Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

[azpizzanut]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Hi m1m,

You're welcome.

Cheers,

[BriggsARNP]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Where I am at in Eastern WA the stuff you can get at the contractors supply store is significantly cheaper than the garden store.

[m1mckinlay]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Well, I finally finished the frame tonight. Below are a couple pics.

The frame took longer than I was expecting, but I took extra care to make sure each stud was plumb and level. The frame doesn't look pretty, but it's very rigid and will be rock solid once I add the hardi-board.

Next I'll lay brick around the arch, install the hardi-board and lay the counter. As far as finish work is concerned, I'm planning to do river rock around the base and stucco on top. I haven't figured out yet what kind of roof I'm going to install.

Thanks again for the helpful insights. I can't imagine tackling this project without the FB forum as a resource.

I realize I posted my thread in the wrong section to begin with. Anyone know how I can move it to the right spot and maintain the history?

[brickie in oz]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Anyone know how I can move it to the right spot and maintain the history?

Us mere mortals cant do it, you will have to ask the forum God James to do it.

[azpizzanut]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Hi m1m,

Nice work.

I'm sure you have a few pieces of metal stud left over. There would be some benefit to placing a piece on either side of the vent, diagonally. This will give you another couple of screws in the Hardiboard to firm up the front above the arch.

Cheers,

[m1mckinlay]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Good advice, thanks Bob. You're right, all the screws on the hardiboard on the front would have been on the perimeter, so a couple other studs will help. Luckily I haven't changed the blades on my saws from metal to masonry yet!

[m1mckinlay]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

It's been a busy couple weeks with non-oven stuff, so my oven progress has been slower-than-expected. But over the weekend I (finally!) finished hanging the hardi-board on the oven and rewarded myself by firing it up and making pizzas Sat night. On Sunday AM I tried my hand at a non-pizza meal and cooked some German pancakes. They were awesome!

Like the rest of this project, hanging the hardi-board took about three times longer than expected, but I'm pleased with how it's turned out so far. Below are the latest pics. I put 8 cu/ft of perculite on top of the FB blankets filling a good chunk of the void under the roof.

My next tasks are to tape and mortar the seams, install the vents, install the brick arch and landing counter. I'm then going to install river rock around the base. I've decided I'm going to wait a month or two before installing the roof and stucco'ing the oven enclosure, to be sure the oven works well.

On Saturday I burned through the last of my scrap wood I had lying around, so I ordered a 1/2 cord of maple, ash and walnut that will be here mid-week. I scanned this forum and it appears these are all suitable hardwoods to burn. . . right?

Thanks again for all the advice and insights. This forum has been invaluable.

[larrycooper]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

looks great, how are you finishing the roof? How are you going to cover metal rafters hanging out? Is that just hardi backer over rafters? And how are you installing landing counter? Is it going to extend the landing area? Thanks, Larry

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

m1m

It is looking good. I told my wife about the german pancakes and now she wants to try that if I ever get one built. I am not a huge fan of them like she is but it might be worth trying.

Nice job on the build. I am excited to see the finished product!

[m1mckinlay]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

--(Lack of) Progress Update--

For those of you contemplating or beginning an oven build, be warned: Once the oven becomes operational, ALL construction and finish work on it stops! My oven doesn't have a landing, roof tiles, finish materials, or anything else to make it look pretty - and I haven't even thought about it! - but I've spent just as much time "working on it" as before. My grinder, drill and work gloves have been replaced with pizza peels, IR thermometers and oven mitts. We fire it up 2-3 times per week.

The food is incredible.

I need to get back on the stick and finish it. I'll post more pics once I get back in gear.

Back to the food. . . we let our kids choose their meal of choice at birthday time, and last week my six year-old son insisted on WFO pizza for his birthday meal even though we had fired the oven two days earlier and had leftover pizza the day before! He can't get enough of it. Our favorite is the margherita with tomatoes, lots of basil, olive oil and fresh mozzarella.

Other non-pizza hits have been:

-Chicken piccatia
-Roasted potatoes
-Roasted broccoli
-Roast beef
-Biscotti
-Foccacia
-Puffed oven pancakes
-S'mores dessert pizza (phenomenal, by the way)

I've told my wife that anything her oven can do, mine can do better. But she reminds me that hers looks prettier. For now, she's right.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Ask your beautiful wife if her oven can bake 18 loaves of bread in one batch!

[m1mckinlay]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Well, my efforts on the oven continue to focus on cooking stuff, which means I (still) haven't made much progress finishing the build. My wife convinced me I better get a roof on before the weather turns nasty. Yeah, she's very wise. I'm also wise and follow her advice. So, I have a roof on it now as the pics below show. I also painted the gabled structure, which was a temporary skin aimed at making it look somewhat presentable to the 20 people we hosted for Thanksgiving. More on that later. Otherwise, much still needs to be done.

I found some slate tile in a boneyard at one of the local roofing supply stores and put that up, which turned out to be a cheaper and better looking option than asphalt shingles. I still need to put the eve riser trim on, and will then be done with the roof.

I still need to brick the arch and lay the counter in the next couple weeks, and will then focus on the finish work on the base (river rock), gabled house (stucco) and chimney. That stuff will happen in the spring.

Onto Thanksgiving. We hosted 20 people from out of town (different story) and cooked two turkey breasts in the oven along with green beans and appetizers. I've never cooked a turkey before - and not just in the WFO - so this was unchartered territory. I had told our guests plan B was to move dinner to the China Buffet in case the turkey in the WFO thing didn't turn out. They thought I was kidding.

Anyways, I brined the turkey for 18 hours in an apple cider-based brine and then cooked the breasts on a bed of vegetables in the oven. The oven floor was 700 degrees when it was time to go in, so I mopped the floor to cool it down and then placed the turkeys in pans on baking sheets to insulate the pan a little bit from the heat of the floor. I covered the turkeys with foil, kept a small fire going during cooking and kept the door off. I took off the foil for the last 15 mins and stoked up the fire to brown them.

Now, I'm not a turkey guy, and I don't normally gloat, but allow me to say that this turkey was the best I have tasted. It was incredibly tender, had a great crust and the turkey went faster than the tri-tips we had grilled, which is the family-favorite tried-and-true recipe.

The next day we used the residual heat for puffed oven pancakes, followed by a massive pizza party that night, followed by six loaves of biscotti. It was an awesome Thanksgiving and the oven took center stage. It was a lot of fun.

If only it was finished. . .

[m1mckinlay]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Wow, it?s almost two years since I posted last! Too much building and not enough posting, I suppose. The build is 95% complete now, I just need to install a light and clean up the soffits. Here?s the overview of what I?ve done since my last post.

1. Installed the brick arch using standard bricks (Brick ? River Rock pic).
2. Installed river rock on the base with a brick curb to match the arch (Finished River Rock pic).
3. Prepped the gabled structure for stucco with tar paper and lath ? and hung sign (Stucco Prep pic).
4. Applied the stucco? base coat and finish coat using Quickrete stucco mix (Stucco Complete pic).
5. Poured and polished a concrete counter (Counter pic).
6. Counter installed with a glimpse of the patio too (Counter Installed pic).

To be continued.....

[m1mckinlay]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

.....part II

7. Built and installed a door for the wood enclosure using 2x2 stained wood planks (Door pic).
8. Here?s a better shot of the patio with WFO and tables / chairs (Patio pic).
9. And a few leftover pizzas from one of our weekly parties (Leftovers pic).

[Gulf]

Re: Broke Ground! And Questions. . .

Great looking build M1mckinlay,
The form for the counter must have be fun . The counter, the oven, the food: all look great!

Congratulations.