42" Pompeii in Eastern NC

[UtahBeehiver]

Since you are the sidewalk supervisor, here is a link to Deejayoh's brick angle calculator spreadsheet for those engineer types. It will help with the taper and bevel cuts on the dome as well as give you an approximate brick count. It was developed after my build but many builders have great success with the data.
https://community.fornobravo.com/for...n-the-archives

[Caliea]

UtahBeehiver,

You're so right about the over analysis! I have a few years experience working around them, so I think I'll be okay and
they're very quick to say it's my project, even if they look at me askance about it. So I have to make the final decisions. They're used to my wild ideas. And me dragging them into them!

Thanks for the push towards the Pompeii. It makes the most sense, but IT'S SCARY. All those cuts and compound angles! I've been reading every thread I can in order to learn from everyone else's mistakes and questions. I'll do my hand wringing here, and pretend I'm calm and collected around the engineers

[UtahBeehiver]

What, a tag team engineer group? I can see this oven is going to be over analyzed and engineered. So you need to step in and give your 2 cents worth. I can say this because I am a retired engineer and there are several of us on the forum from the engineering disciplines. Remember to tell them, if "mama is not happy, then no one is happy" LOL. Glad to see we talked you into a pompeli.

[Caliea]

Hi Fnbroken,
Thanks for the link. and the clarification. That's some gorgeous work that Mitch has done - I imagine I'll be poring over those pictures to gain insight on my own build!

I have had advice on the foundation for the oven - maybe more than I needed? My father is a Professional Engineer that has a foundation design consulting business, and my husband is also a Professional Engineer who works with soils and civil projects. They both had input on this foundation. Honestly, if it were just me, I'd probably have a slab per the original FB plans, but since it's what they do, and I have to live with them, I'm doing it their way I figure it's easier to live with the disdain from forum members than it is to live with annoyance from the engineers in my life

Thanks again for the reply!

[fnbroken]

Hi Caliea,

That's correct - you will need to pour a second slab on top of the hearth to raise the work surface to the desired height.

Take a look thru some of the builds here and there are a number of ways to achieve this...

A good pictorial is here of Mitches... http://blender.formworks.co.nz/oven/

As an aside - have you had any advice about putting a 1 tonne oven on a 9 course high stand with no foundation? That's a lot of weight on very little footings....

[Caliea]

I need some guidance. I'm planning the hearth slab pour, but can't quite figure out the transition from entrance of the oven hearth (approx. 7" above slab: 3" firebrick and 4" insulating board) to the surrounding prep area/countertop. When I see pictures of enclosures, it looks like you can often see the slab peeking through the exterior facade. But that slab would be below the height the pizza is actually cooking, correct?

I'm hoping to pour a concrete countertop area just in front of the oven entrance and off to each side. Is this somehow raised that extra 7" from the hearth slab?

Halp! I'm confused.

[Caliea]

I did learn a tip: if I expect my husband to put in two hard 9-hour days on his long weekend off, I'd better have a beer in the house at the end of the day! Oops....

[Caliea]

Day 2: we laid all the courses for the oven and the counters. 200 blocks and 2500# concrete. We're wiped out!

[Caliea]

Well, the storm dumped 6" of rain and then moved out, so we had the chance to work today. The wet clay was much easier to remove, and we got all the areas dug out and the first course of blocks laid.

We're not doing a foundation slab. Instead we're burying 1 course of block and lining the trench with dry Quikcrete. Hopefully we'll finish dry stacking the walls tomorrow, and then we'll pour some cells full to stabilize the whole thing.

I've attached before, during and after pics of today.

[Caliea]

Well, I have over 200 8x8x16" CMUs delivered to my house this afternoon. If Tropical Storm Hermine doesn't flood us out, I'm planning on getting the foundation for the oven and the countertops figured out this weekend. I guess by next week I'll have figured out if I've begun an amazing project or if I've lost my mind!

[UtahBeehiver]

Forgot to give you a link to some of the more documented pompeli builds, there are others but these are linked in one place.

https://community.fornobravo.com/forum/good-background-information/newbie-forum/12621-a-newbie%C2%92s-survey-of-the-forno-bravo-treasures-hiding-in-the-archives

[Caliea]

Thank you all for the comments! I have to say, I originally intended on building the Pompeii style, but cutting each brick to fit is intimidating. I've been lurking around more of the 'should I or shouldn't I" forums, and now I'm leaning towards the dome style. I figure, if I'm learning anyway, I might as well go all-out. Your encouragement makes me think that I'll at least be able to have a functional oven, even if maybe it's not perfectly cut.

So, I think I'll do the dome style, probably the 'higher' dome calcs on the FB plans. I'm leaning towards the 42", mainly because we tend to have big dinners when the families gather, and I don't want to be stuck cooking pizzas just a few at the time. Also, this is our forever home, so will probably be the only oven I ever build. Don't want to regret making it too small.


Thanks for the hearth advice. I'll go the one layer of fire brick on the hearth surface, and use 4" of insulation between the hearth bricks and the underlying structural slab.

Mike, I've been lurking on your thread - thanks for asking all those hard questions, so I didn't have to

I'm hoping to start forming up my foundation within a few weeks. My husband and I are planning on taking a wood fired oven class at King Arthur Flour at the beginning of October. I'm hoping to at least have my foundation and hearth slab poured by then. That way, when we actually use an oven for the first time, I'll have a chance to ask all those detailed questions regarding quirks of use that might make a difference in my final oven design.

Thanks again for the advice, and I'll keep posting in this thread once I make some progress/ have more questions.

[thevance53@gmail.com]

Ooops, sorry for the messing up the credits, although they both deserve kudos for all of the time and effort they have spent on this site along with all of you other contributors.

[deejayoh]

If you want a double-thickness hearth for bread baking, you can also lay the bricks on edge (runners) instead of stacking them - that will give you 4.5" of hearth instead of 5"

But you will get enough thermal mass for bread baking from a single layer of bricks. The 4.5" thickness is most useful if you want to have enough retained heat in the hearth to bake several batches of bread off the same firing. Even with 2.5" of hearth, I have seen posters here who bake baguettes, then boules, then something else. 4.5" really approaches commercial needs.

oh, and with all that mass, you want more than 2" insulation. I would go with at least 4" if your goal is bread baking

[UtahBeehiver]

Just a side note. Deejayoh is the developer of the brick angle spreadsheet. But JR is the CAD master on the forum.