Ben and Mia's Oven

[SpringJim]

Re: Ben and Mia's Oven

O where O where does the time go...

I was looking for information on this build since the brain cells are challenged!

Nice to have the record here@!

Hope everyone is doing well.
SJ

[SpringJim]

Re: Ben and Mia's Oven

You know Dave, I should probably just go back and get a couple of tons of the recycled concrete sand and gravel mix......$12 plus some portland $30...and it would be about $50 too!

did you mix by hand or have a mixer?

[asudavew]

Re: bag vs redimix

I needed one yard for the hearth pour...

mimimum delivery is for 2 yards

...so I'm looking where I can pour another yard
...to avoid mixing up 40 - 50 bags
...and the Chiro bill!

i bought a sand and gravel mix
and 3 bags of portland cement

my hearth cost about 50 bucks plus 2 hours work.

[SpringJim]

bag vs redimix

I needed one yard for the hearth pour...

mimimum delivery is for 2 yards

...so I'm looking where I can pour another yard
...to avoid mixing up 40 - 50 bags
...and the Chiro bill!

[SpringJim]

Arch form too!

Made my arch form for the oven 20 inches wide, 13 inches high.

What about a rustic brick look?

[SpringJim]

Trial runs....

Laid out the full sized bricks to find out how many I needed. These are the better ones that will be the first course.

[SpringJim]

Playing with bricks

Note the different colors....

used and different bricks from different places

[SpringJim]

The brickyard

Brick soaker

Tile saw (borrowed

[SpringJim]

Building improvements

Took a break to put some wrap on the building and some tarpaper.

....probably helping to hold the wreck together...it's made from recycled pallets

[SpringJim]

Re: Ben and Mia's Oven

Put in the rebar including used rebar from the concrete recycling center (picked up for free)

Also built a frame for the island hearth to go on the slab.

Now thinking about thermocouple tubes.....

[SpringJim]

First Hearth Layer

Framing up the structural hearth layer.

[SpringJim]

Pear shaped BenjaMia Oven

Yes Frances, I did the stand to roughly match the oven. (made sense to me)I'm still working on terminology for this one....ovoid, teardrop, egg, pear... it's really just a slightly stretched dome...42x50 in the planning stage.

Pear might be best as the "stem" will be the entry arch...

And for fun, I'm going to make the same shaped pizza's!

X

...broke down and bought new firebricks for the hearth!

[Frances]

Re: Ben and Mia's Oven

I like the curved walls on the stand. And the arch blocks. Is that curve there for the egg-shaped oven?

[egalecki]

Re: Ben and Mia's Oven

It looks really good. I am very impressed with your inspectors. Tell their mommy to hang on tight- my twins just graduated from high school, and while it's been great, it's also been wild at times!

I am not sure what you mean about the stucco, so I can't help there.

I really like the arch blocks- I've never seen any like that. They'll add a lot to your final design.

[SpringJim]

BenjaMia Teardrop Stand

I'm really happy with the stand...it will be a bit of a challenge with the hearth form but in the end it will work fine. I am thinking about putting the forms on the edge of the blocks and then using that block edge to begin the final stucco when finished. (anybody done that?)

I cut an old steel sign to be my hearth base and took it over to the core edges so I can pour the hearth and fill the cores at the same time. It's supported by a concrete block wall inside. I've got a bunch of used rebar that will be used for the cores and hearth as well as some new rods for the hearth.

The storage arch gives me a 24 inch entry and is in temporarily. I will make it part of the hearth pour and the rebar will entend into the two holes formed by the arch blocks.

I'm looking at an old sawn granite windowsill at the junkyard for the landing....$50 but it might be a nice statement!