Pompeii started in San Jose

[NCMan]

Re: Pompeii started in San Jose

Hello

I thought that vibrating helped to get the air out and consolidated the mix.

Always ready to learn something new.

David

The mix gets consolidated during the mixing phase. Excessive vibrating actually "un-consolidates" the mix. And air in the slab is a good thing. To help avoid "honeycombing" around the edges, a simple tap or two w/a hammer (on the outside of your formwork) should do the trick.

[RandyJ]

Re: Pompeii started in San Jose

I saw this happen when we did a street light base. A lot of the stone fell to the bottom and all the cream was on top. Not a great plan for strength. When I mixed my slab I did about .625 gal per 60# bag and to make measuring quick and easy I pored the amount of water I wanted per batch in to a 5 gal bucket and made a mark so all I had to do was fill to the line and dump in worked great. I think it took 2 of us 2 hours to do 72 bags. I hope your next poor goes better.

Randy

[Novaslo]

Re: Pompeii started in San Jose

Thanks David. We bought a whole pallet from Lowes. I don't know if that means it all came from the same batch. I have a small pour (a couple bags) I hope to do in the next couple of days and we'll see if that has the same problem. If I have no issues there, I have another one which is about 19 bags that I'll try before I get back to the oven slab. I do have a mixer. All the other concrete work in the yard was done with a pumper truck but that was more like 4 yards. I thought (still think) I can handle this.

Darin,
I thought about getting one of those concrete trailers but a friend told me that he had trouble with the rock settling out of the mix on the ride home. The equipment near me doesn't have the mixing trailers.

Steve

Yes when I did mine, we rented the mixer trailer. It was perfect.
I can't imagine you having trouble twice.

you will get it.

[SteveB48]

Back from vacation and back into oven building. The old slab is gone. I'm really glad I removed it. Portions of it were more like base rock than concrete! Since this time I've poured 3 other foundations (sink, bar and kitchen) with good results. Each better than the previous. I'm ready to tackle the oven this weekend.

I know this has been discussed before but I'm having trouble searching for posts on the new forum. I have the Pompeii plans (v2) which call for a 67 x 78 inch foundation. The block stand dimensions say 59 x 70.
70" is 4.5 blocks @ 15.625" / block. 59" turns out to be 3.77 blocks. I have to believe that's an error somewhere as the pictures in the PDF don't show anything other than half blocks.

My question is, do I use 4 blocks for a total of 62.5", 3.5 blocks for a total of 54.7" or cut the blocks to make it really 59?

Thoughts?

thanks,
Steve

[RandyJ]

If I were you I would go for the full blocks and half blocks as long as you have the space. You pretty much can't make your stand to big, but you can end up to small. Unless you do not have the room I would keep it simple I made my base 70"x70" for a corner set up and I am glad I over sized it a little.

Randy

[SteveB48]

New slab poured. Much better than the previous one. I picked up the blocks last night and had to stack them somewhere so... I need to true things up a bit. Those looking closely can tell I haven't cut the blocks for the angle iron yet. The angles are also upside down. The plan is to fill on Saturday. Are folks filling every other one as the directions say or filling every hole? It seems that if you don't fill every hole the wall isn't completely connected together.

Steve

[RandyJ]

People do both but you only need one cell of each brick filled to have a solid wall. So every other does that if they are stagered. But if you are worried then it doesn't cost that much to fill all of them just more labor.

Randy

[SteveB48]

Well it's been a while and not a lot of progress but things have changed. The stand is now complete and I'm hoping to start on the oven next month.

I noticed today that the Pompeii kit has gone up to $1850. That's $600 since I got my quote in Nov of '14. I'm wondering if I should change my plans and maybe consider an assembled oven or modular kit. Does the Pompeii had advantages over the Casa or Primavera? The Primavera would be only 28".

thanks,
Steve

[Larry P]

Steve,

I'm starting a 36" Pompeii oven in Livermore and I'm at about the same stage as you are, getting ready to source the refractory materials. I want to support FB for running this forum, but I'm struggling with their pricing. The shipping is a killer, but maybe this price increase is related to the recent announcement about free shipping? I think what's going on here is that it simply doesn't pay to ship bricks any distance. At this point I'm leaning towards sourcing brick and mortar locally and going to FB for insulation only. Maybe take a drive down there to pick it up.

Cheers,
Larry

[SteveB48]

Hi Larry,

My plan was to go pick it up. They still charge a $50 loading fee or at least that's what my Nov 2014 quote said. I just checked shipping to 95119 and 94550 and it's now free. I may rethink this.

Steve

[Larry P]

That's the downside to "free shipping" - hurts the locals.

[admin]

Well it's been a while and not a lot of progress but things have changed. The stand is now complete and I'm hoping to start on the oven next month.

I noticed today that the Pompeii kit has gone up to $1850. That's $600 since I got my quote in Nov of '14. I'm wondering if I should change my plans and maybe consider an assembled oven or modular kit. Does the Pompeii had advantages over the Casa or Primavera? The Primavera would be only 28".

thanks,
Steve

Hi Steve,

First, thank you for participating in the Forum! Regarding the price on the Pompeii, we conducted a full pricing review and found that we needed to make adjustments in regards to our costs. Our kits now include free shipping to support a national market. If a customer would like to pick up at our local facility, we can offer a credit that will vary depending on the product. Just contact a sales rep to discuss your situation.

Regarding advantages and disadvantages, just a couple of thoughts (but I'm sure the Forum community members will give theirs, too!):

[admin]

Well it's been a while and not a lot of progress but things have changed. The stand is now complete and I'm hoping to start on the oven next month.

I noticed today that the Pompeii kit has gone up to $1850. That's $600 since I got my quote in Nov of '14. I'm wondering if I should change my plans and maybe consider an assembled oven or modular kit. Does the Pompeii had advantages over the Casa or Primavera? The Primavera would be only 28".

thanks,
Steve

Hi Steve,

First, thank you for participating in the Forum! Regarding the price on the Pompeii, we conducted a full pricing review and found that we needed to make adjustments in regards to our costs. Our kits now include free shipping to support a national market. If a customer would like to pick up at our local facility, we can offer a credit that will vary depending on the product. Just contact a sales rep to discuss your situation.

Regarding advantages and disadvantages, just a couple of thoughts (but I'm sure the Forum community members will give theirs, too!):

• The heat performance in a Casa kit is consistent due to dome cast vs ?joint? fitted bricks with mortar that can vary in heat properties.
• How tight the brick is cut can effect thermal properties
• Casa ovens have a higher grade refractory material
• A kit can improve your project timeline
• The largest Primavera is 28" (it's made from a Giardino kit). A Casa is available in 32", 36", 40" and 44", Pompeii in 35" and 43"

Hope that helps!

Mitch

[SteveB48]

Thanks Mitch! I sent an email to FB earlier today.
Looking forward to your response,
Steve

[deejayoh]

I still say that FB should offer an "everything but the bricks" kit for a build.

Firebricks a) too heavy to ship and b) generally cheap and easy to find locally (unless you're in Australia)

Te rest of the stuff - floor insulation, ducting, thermal blanket - is hard to find, lightweight, and a high value to weight ratio

My genius business recommendation is to ship the stuff that is light, valuable, and hard to find - and to tell people where to find the bricks locally.