Welcome to the Octagon... Should I switch to a square?

[nyydmb12]

Hi All, I was hoping someone could take a look at my highly technical drawing I made in some software you may have heard of, Microsoft Paint.

I'm planning the foundation and the block stand of my to be built 36 inch cooking surface pizza oven.
The shape of the foundation is an octagon with 31 inch sides
The block stand will have four sides measuring 24 inches each attached to the foundation via rebar and concrete cores
Under the hearth flat iron will run from each leg to the adjacent leg.

Does that sound like it would be stable?
I couldn't acquire angled cinder block, and I I'm hesitant to cut them at an angle and disrupt the cores and trying to get everything lined up.

Why an octagon? I've been doing a lot of landscaping and digging with my shovel and wheel barrel in some harsh clay, and I'm tired, I thought my foundation was wide enough, and now I'm trying to maximize my foot print.

[david s]

A 36” internal diameter oven will be a squeeze on that octagonal platform, depending on the thickness of the inner dome and insulation layers. Usually brick domes are 4” thick and cast domes 2”. You don’t want to find that insulating over your dome will leave you insufficient room on your supporting slab to be able to render the outer shell.

Also, the footprint of most ovens requires extra room to accomodate the flue gallery and outer decorative arch. Some room can be saved by pushing the gallery inside the perimeter of the dome and making the gallery very shallow. My own design has a square footprint but even with these design features is slightly (by around 2”) longer than it is wide.

[nyydmb12]

A 36” internal diameter oven will be a squeeze on that octagonal platform, depending on the thickness of the inner dome and insulation layers. Usually brick domes are 4” thick and cast domes 2”. You don’t want to find that insulating over your dome will leave you insufficient room on your supporting slab to be able to render the outer shell.

Also, the footprint of most ovens requires extra room to accomodate the flue gallery and outer decorative arch. Some room can be saved by pushing the gallery inside the perimeter of the dome and making the gallery very shallow. My own design has a square footprint but even with these design features is slightly (by around 2”) longer than it is wide.

Good Point I forgot to add that for the hearth, I was going to introduce a bit of an overhang to get back some real-estate. So Without the overhang the inner plat form is 57 inches.
36 inch cooking surface
+ 9 inch for fire brick dome
+ 4 inches insulation (Half fiber/ half vermiculite and Portland)
+ 4 inches finish material
= 53 inches for the dome with room for error.

[MarkJerling]

Hi All, I was hoping someone could take a look at my highly technical drawing I made in some software you may have heard of, Microsoft Paint.

I'm planning the foundation and the block stand of my to be built 36 inch cooking surface pizza oven.
The shape of the foundation is an octagon with 31 inch sides
The block stand will have four sides measuring 24 inches each attached to the foundation via rebar and concrete cores
Under the hearth flat iron will run from each leg to the adjacent leg.

Does that sound like it would be stable?
I couldn't acquire angled cinder block, and I I'm hesitant to cut them at an angle and disrupt the cores and trying to get everything lined up.

Why an octagon? I've been doing a lot of landscaping and digging with my shovel and wheel barrel in some harsh clay, and I'm tired, I thought my foundation was wide enough, and now I'm trying to maximize my foot print.

Welcome! While an octagon can work, I think you should consider that while your oven floor is round, your oven may project more in the direction of the door arch. As such, a elongated octagon may work better.

Kind regards,
Mark

[nyydmb12]

Thanks for the replies, I guess my main concern is the cinder block legs only being 24 inches wide and not connected. Do you think that would be stable?

[david s]

Thanks for the replies, I guess my main concern is the cinder block legs only being 24 inches wide and not connected. Do you think that would be stable?

Provided you have decent foundations under the piers. You can also reduce the span between the piers by counter-levering the slab more, which places the weight more directly over the piers.

[JRPizza]

I think the octagon can look nice and had contemplated building my oven on a round base till I decided a corner build was better suited for the spot I had picked. For reference here are a couple of pics of a friends oven built on a round base with a projection for the oven entry. This was the first WFO I saw up close and inspired us to build ours

[nyydmb12]

Nice! looks great! Smaller block like that might be easier to work with for these shapes instead of cinder block.

[JRPizza]

Here's a different shot that better shows the whole oven.

[MarkJerling]

Thanks for the replies, I guess my main concern is the cinder block legs only being 24 inches wide and not connected. Do you think that would be stable?

It can be stable, assuming you have steel in the foundation coming up into the concrete blocks and from there, steel tying into the top slab.