not up to being ground and polished as it isn't hard enough. Lesson learnt for next time (when I do the bar). So this time around I am going to have to reattach the formwork and lay another specialised 30-40mm layer of hard concrete which I can then polish.

onwards and upwards.

[Baldywills]

Finished taking the forms off today and had a little tidy up. Will wait a little while before building the dome but have plenty of brickwork to do in the meantime

[Baldywills]

Cheers David, good idea to use a larger machine, I shall keep an eye out to see if I can hire one or buy and resell. I am not too bothered about the mess a wet grinder will make as the area is going to go through a lot of change anyway and the current floor is roughly laid concrete. I don't really want to get someone in to grind and polish the worktop for me as I do want to complete the project myself.

Looking forward to taking the forms off later today and seeing how the sink 'drops' in. Fingers crossed I got the measurements correct.

[david s]

I’m not sure about your budget for the project, but the polishing of the concrete top might be best left to someone with experience. The larger the machine the easier the process. I’ve done several small jobs, mainly cast decorative arches which I use my 100mm wet polisher for, but for larger areas you’ll need a larger machine. The largest job I’ve done, seeded fro the top like yours, was a 2m2 counter top which I hired a larger dry polisher with a vacuum system attachment.(far less messy than a wet machine).

[Baldywills]

And some of the completed slab

[Baldywills]

Some more pictures of the form and concrete pour

[Baldywills]

Hi All,

Thought I would commit my build into a thread with pics. This is my second build so hoping to do it quicker and better than my last one which went ok. Certainly making some major changes to the way I am setting up the oven, mainly because I have more space and resources this time around.

The setting is a pool area which had a bit of unused land at one end full of gravel (next to a pool, why would you?) so I have laid a concrete base over the whole area with a view to it being paved but with the obvious addition of an outdoor oven, BBQ and bar. All of this to be covered, due to the nature of the British Weather, by a roof.

The pizza oven will be a 42" Pompeii corner build with polished concrete worktop to the left and to the right with a sink fitted to the right hand worktop. To the right of that will be a BBQ. The blockwork will be covered with reclaimed local Torquay red brick to give it an 'aged' look.

The slab is 10cm thick and as I have a surplus of calsil board I will ensure I use enough under the oven floor bricks. Thankfully I have a huge petrol powered water-cooled brick saw for when I get going on the brick work. Last time out I used a 9" angle grinder to cut all of the bricks and I am grateful not to have had any accidents with it! I figured with the large brick saw (which cost £450 plus I had to drive an 8 hour round trip to collect) it was worth it for safety reasons, and also I am 100% sure I can sell it at the end of my build for the same as what I paid for it. Quids in!!

I plan on polishing the concrete worktops but have also seeded them with different coloured glass particles. This is new to me but I did some trials with the process a few years ago and having bought all of the kit it is about time I used it in anger.

I have just finished the concrete pour so now I can take stock, tidy the area and prep the next stage which will mainly be brick based and post some pictures on this and the UK site.

So far I am very happy with the progress and how it's looking. I am particularly happy with how my formwork ended up as my previous build was a bit crap and very Heath Robinson.

Cheers. Gary