Should rebar or steel poke thru foundation

[Breven]

Re: Should rebar or steel poke thru foundation

Dino...

If you are at all worried, a horizontal course of binder blocks and rebar is also easily do-able. I ran one right in the middle...again, could be over-kill, but I'm pretty confident that when the next earthquake hits, if we could all squeeze into the oven- it would be the safest place.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Should rebar or steel poke thru foundation

Brevin, the binder block is a great idea. I saw them at Home Depot when I picked up the regular stuff so I'll run a course in the middle too.

I've checked out your web-album and your oven and kitchen area looks great! While I've got your attention, I've got another question:
-I've noticed your cement mixer in your pix. I'm only pouring for an approx. 6'x6' oven base and I'm looking at about 27 bags of cement. If 2 of us are mixing in the machine and pouring it into the footings and floor, do I have to RUSH to pour the cement so it does not dry while I'm mixing another bag to pour into it? Do I have to worry about it setting up in my footings/slab while I'm doing it or does the mixing in between not take that long?

Also, how's your cooking height? It looks like 4 blocks high and 10" of concrete and insulation then your 2.5" oven floor. Is that right? Seems a good height.

I feel the closer I get to building this the stupider my questions get.

Thanks, Dino

[Breven]

Re: Should rebar or steel poke thru foundation

That's really funny Dino. This project has been a lot of "firsts" for me too and thank god we have this forum to ask those questions...I've asked a ton and it's made the build do-able for a complete novice like me.

As for the mixer...you can see, I poured all the various peices in sections. The actual oven foundation was one pour...and no, there wasn't a whole lot of rushing. With two people it worked really well. My dad helped me. He mixed a couple of bags in the mixer and while I was dumping it, he was working on mixing the next couple of bags. The system went really fast. I started dumping the concrete at one end, taking time to jam my shovel into it to break up any air pockets. When I got to the top, I drug a board over it as I went along. Just kept dumping and screeding as I went along filling to the top of the forms. Really easy.

I think you have my height just right. I'm 6' tall and the height is great.