New Oven started

[Jed]

Hello fella's!

This project is several months in the planning and finally the weather is warm enough to get started on a new oven in our back yard.... (we are in Bend, OR elevation 3,500 feet).

The intention is a 36" Pompeii Oven. The start point is a strip footing (below the local frost line) with the dry stack CMU base. Local supplier was selling 'seconds' with a colored, 'split face' CMU. I was planning to stucco the base, but like I the CMU well enough to keep it as is. I will fill the cells with concrete tomorrow.

Hope to have the hearth in place by the weekend.

Thanks to James for providing this great resource for this growing subculture - WFO's.

JED

[Barberque boy]

Re: New Oven started

Welcome neighbor, I've been on hold myself on the other side of Mt Hood waiting for it to get above freezing. I finally got the hearth poured today. Interesting layout on the block, more work area when your finished?

[jengineer]

Re: New Oven started

Nice start, keep the photos coming. There is a wealth of information in past posts and with members on this board. Feel free to ask questions and then carefully weigh the myriad of answers. Listen closely to Dmun for construction and Canuck Jim for bread cooking techniques - of course that right there was a biased opinion...

[Jed]

Re: New Oven started

BBQ Boy,

The base is wider at the front to make room for some counter space, and then narrower in the back, just big enough to house the oven, insulation and exterior walls.

Off to fill the cells with heavy wet concrete!

Jed

[dbhansen]

Re: New Oven started

Those are interesting/cool blocks. It almost looks like you cut away the inside to make room for rebar.

[mfiore]

Re: New Oven started

Jed. That is a very cool block stand! Looking forward to the rest of the oven!

[james]

Re: New Oven started

I like that. Great shape -- I am guessing that is for a big, wide landing. What a good idea.
James

[mfiore]

Re: New Oven started

Jed, tell me more about your footing (that is the part I've been agonizing over the most). Is it poured concrete or did you put in block? How deep is it? Do you plan to put down a slab for the wood storage floor? Any photos of the footing?

[gjbingham]

Re: New Oven started

Jed,
Welcome. Very nice start! Very cool base for the oven.

Go skiing for me at Batchelor. I can't seem to make it down there.

Say hi to Ellie-May!

[Jed]

Re: New Oven started

About the footing,

This is a strip footing about 12 - 14 inches wide, and about 10 inches deep. The bottom of the footing is about 13 inches below grade. That is deep enough to keep the structure below the frost line in our area. Two runs of #4 rebar (half inch stuff) about 3 or 4 inches from the top of the concrete. Vertical rebar where ever I felt like putting them.... At the corners, and no more than 32" in- between vertical's.

I decided not to build forms for the concrete, and just dig a hole... And then the 2 x 4 boards in the pictures are temporary supports to hold the rebar in place while the concrete is put in place and cures.

There are 24 lineal feet of footing, and I mixed 59 each, pf the 60 pound bags of Quikrete premix cement to fill in the hole.... Might be a little bit of over kill... and this quantity of cement was certainly over my planned quantity... by 20%.

I won't install a slab for the wood but will leave the area under the WFO as a gravel surface.

Thanks for the comments, hope this isn't to much information!

Jed

[Jed]

Re: New Oven started

I like that. Great shape -- I am guessing that is for a big, wide landing. What a good idea.
James

Yes James,

The idea is to have a 'normal' landing in front of the oven, so I can still reach the food in the oven! and then create a good bit of work space, lean - on - space, set a glass of wine space, to the left and right of the glory hole.

I start with the form work for the hearth tomorrow and hope to include overhangs on the left and right ( and a couple inches in the front).

See you,

Jed

[Jed]

Re: New Oven started

Those are interesting/cool blocks. It almost looks like you cut away the inside to make room for rebar.

Hi db,

I am used to calling these block 'split face'. That gives the rough texture. And these are a colored concrete, so these are a brown block. I am real pleased with the way they are working and looking in our yard.

And then at the very top block I did cut out part of the block between every cell. This is to make space for the two runs of #4 rebar, and the cement. The finished structure is a 'bond beam' and goes a long way to add strength at that point in the structure.

The attached photo shows a closer image of part of the wall ready for concrete.

Jed

[mfiore]

Re: New Oven started

Jed, when you poured your footing into the trenches, how did you level it without framing it? I'm at this point in my build, except 48 inches deep.

[Jed]

Re: New Oven started

Jed, when you poured your footing into the trenches, how did you level it without framing it? I'm at this point in my build, except 48 inches deep.

What I 'did' didn't work very well... I ended up with over an inch difference in elevation from the high to the low point in this pour. In part because I did all of the work solo (mixing, wheel barrow to the footing, place, level...) and it took long enough I was running out of energy, and did not have enough time to work at leveling; And in part because I did not have enough reference points in the trench.

These are the reference points that I did have.. In two corners of the footing I had over dug the hole, so installed wooden forms on one side of the trench in these two corners. The forms became the reference for the one end of the footing. At the other end of the footing I installed wooden stakes, one in each corner, and left them in place as the concrete was poured. They are buried in concrete, and small points, so should not have any impact on the system strength. But they gave me an elevation to work to at this end of the foundation. In the attached picture, the slender white stake in the middle of the image, next to the rebar.

If I had it to do again, I would install some kind of a lateral board along the outside edge of the footing to use as a reference. It would not need to be continuous, but enough that you could use a straight edge to run between two points to give a level edge to work to.

Anyway, at the next step of the build, I used one bag of mortar mix to set the first course of CMU level on top of the footing. Although the top of my footing is over an inch out of level, the top of my CMU is level. And then again, if the top of the CMU had been a little bit out of level, you can set the hearth a little thick on one edge, so the top of the hearth can be set level. A couple of opportunities to correct any out of level condition at the foundation.

Hope this helps...

JED

[Dutchoven]

Re: New Oven started

Many opportunities to get level...the last one is the most important...the hearth slab...makes it soooo much easier setting those floor bricks
Good luck!!!!
Dutch