Another WFO in the UK - 42" Pompeii

[brad mole]

Well, firstly hello to everyone here on the Forno Bravo forum, I'm Brad from the North East of England (UK). The is my first thread on here after lurking around for the last few months, ive been itching to build a pizza oven in the garden for the last year or two but finally chose this year to start it. I have very little building experience but do like a good challenge.

After only planning my pizza oven for the last few months I'm still trying to get my head around the build and reasons why and how things are done so no doubt this is going to be a huge learning curve for me, but it seems there is a hell of a lot of knowledgeable people on here who are willing to help the fellow members out so that's good to know.

So i have a limited space to do my build, but enough to squeeze in a 42" pompeii style oven with small side prep area, now ive drawn a sketch of how id like it to look, and hopefully it is possible with the size foundation ive planned (well it better be as ive already passed the point of changing it now) its just hard to understand how big everything is going to be without having the materials there in front of me.

Anyway as you can see I have planned a block stand 4.5 blocks by 4.5 blocks by 4 blocks high, i have not planned for the fourth course to continue over the log store with a lintel as I plan to brick a decorative archway in and doing that would restrict my arch height, I'm just a little worried that it may be a little weak if i don't include that fourth course on top of angle iron? although i have seen it done a few times i just want to make sure that is ok to do it? i think i will still put some angle iron in when i pour the hearth slab but it just wont have that fourth course of blocks running over the entrance. Ive also included a pillar in the centre to support some of the weight, do you all think this is sufficient overall? in the end i would like to have a brick chimney with either a rendered dome or brick slip covered dome to give you an idea of the weight on top

(Sorry if ive messed up the pictures, im not used to uploading pics directly to a forum)

[brad mole]

So here is where I'm at. I started by finding a good wet saw, managed to pick this up its a Belle BC350 which has a 350mm blade, sliding carriage and has the option to angle the blade too. The only problem is the saw didnt come with the correct legs, so my first task was to make a set of legs, I welded up some steel and added some wheels to the read legs so it would be easier to move in and out of the garage each day as i will only have a few hours a day to spend on the build. I also made them a nice height so i didnt have to bend over so much. Bought a new blade for it too and also purchased a block splitter, it may or may not come in handy but i thought id best off have it just in case

[brad mole]

So i had marked out the footprint of the foundation before i finalised the stand size as i was too keen to get digging, so this was my original size it was later widened slightly to suit the stand dimensions, i then started crushing some old paving blocks i had to lay in the base. Typical British weather stopped play so a makeshift shelter was made to try and keep some of the rain out

[brad mole]

As i said in the last post i changed the size of the base after i started digging so this was my new bigger foundation, so i framed it out with timber, spent a few hours getting it all leveled and squared up then pegged it down and started crushing more blocks.

[brad mole]

In the meantime i have been keeping an eye out for materials, i managed to pick up around 170 reclaimed bricks, not enough to do my build but i will keep collecting them over time and hopefully it will all blend in if i mix and match them

[brad mole]

My blocks arrived as well as rebar and reinforcing mesh. Next i compacted the base and added some dolomite, then put plastic sheeting in the base

[brad mole]

Reinforcing mesh cut with a double border of rebar propped up on bricks all tied together with wire. I then managed to get the foundation poured, this was 1 cubic metre of concrete with a depth of around 150mm. I set in 6 pieces of rebar to lock the foundation to the block stand

[brad mole]

So i set out the first layer of blocks to see that they all fit nicely how i had planned, all seems exactly as planned, made sure everything was nice and square, rebar comes up exactly where i needed in the centre of the blocks and a nice even border around the outside.

[brad mole]

Stacked up the four courses of blocks, after doing the first course i made sure everything was square and level, then started stacking, it drifted off slightly but then seemed to drift back to almost perfect by the fourth course so thats great, i wasnt too bothered about it not being level as long as it was square as this can be corrected when i pour the hearth slab, but luckily all was good anyway. Cement and gravel mix also turned up so i can fill the cores.

[brad mole]

After watching other build threads on here i came across someone who had made a funnel type device for pouring which i thought was a great idea so i made myself one which was such a good idea, worked a treat and certainly sped things up while keeping it nice and tidy, sorry ive forgotten who it was to give them credit! So i started by filling every other core and setting in rebar, i had some left over concrete so i filled more cores at the front where i guess most of the weight will be. Rebar was left sticking out around 100mm to lock the stand into the hearth

[brad mole]

Every other core filled plus a few extra to use the last of the mix. I had some lightweight blocks left over from having our garage built so i started a centre post as i was slightly worried about the span of the hearth as i havent put a lintel in like most people because of my arch design in the facing brickwork.

[Gretsch]

Hi brad, I didn't put in a fourth course for the same reason as you. I sat a thick, heavy duty galvanised piece of angle iron on the blocks and poured the slab over it. I figured the weight over that bit of stretch wasn't that serious and so far it's holding up with no sign of stress so I reckon it's enough.

[brad mole]

The last of the post laid, i managed to get it exactly level with the rest of the blockwork, the mortar joints had to be larger on the last 2 courses but i was please with the result. I stuffed the empty bags in all my empty cores. I also started on my indispensible tool.

had a few ideas so started making but then changed my mind and started again, heres where i am at. I have made 2 heads (wide and narrow) with a threaded box section arm so it can be adjustable in length. The pivot is the bit im having trouble with as i really want to get that pivot as close to the cooking floor as i can. I was going to go for the castor pivot but felt that would stand too high? so i welded it to a hinge but realised that the box section would hit the plywood IT mounting board i will make on the first few courses, so i mocked up how it will be and cut off a chunk but still it will catch, so im going to have to machine out a section of my base board which is no problem really.

Does this look like it will work right? I have kept the centre line in the centre of where the brick will sit in the 'L' bracket, and on the hinge end if mounted it also in the centre of where it meets the hinge, obviously the way i mount the hinge to my plywood will not be exactly on that centre line but there isnt much i can do about that. if all goes to plan my pivot will be around 12mm above cooking floor level and around 12mm also from the centre point of the dome

[brad mole]

Hi brad, I didn't put in a fourth course for the same reason as you. I sat a thick, heavy duty galvanised piece of angle iron on the blocks and poured the slab over it. I figured the weight over that bit of stretch wasn't that serious and so far it's holding up with no sign of stress so I reckon it's enough.

Hi Gretsch, thanks for my first reply! great thats good to know i did have that in mind, i think i will weld up my own kind of L section beam to act as a lintel which i may also drill holes in so it can slide over my rebar poking out the top just to tie things in even more

[UtahBeehiver]

Looking great so far. NIce and neat work so I am suspecting you are a perfectionist or engineer or such. A possible mounting IT mounting option is to make a wood block the is the same size as a floor brick the you can adjust the pivot point to be at floor elevation (Gulf did this on his build). Where you see issues with off the floor elevation pivot point is if you do a tapered inner arch (recommended) as you go up the raidus distance changes so you have to make length adjusments in this area (which I did). So it is up to you.