Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

[jamey777]

Hello everyone!

I am a potential future pompeii owner :-)

I am in Florida, and the shipping is too prohibitive to have a Cucina stand shipped out, but I know a good local welder who could easily build one. Some questions:

1) Can it handle the weight of the 36" Pompeii? (assuming the welder uses good quality metal, I would assume you can put a few tons on it)

2) I currently have a brick paver patio, its on top of typical packed earth, hasn't shifted in the 5 years I have had it. Do I need to pull up bricks and pour a slab or can I put the stand right on the pavers? Another option is to pour a half slab and have the oven half on / half off the pavers.

I will be doing the outdoor kitchen using extruded aluminum and hardy backing as the local builders tend to do here.

Once I get pricing from some local masons (I can handle a lot of it but don't want to build the actual oven) I will know whether I am going to build a pompeii or ship the 32 inch pre-fab from California.

It's a shame they don't have a warehouse in the eastern part of the country, since it looks like I can hire a mason to build a larger pompeii for me cheaper than shipping a prefab from CA.

Thanks,

Jamey
St Augustine FL

[nissanneill]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Hi jamey and welcome aboard.
Yes, freight can be a killer as I have found on numerous occasions. I don't know where they get their pricing from but it is scary!!!!
Why not look at local suppliers and build your own, much cheaper and much more satisfying to have done it yourself.
Putting it on a base that will be movable - good idea especially if you move and want yo take it with you.
A 36" Pompeii will consume around 250-300 bricks and if you design your stand frame with good insulation board rather than cement and vermiculite, should come in at around 1000lbs. A good wide perimeter base will handle that load easily but if you have it on 4 legs, well I would put a better foundation under the legs, maybe lift out a few bricks, drill/dig some holes, taper them out at the bottom and concrete fill them.
Good luck and enjoy.

Cheers.

Neill

[jamey777]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

The stand doesnt' need to be mobile because I will be building it in to a kitchen. It was just my way of doing a little less work and having less weight on the pavers.

It would be much easier to put some footers in (they sell them premade at the hardware stores) than to pour a slab. Need to take into account the height difference.

Thanks for the input!

[dmun]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

It would be much easier to put some footers in (they sell them premade at the hardware stores)

Do you have a link or a picture on this? A ready made footer is not a concept I've run into before.

[fxpose]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Erecting a block wall stand would probably cost you less and will not involve much work incorporating into your kitchen setup.

[jamey777]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Dmun, no picture but essentially they are precast footers for decks or columns of outdoor covered roofs. I would assume that would work.

FXpose, I am in general trying to avoid pouring a slab since I already have the paver patio. I am pretty sure I can get the stand for a very good price as my best friends dad probably will only let me pay for materials.

If it doesn't work out I will end up doing a slab & concrete block setup.

Jamey

[eprante]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Jamey,
Build the oven yourself. I never laid a brick before doing my oven. The foundation slab and oven stand I would contract out if I ever do it again but the oven is a very satisfying task- and all of your friends will be really impressed
Eric

[Tman1]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Jamey/Dmun,

Are the concrete footers your referring to 'deck blocks'? I searched Bing and came up with few images but still a newbie.

[jamey777]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Jamey,
Build the oven yourself. I never laid a brick before doing my oven. The foundation slab and oven stand I would contract out if I ever do it again but the oven is a very satisfying task- and all of your friends will be really impressed
Eric

Ok, going to follow the wisdom of the forums and do cinder block. Its interesting that I feel like I could build that part fine but not the arch/doorway bit on the actual oven. Its interesting that you found the reverse to be true.

Was it just the physical labor or what?

I outsourced my paver patios to brazilians and to watch them get it done in one day when it would have taken me a week was just as satisfying as if I could say I did it myself. :-)

Jamey

[dmun]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Are the concrete footers your referring to 'deck blocks'?

I've looked these up, they are 45 pounds, the weight of 3/4 of a bag of sakcrete. They are designed to sit on the lawn to support decks. I can see why they don't sell them around here: they wouldn't begin to meet code. Maybe you could support a deck with them in warm climates, but an oven?

Consider me skeptical.

[fxpose]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

I don't think they meet code in my region either. The last time I built a deck I used something very similar but I had to set them by partially burying them above poured concrete footings at least 16"x16" square and something like 36" deep for each pier, but of course I set each pier further apart.

[Tman1]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Well, the deck block and it's ability is a moot point (even though I think it would work just fine) since Jamey decided to go with a block foundation.

Stacking concrete block will be very simple as many others can attest to rather than dealing with 'the block' and having to make measurements and cuts. A little trick that I heard about was to put a piece of tar paper in between the concrete blocks to stop 'walking' (block on block can have a little slide to it). Probably won't be much, but tar paper scrap can be easy to find.

[jamey777]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Trying to steer towards the wisdom of the crowd here, will be doing a concrete block build for the stand, thanks for the advice guys.

Now my remaining question is this: Is is ok to build on top of the pavers or should I go ahead and pour the slab?

I will just assume safer to pour the slab.

The local 'yard at a time' company can deliver yards or portions of yards, and for about $200 I can pull home a ready to go load of concrete and use my wheelbarrell to pour it in the forms. Costs more than bags but everyone I know says there is no other way to do it if you care about your back :-)

The instructions specify 5 1/2 inch slab to build on, is there a particular engineering reason for this? Locally (Florida) everyone does the 4 inch slabs when building houses etc.

Thanks again for all the help.

Jamey

[Tman1]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Here in MN slabs are done with 4" thick with a little more depth on the sides. Technically, all the weight is bearing on the sides (somebody built one on 3 round posts). With little chance of real freezing (at least nowhere near MN standards) I can't see why you would need deeper. The block 'stand' itself is engineering overkill, but it is simple to do.

[splatgirl]

Re: Considering a Pompeii, would the Cucina stand work?

Florida has notoriously bad soil conditions...sinkholes, anyone? And while I suspect the pompeii stand instructions have been written with best guess engineering for worst case, I think it's ridiculous to try and save $50 on a foundation slab by pouring 4" instead of 5.5 or 6" when your entire structure depends on its soundness.

As important as the concrete thickness is the rebar schedule.