36" Pompeii in DC

[rsandler]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

Got the grouting done this weekend. Thought about a colored grout, but I'd already picked up a bag of "natural grey" when I got the thinset, and I'm pretty happy with the results. Cut the hole for the vent as well, although the cover is still loose.

Started bricking in the chimney over the course of last week. I couldn't figure out what to put on top of the keystone to my decorative arch, since it was so close to the base of the chimney. Then I literally tripped over a big hunk of quartz that my wife had dug up while replanting some bulbs. It was a pain to cut, even with my wet saw, but it looks cool .

Added a couple more courses to the chimney this weekend after the pictures were taken. A little more work needed on that, plus I need to come up with a better looking chimney cap than the metal thing I had on before. Something like a big slab of stone supported by pillars of brick.

Still need to seal the tiles, apply caulk around the base of the oven and the vent arch, add tiles to the sides of the vent and decorative arches, grout, etc.

[texman]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

RS

That looks really nice-congrats.

texman

[cobblerdave]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

Gudday
The ovens looking really smart. Congrats!
And your little girl has grown heaps. I remembered a pic early in the build and I found it in oct 2012. Go back and have a look you'll see how she's grown.
Regards dave

[rsandler]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

I'm not sure if the new vent is responsible or just time and better firing, but my heat retention has gotten a lot better. Last Saturday we did a pizza party. I pre-heated the oven by firing for about 2 hours Friday afternoon, then started the fire again at about 9:30 Saturday morning. The party started at 11:30. The oven was so saturated with heat that I was cooking 30-second pizzas all afternoon. I closed up the oven at 1:30, and Sunday morning the door thermometer read north of 625F.

Baked bread at 550F late Sunday afternoon. Finally on Tuesday night, with the oven around 240, I threw in some burning hickory chunks and a brisket. Oven was still around 200F this morning; I'll pull the brisket out for dinner when I get home today.

[Gravity]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

Did you get a building permit? I'm in montgomery county and i don't think i'd be allowed to build that close to the house.

[rsandler]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

Gravity: I checked the DC code, and as best I could tell the regs in the District specify exactly nothing about outdoor fireplaces, firepits, ovens, etc. I couldn't even find anything like I've heard of in other places where chimneys, broadly writ, have to be a certain distance from any flammable materials. Most applicable thing I could find was a provision allowing a homeowner to build a shed of up to 100sqft without a permit. So I have the city's smallest and most over-built woodshed, which happens to have a few thousand pounds of brick and tile on top of it.

Of course, in Maryland all bets are off.

[rsandler]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

Being furloughed along with almost everyone else in town due to the government shutdown, I took some time to build a tool rack to go under the oven. I've been finding that (a) I never fill even the front of thewood storage area, (b) I really want more immediate access to my oven tools and (c) a rolling rack just won't work with my current patio. So I built a divider out of 2x4s, and screwed PVC tubes to the uprights. Only problem is I couldn't quite find room for my square metal peel. Not a huge loss, as I only use it when I load bread, whereas the brush, round peel and rake are used almost every time I do anything with the oven.

[Gulf]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

I've been finding that (a) I never fill even the front of thewood storage area, (b) I really want more immediate access to my oven tools and (c) a rolling rack just won't work with my current patio. So I built a divider out of 2x4s, and screwed PVC tubes to the uprights.

A "rolling rack" IE: (on casters) wouldn't work with mine either (if that is what you meant). My wood storage area drops 4" to where I stand now. It will still drop at least 2" when the patio floor is complete. I scrounged an old garage door track and rollers for mine. It works very similar to a kitchen drawer. I am not sure where someone can get the tracks, but the 2" replacement rollers are available at HD and Lowes down here. I set the tracks into a couple more inches of concrete with coated deck screws.

[rsandler]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

Had a small pizza party this afternoon for fellow furloughed federal workers (alliteration!). Tool rack worked great. Liked being able to easily get the rake and brush out of the way once I started making pizzas.

Gulf, your drawer is an elegant solution (and very nicely executed), although I wonder if you'd find the drawer in the way while cooking? E.g. you want another piece of wood to throw on the fire, but you have to close the drawer again in order to reach the oven to put it in? How is it working out for you so far?

[Gulf]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

Thanks RS,
The drawer is working out fine so far. I only intend to use it for long term storage. The double doors on the front compartment are what I intend to use for some quick to reach items. I like the idea of the pvc sheathes that you built for tools. I think that I would like to incorporate something like that for easy reach during the cooks. In my case, higher to the right or left with in easy reach, under my A frame roof.

[painted bow]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

very well done build. what did you put over the blanket insulation? did you use high temp mortar or perlite/cement mixture? and how thick?

[rsandler]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

very well done build. what did you put over the blanket insulation? did you use high temp mortar or perlite/cement mixture? and how thick?

It's just plain stucco on the outside of the blanket. With 5" of blanket on the top and at least 3" around the sides, the outside barely gets warm when the oven is fired all the way. If I had more room, possibly I could have done perlcrete or vermicrete, but wasn't very careful in wrapping the blanket and ran out of room.

[spaceman]

Re: 36" Pompeii in DC

i think it's pretty cool that you added the thermometer to the door.

[rsandler]

A final follow-up on this thread, 11 years on. We recently moved and left this oven behind. Since the last update on the thread, I tiled the outside of the stand and finished the chimney, both around 2016. I made pizza almost every week in from April-December, and many weekends in the cold months too. If you figure 3-4 pizzas per week times maybe 40 weeks per year, plus about 18 pizza parties (spring and fall, minus several missed due to COVID) averaging 40-ish pizzas each, I figure I made somewhere around 2,000 pizzas in this thing. At a commercial pizza restaurant they probably do that in a month, but it was a pretty good run for my home-build construction.

I've started a new build thread at my new place in CA, here: https://community.fornobravo.com/for...his-time-in-ca

[mrchipster]

It has been a long time since my last post, I have moved to Florida and of course left my oven behind. But the bright side is that our daughter and son-in-law purchased our house so I can visit and still make a few cooks when back for visits.

I do not intend to build a replacement oven in Florida but I do enjoy cooking in my Recteq pellet grill. Not a great pizza oven and also bread has been sent to gas oven in the house. But brisket, ribs, and steaks have been over the top. As well as several other meats and veggies

Hope you WFO fans all the best.

Chip