Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

Hi Michael,

Where is your insulation? Is it recessed into your slab?

Hi guys,
Yes, that is the design we are going for by allen scott.
A lental of 3" angle iron will be used as a suport over the door opening.
We will be adding a brick veneer on the sides and top, with a thermal blanket, then vermi-crete sandwiched as an insulation
We have 4-5" inches of 5:1 vermi-crete over the base
Here is a long shot from my security cam.
Thanks for the kind words.
Michael

[Laurentius]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

We got a few hours in this weekend.
Using Alsey fire bricks purchased in Mandeville, we finished the floor and side walls.
He did fill in the gaps with brick cut at angles.
The slate is fpo, it will be raised level with the floor.
The dome will be finished next weekend.
I quit adding up the money i am spending on this project. Lol
The width is only 28", smaller than what i wanted, but I wanted to fit it on the existing outdoor kitchen.
My mason is working out of town during the week, so i am competing for his time on the weekend with his honey do lists.
Michael

Hi Michael,

Where is your insulation? Is it recessed into your slab?

[texman]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

cfest

Trying to catch up on this oven style. What supports/buttresses that first course in the pic assuming the dome starts there? I found a few links of what i think you are building. Is that it?



Beautiful spot by the way!

Texman

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

We got a few hours in this weekend.
Using Alsey fire bricks purchased in Mandeville, we finished the floor and side walls.
He did fill in the gaps with brick cut at angles.
The slate is fpo, it will be raised level with the floor.
The dome will be finished next weekend.
I quit adding up the money i am spending on this project. Lol
The width is only 28", smaller than what i wanted, but I wanted to fit it on the existing outdoor kitchen.
My mason is working out of town during the week, so i am competing for his time on the weekend with his honey do lists.
Michael

Update, we tore this down and changed the bricks so the oven would have less mass
I was confusing vermicrete insulation with brick mass

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

I think most builders put the blanket on the dome first, and then the vermicrete. The blanket is a much better insulating layer, so put it closest to the heat.

BTW - love your location!

Dee
Thanks for your reply
I was up your way a few times in Gig Harbor.
I will pick up the blanket locally from DI
Glad you like the backyard, it's taken me a long time to get to this point
Have a great weekend
Michael

[deejayoh]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

I think most builders put the blanket on the dome first, and then the vermicrete. The blanket is a much better insulating layer, so put it closest to the heat.

BTW - love your location!

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

We are building the dome this weekend.
Hoping for decent weather.
It seems like I should skip the layer of foil.
Should i also add a ceramic blanket over my vert-crete over the dome?
We are planning 4" on top and 2" on the side of verti-crete
Thanks
Michael

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

You should get up to four, the way you are posting them . I have seen others with five that way. I only get four with the full sized images through photobucket. Also,(for future reference) each emoticon []counts as an image.

Thanks, i was thinking it might have something to do with my post count.
Michael

[Gulf]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

............
Am i allowed just one image per reply?
Michael

You should get up to four, the way you are posting them . I have seen others with five that way. I only get four with the full sized images through photobucket. Also,(for future reference) each emoticon []counts as an image.

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

Hello guys
We spent about 8 hours today on the project.
In one image, you can see Randy has removed a course of bricks in places to accomadate more vermi-crete. He is holding up the 2" thick PA Bluestone Slate which will be the landing.
In the 2nd image, the vermi-crete is being trowled.
The 3rd image shows the blocks we used to increase the depth and the 5" of vermi-crete.
Thanks for the encouragement and advice.
Next week we should complete the floor and 16" tall dome.
Am i allowed just one image per reply?
Michael

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

Welcome to the forum Michael,
You already have some experienced neighbors and mentors on board. You have a beautiful setup there. I am looking forward to your build .

thanks so much,
Michael

[Gulf]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

I feel better about this now
I only want to do it once and right the 1st time.
Pics to be posted Sunday if we have good weather
This is a long shot of my outdoor kitchen.
I entertain a lot at home and at work.
Michael

Welcome to the forum Michael,
You already have some experienced neighbors and mentors on board. You have a beautiful setup there. I am looking forward to your build .

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

It sounds like you have it pretty well in hand, obviously the top heats faster than the walls and floor so 4" won't hurt a bit. The weather cover doesn't matter, so long as it does not let water into the insulation.

I feel better about this now
I only want to do it once and right the 1st time.
Pics to be posted Sunday if we have good weather
This is a long shot of my outdoor kitchen.
I entertain a lot at home and at work.
Michael

[Tscarborough]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

It sounds like you have it pretty well in hand, obviously the top heats faster than the walls and floor so 4" won't hurt a bit. The weather cover doesn't matter, so long as it does not let water into the insulation.

[Crawfish fest]

Re: Building my 1st oven on Tickfaw River in La.

The primary issue is that it is designed as a multiple batch bread oven, meaning it has an extreme amount of mass that has to be heat soaked. Good for daily use, bad for company in an hour or two. Second some of the specific construction details like the suspended slab, and the throat design are just ill advised or poorly executed.

For home use, the ideal is an appropriate amount of mass, well insulated and isolated from the weather cover. For an occasional use oven used to bake 4 or 12 pizzas, the thermal mass optimizes at around 2 inches. For making a big batch, say 30+ pizzas, 4" of thermal mass is better, but you will have to add a lot more heat to get it to Neapolitan temps and maintain them.

Do you really want actual Neapolitan pizza, or is that just a general term to you.

Neapolitan pizza cooks in 90 seconds or less. Pic 1
Neo-Neapolitan pizza cooks in 2-3 minutes. Pic 2
New York style cooks 4-5 minutes. Pic 3
American style cooks 6-12 minutes, Pic 4 (Detroit style is the only kind I cook that long).

My buddy cooked his in less than 3 minutes, the surface temp was 800 degrees.
We wereplanning on 2" on the sides and rear and 4" on top.
Should I reduce the mass on top?
The outer shell over the vermi-crete will be red bricks.
I will most likely be in the 4-12 range 95% of the time.
Thanks so much for the guidance and pics
Michael