Block Stand Question - Pompeii 42"

[RandyJ]

It is the full 8"

[Yeager]

Hi all,
Cooked my first set of pizzas last night and thought I'd share some pictures! Appreciate everyone's help getting me here. Check out the picture with the fire. That fire was pretty cool watching the brick turn from black to clear. It was fun to watch.

Randy,
I am about to put up my Durock today - what fasteners did you use to fasten the Durock to the Steel studs?

thanks,
Yeager

[UtahBeehiver]

I brings this up quite often. You can smell the difference when the dome starts to clear. Gulf and I swear you can......LOL.

[RandyJ]

Hey Yeager. Congratulations on the first pizza. It looks great. How did it taste. I bet it was very tasty. As for the durock I used the same screws that I did for the roof. I couldn't get any others to go through the studs they were to solid. Just be careful not to sink them to far. Just flush.

Randy

[JRPizza]

+1 (or 2) on the congrats! I know it feels good to get cooking. It's a double edge sword though - when ever people ask me if I'm done with the oven, I tell them the problem is you can start using it before you are done building it!

[RandyJ]

Jr you are correct there. Once it looks passable and not a eye sore and it cooks the progress slowest dramatically. I still need to seal my ceader and build a door for the prep table. Also I need to do something with the lip below the entry. I am just not sure what I want to do there.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Good luck on the pizza party today. I hope all goes well. Did you get the cement board on?

Randy

[Pologuy9906]

Looks great. Congrats. I have a question for you guys I have a 4" slab. I have 1.5" of insulation board. Should I go thicker? I see people using anywhere from 1"-4". Another question the slab isn't perfect. I noticed a corner of the board rocks. What should I use to level it?

[deejayoh]

Looks great. Congrats. I have a question for you guys I have a 4" slab. I have 1.5" of insulation board. Should I go thicker? I see people using anywhere from 1"-4". Another question the slab isn't perfect. I noticed a corner of the board rocks. What should I use to level it?

I would go with at least 3 inches of insulation. It's really worth it, and you can never add it later. You could use a little mortar or self leveling concrete to build up the area where it's not level. I wouldn't use sand for this purpose, it may wash away over time.

What kind of housing are you planning? I notice the stone extends up around your slab. If you're planning an igloo, make sure you don't set yourself up to catch water on your slab. It's hard to keep it out of the bottom of your oven.

[Pologuy9906]

I was planning on making a bluestone cap with a slight anglefor water to shed off. I was thinking4.5" of calsil board. Then pour a Verm/crete 5:1 and fill the void. Bluestone would sit on top of that right up against the outer wall of the oven. I want to cover the oven with stone. Should I cut this out making the slab level with the edge? Build around the oven with blocks and create the same bluestone shelving? I could only imagine the best practice to keep water from pooling at the base?

[Yeager]

I used insulating brick (2 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 9" standard brick size) below my 2" of ceramic insulating board. It doesn't become mushy if it gets wet and keeps the insulating board off the ground. So far I've been very pleased on how that has turned out. You can use mortar or self leveling as deejay mentioned. You can also use a grinder if its some small high spots you're trying to address (I had a small high spot I just grinded down).

-Yeager!

[Yeager]

Good luck on the pizza party today. I hope all goes well. Did you get the cement board on?

Randy

Hi Randy,
I got most of the cement board on (everything but the front!). I cooked 55 pizzas in about 90 minutes. It was crazy fun (and worked up an appetite). I went through 40 dough balls and 15 par crusted flatbreads. Locally I found a great place to source pizza making supplies (cheese, sauce, toppings, dough balls, etc). It's called Pohl's Food service near 280/university in northern minneapolis - very pleased with working with them.

Took one day off from Pizza and going to cookup some cajun shrimp pizza tonight!

-Yeager

[RandyJ]

Wow you really cranked out the pizzas. I am guessing that you had a helper or 2 to make that many that fast. Most u have done is like 16 in 2 hrs. I am glad it went well. I hope you did not get wet in the storms that came through last night. It was quite the show up by my house.

Randy

[Yeager]

My wife was inside helping everyone make their own pizza (and ensure they had cornmeal underneath!) and I was outside putting in pizzas, turning them, and pulling them out. I was cooking between 2 and 3 pizzas at any given time and they were taking from 90 seconds to 4 minutes depending on toppings and placement. My first set of pizzas (crust) took about a minute, but that was because the floor brick was way to hot - it didnt give the toppings a chance to brown. I found that when the floor was about 650 degrees it would take about 3-4 minutes and really give the cheese and veggies a chance to cook/brown.

It was a lot of fun!

[Yeager]

Now that I've been able to use my pizza oven, it's now time to start thinking about a door for it. I have really good insulation above and below, but it drops to ~250 degrees F on day two with no door on it. I don't have any welding equipment (or skills!). How or what else would you recommend me getting or building one? I don't mind paying a reasonable amount, but wouldn't know where to ask.

ideas? I do have enough leftover ceramic board insulation that it could be part of the inside of a door.

thanks!
Yeager