Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

[PizzaIdiot]

My poor wife! Little did she know the consequences of me being infected by the WFO bug last fall. She's suffered through too many discussions about what it should be and what it should look like.
The good news is I think I'll be over it in another 6 months. We'll know for sure once the first pizza comes out of the oven. Ground was broken today. Here's some pics.
Forecast is for 90's this week and of course one must work during the days, leaving only the evenings to make progress, so we'll see how it progresses.
After many months of planning, I still don't know what the final shape is going to be. But if I don't break ground, nothing will happen. So let the journey begin!
This site has provide a lot of great info information and I have lived vicariously through the many experiences shared here. I figure I should share mine.

[Pizza Common Sewer]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Congrats! You'll figure out how you want her to look as you go! We are starting our ovens pretty close together. I just got my slab poured this weekend you are not far behind! I will watch your progress as I build my WFO/Kitchen.

Bill

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Thanks Bill. It does sound like we are on similar schedules. Post pictures if you can. I'll never catch up to you! I've got vacation planned at the end of June.
I turn 50 in September and I really want to be able to cook in it by the end of August.
On Tuesday I've got to call the local concrete company and find the minimum amount of concrete I can get delivered. I'm planning a 10' counter too and may have to get that foundation poured at the same time.
I'm looking at a 10'x11' (roughly) pad for the oven and side area (1.7 yd^3) + 3'x10' (0.5 yd^3). I'm ok to wait on the counter, but I'm in the minority!

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

I haven't posted lately but I'm making some progress, albeit slowly, despite the heat.

I've dry stacked the cinder blocks, filled half the cores with rebar and concrete.

My arch form is done. The next step is to finish the forms, put the rebar above the arch and pour the floor/arch.

This oven has gotten expensive. I went to a sale at a local granite dealer and bought a nice piece pf granite (14"x74") for the landing zone. The expensive part was that I also wound up buying almost 60 sq. ft. of granite for the kitchen too!

Jeff

[Aegis]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

I haven't posted lately but I'm making some progress, albeit slowly, despite the heat.

I've dry stacked the cinder blocks, filled half the cores with rebar and concrete.
My arch form is done. The next step is to finish the forms, put the rebar above the arch and pour the floor/arch.

This oven has gotten expensive. I went to a sale at a local granite dealer and bought a nice piece pf granite (14"x74") for the landing zone. The expensive part was that I also wound up buying almost 60 sq. ft. of granite for the kitchen too!

Jeff

Hi Jeff,
You will certainly find out how expensive and time consuming this oven really is when it is done. But worth every drop of sweat! Great start, I like the arch integrated into the stand! I wish I had done that myself. I am now facing a small problrm in that area that I may have figured out. Also beware of how high your hearth will wind up with slab, insulation layer and hearth bricks.
Good Luck and keep us posted!
John

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Thanks aegis!

I'm 6-2 and was initially using the rule of thumb that the oven floor should be about bent elbow height (46"), but thought that might be a tad high for others. I decided 42-44" for the oven floor would work best.

Top of cinderblocks is 34" + 4" concrete floor + 3.5" insulated concrete + 2.25" bricks will put the oven floor at 43.75", so it should be ok.

I planned on using the alumina silicate board (2" thick), but for budgetary reasons, I'm switching to insulated concrete (3 1/2" thick). I've found vermiculite locally, but would prefer perlite. Will use whatever I can find. I read a lot of the discussion on here about which to use. Sounds like perlite might be a little better, but I'd probably never notice a difference for my use (pizza, bread and whatever I can put in cast iron - grin).

With all of these 95+ degree weeks lately, I'm glad I'm not trying to cut and lay bricks! Then again, it'll be just as hot in August!

Jeff

[dmun]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Plan on at least 4" of vermiculite/perlite concrete under your floor, more if you have room. For all practical purposes it really doesn't matter which aggregate you use.

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Thanks for the feedback.

I still have room for a couple more inches. I could go to 5.5 inches (using 2x6s) instead of 3.5. That puts the floor at just under 46", just right for me and I'll build a step stool for the kids if they need it - grin.

How much wider does the insulating concrete need to be than the edge of the walls?

If I use a 45 degree shear line for the brick loading that puts it at 5.5 inches.
I had planned to go 3.5" when it was 3.5" thick.
The concrete floor is 70" wide which leaves plenty of room for the insulating concrete. With a 50" external diameter (using 4x8x2.25 bricks) adding 5.5" to each side still leaves room for the studs and exterior wall.

Jeff

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Step by step...
Form is almost done for the floor.
Then I'll need 40 bags of concrete and a mixer.
And the weather man is saying almost 100F for Saturday -arg!
Jeff

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Well I got an early start - Had the concrete mixer at the house by 8:00 and starting mixing by 9:45.
By 1:00 had cleaned up my mess - well... most of it.
Used 28 bags - figured it would be about 30 - but it was difficult to estimate all of the holes that I was filling (plus I had filled some of the holes with concrete and others with various cold beverage containers!
Progress is slow in the heat! Started out at 76 degrees and was over 90 by 11.
I really want to see how the arch turned out - but I'll wait until tomorrow after work for the 'unveiling.'

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Ok, I spent the weekend at my cousin's on the lake and didn't get anything done! Last night I did remove the forms from the hearth slab. I really wanted to see how the poured arch turned out. It looks good! I got all the supports out from underneath and can start working on the perlcrete hearth insulation.


I also added a vent on the backside to help with ventilation in humid South Carolina.

Jeff

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Ok... I'm about to make progress - grin!
I bought 3 bags (12 cuft 54#) of perlite today (15/bag) and 3 94# bags of portland cement. Also picked up some 5.5" hardboard for inside the forms to make the circle for under the floor.

I was reading Jake's build and he had 30% volume loss with vermiculite.
I'm estimating 9.1 cu.ft. with my 5.5" floor. With the 12 cu.ft. of perlite and 3 bags (1.5 cu ft) of portland cement, I'll wind up with somewhere between 6:1 and 8:1 which will be ok.

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

More progress today. I was able to put in the forms for the perlcrete (1h) and even got the perlcrete 'poured' (+ 2h with clean up).
I used about 11 cu ft of perlite and just under 1.5 cf of cement, so about 7:1. I was trying for 6:1, so the water I added was 1.8.

The volume I was trying to fill I estimated as 8.0 cu ft so there was about 25% compaction.

Now to let it cure for a week which gives me a time to get some 4x8x2.25 light duty firebricks (all I can get locally (Boral Brick)) and to decide on homebrew or Alsey Flueset.

Time for a cold beverage!

[PizzaIdiot]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

The thickness of my insulation slab is 5". I thought I had enough 2x6s, but I didn't. I did have lots of 2x4s from the frame supporting the concrete hearth, so I laid 1 flat and another on its side (1.5 + 3.5 =5").

I checked on it this morning and am surprised how hard it is already. After reading other stories about how crumbly it can be even after two days, I was pleasantly surprised by its structural integrity. It certainly helps that it has been in the 90s yesterday afternoon and low 70s last night.

In any case, I haven't bought any firebricks yet, so I won't be putting weight on it until next weekend.

[rodeair]

Re: Jeff's 42" Pompeii in Easley, SC (near Greenville,SC)

Nice job Jeff. I had a little trouble with crumbling edges, etc so I put a layer of homebrew all around the ends. Now the real fun starts, have a ball.
Leigh