Block Stand Question - Pompeii 42"

[Yeager]

Drop-in's with bolts installed. The 3/8 were rated 1800lbs+ for both torsion and shear each - so I think I'll be good.

My oven floor is 7" up and am thinking of pouring the next lip flush with front arch at a height of 6 3/4. This would give a 1/4" drop over ~12" from the inner arch that I could slope the entryway towards the exit for water. I would then mortar the entry bricks together with caulk on the 1/4" gap on the sides (this would be to prevent water from entering and provide a slight slope back if it does). Thoughts?

Also, I drilled a 1" hole for Electrical to go through my tabletop in one of the corners - should I use grey PVC or metal conduit?

I checked with Tamarack supply and they'll deliver my steel studs/durock for free (hitting minimum order). I have to order studs and durock for my oven and rest of outdoor kitchen so should be pretty easy to get the minimum. That way I can order 20' studs and not have as much waste (I hope!).

thanks,
Yeager

[RandyJ]

Yes if I would have known that I was going to do the lip that would have been maby a little better way to go. Otherwise the drop ins work great. We hang very heavy stuff off the ceiling with them all the time, so I have no worries about them.

Randy

[thomasmn]

Hi Yeager the anchors that I used are called drop-in anchors. The ones I used are for 3\8" hardware. As for how deep you drill the hole you just need it fully below the serface of the concrete. Then you just drop it in the hole and take a setting tool and pound the center of the anchors down and it wedges it in to place. I use them all the time at work and they work great. I don't remember for sure but they are rated to hold like either 800 or 2800#. I don't know if you can get them at menards or if you will have to go to fastenall. I would leave the 1\8" gap on the sides. Just good practice.

As for the concrete that I have on the lip of my oven that was a bit of a accident. I poored it in a mold so it was upside down and when I tried to grind it all the cement came out from between the gravel. I do not know what happened but I decided to use it at the time and now I like it. But it was supposed to be polished to 800 grit like the counter. I now like the contrast between the two but couldn't tell you how to replicate it. Maby someone here knows how.

Randy

I did something similar, but since I knew I was going to put in a lip like that so I tied 1/2 rebar all the way from the base through the blocks to the opening up to the lip!

[RandyJ]

Hi Yeager the anchors that I used are called drop-in anchors. The ones I used are for 3\8" hardware. As for how deep you drill the hole you just need it fully below the serface of the concrete. Then you just drop it in the hole and take a setting tool and pound the center of the anchors down and it wedges it in to place. I use them all the time at work and they work great. I don't remember for sure but they are rated to hold like either 800 or 2800#. I don't know if you can get them at menards or if you will have to go to fastenall. I would leave the 1\8" gap on the sides. Just good practice.

As for the concrete that I have on the lip of my oven that was a bit of a accident. I poored it in a mold so it was upside down and when I tried to grind it all the cement came out from between the gravel. I do not know what happened but I decided to use it at the time and now I like it. But it was supposed to be polished to 800 grit like the counter. I now like the contrast between the two but couldn't tell you how to replicate it. Maby someone here knows how.

Randy

[Yeager]

Hi Randy,
When you put bolts in to connect the two concrete pours together did you epoxy the bolts in or use the anchor bolts? How far did you drill? I think I'll do a 7" pour flush with the front of the exterior so I can keep firebricks on the inside. I'll put insulating brick underneath. Then I'll have to decide whether I need to leave a 1/8" inch expansion on the arch sides with the firebrick floor. My original thought was to mortar (or concrete) the floor so water from rain can't get underneath and do bad things.

Also, How did you get the aggregate look on your concrete? Is that just pea gravel applied and grinded down or how did you do that? Pretty cool. I am thinking I might just apply a medium/dark gray color, but you've got me thinking.

[RandyJ]

Absolutely. As you may know I had a tight deadline for finishing so it will have to be a meetup in August unless you want to come over Friday/Saturday to check it out! 2 months and 4 days to get to this point from breaking ground.

I think it would be great to meet up with you guys, and see the ovens. And august is probably the best time. I know I am very busy now too. I am impressed that you managed to complete your oven this fast Thomas. I moved pretty fast know mine and yoy beat me by a month or better. Congrats.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Hi Randy,
Haven't thought of that use case. Are there times when you'd cook things not in the dome and under the vent with ashes? Probably my newbie side asking this question.

Yeah as DJ said it is great for grilling. I have done several steaks that way and they are the best in have ever had. So I would say it is a good thing to do. I have a tuskin grill and will pull a nice bed of coles in to the entry and put the grill in. 2-2.5 min a side and the steak is done.

Randy

[thomasmn]

I mainly did the insulating brick so I didn't have the Ceramic board touching the concrete (avoiding moisture wicking while getting insulating properties!)

We're actually neighbors! I am right down the road from you in Burnsville! We'll have to meet up for a beer sometime!

Absolutely. As you may know I had a tight deadline for finishing so it will have to be a meetup in August unless you want to come over Friday/Saturday to check it out! 2 months and 4 days to get to this point from breaking ground.

[deejayoh]

Hi Randy,
Haven't thought of that use case. Are there times when you'd cook things not in the dome and under the vent with ashes? Probably my newbie side asking this question.

I've cooked steaks that way, and used coals around a paella pan. There's so much heat in the vent of the oven, you can generally saute stuff there without even having any coals. it's pretty cool. I was cooking italian sausage in the entry just last week.

[Yeager]

I did something similar to what I believe Randy did - I poured right up to the heat break and put my brick for the vent right on top of it, but left the brick in the entry to the arch lose (set in clay) so I can replace them later. I think the way you did the insulation in the floor is very interesting, much more efficient use of the insulation board. I spent 11 hours outside yesterday doing two layers of stucco. Just need to paint and trim the thing now!

I mainly did the insulating brick so I didn't have the Ceramic board touching the concrete (avoiding moisture wicking while getting insulating properties!)

We're actually neighbors! I am right down the road from you in Burnsville! We'll have to meet up for a beer sometime!

[Yeager]

Hey Yeager you might want to poor up to the. Top of the insulation and then put fire bricks on top of it. That way you can have the coles in the vent to cook out there. I am not sure how the concrete would hold up to that. Then poor your counter tops in front of that.

Randy

Hi Randy,
Haven't thought of that use case. Are there times when you'd cook things not in the dome and under the vent with ashes? Probably my newbie side asking this question.

[RandyJ]

Hey Yeager you might want to poor up to the. Top of the insulation and then put fire bricks on top of it. That way you can have the coles in the vent to cook out there. I am not sure how the concrete would hold up to that. Then poor your counter tops in front of that.

Randy

[thomasmn]

I did something similar to what I believe Randy did - I poured right up to the heat break and put my brick for the vent right on top of it, but left the brick in the entry to the arch lose (set in clay) so I can replace them later. I think the way you did the insulation in the floor is very interesting, much more efficient use of the insulation board. I spent 11 hours outside yesterday doing two layers of stucco. Just need to paint and trim the thing now!

[Yeager]

Great advice guys - thank you. I have some good thoughts going. I also need to come up with a strategy to bridge the 7" distance from my top of oven floor to top of concrete stand. These photo's don't show it well, but my concrete stand has a curved lip that overhangs 6" the full width. One of my thoughts is to do a 7" monolithic pour up to my heat break (inside of the arch), but not sure if I can have concrete directly up against the brick external entry or if I need to put in 1/4" expansion foam and caulk the top. My gut tells me I wouldn't need to since this would prevent any (or at least 99.9999%) water from getting down there. I'd like to have the oven floor flush with the counter so this sounds good. I think I'd have it match the existing curve and overhang an additional 4"''s (using rebar tied into existing structure of course!).

Couple other points - My oven floor height is 50" and the concrete would be poured level with oven floor after the heat break. In retrospect I should have poured this and then put the external arch on top, but... here we are!

Thoughts?

[thomasmn]

On the pitch, I didn't worry about it as much as getting something that looked good. I put an outlet (weather proofed of course) so I could hook up either obnoxious Christmas lights off of the thing or a heat thing to keep the snow off the roof. My thinking on the roof was that I didn't want to hit it so I put it 1' higher than my height at the top so 7'4", and it is about 5'8" in the back above my slab. And btw, I love that the deck of the oven is high enough that it is no work for me really to move stuff in and out. It is 48" off the ground I believe which is right at my elbow height.