42" Corner Pompeii in Coastal Virginia

[Denamontini]

Confession: I originally thought we could build this oven, start to finish, in 6 weeks for $1,500. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. And a few more Hahas.

So here we are...
Jan 6- dug the area for the slab
Feb 3- learned how to use the concrete mixer and then poured the slab
Feb 10- learned how cut rebar with an angle grinder, then blocked the walls, secured with rebar and poured concrete in some of the holes
Feb 14- (instead of Valentine's Day Dinner) poured the concrete hearth, made weep holes
March 12- laid the pattern of the brick floor and traced the dimensions in the garage
March 13- learned how to cut fire brick with angle grinder... cut the bricks for the floor
March 15- learned how to cut fire brick with a wet saw... cut the bricks for the soldier course
March 16- cut and laid down upside down cheap mosaic tiles, 2" Foamglas, 2" Thermo 12 Gold Cal Sci board
March 17- ate green eggs with a green beer and then set the 1/2 brick on it's side soldier course using the 3;1;1;1;(1.5 water) homebrew recipe.

A genuine "THANKS" goes out to all of the people who have seen my pleas for help on other posts and who have helped! Also, thanks to everyone who has documented a build or commented on a build. There is just no way a regular person could do this without all of the combined knowledge on this forum.

I am now very comfortably in a spot where i KNOW how much I really DON'T KNOW about the math, science, tools, skill set and philosophy of making this monster

Let me get a few pics up...

[Denamontini]

Ground breaking, slab and base work...

[Denamontini]

Hearth, insulation, floor, soldier course

[Denamontini]

Now for the questions...

Can someone explain to me the exact math of the IT? I am cooking one up in a 3D printer. (I am only printing a swivel base and the brick placement piece. The rod will be a .5 inch steel rod)
Does the pivot/swivel have to be as close to the floor as possible? (i assume so) Also, i have read discussion on where the rod should attach to the L shaped brick placer. Should the rod be directed centered on the brick? or the bottom of the brick?

Thanks in advance!

[UtahBeehiver]

Here is one version of an IT that has most all the features you need. If at all possible, place the pivot point a the floor level or as close as possible. I see you have a block out in the floor so this should make it easier to make the pivot point at floor level. The centerline of the rod needs to intersect the center line of the thickness of your brick, IE if your brick is 2.5" the centerline of the rod will be at 1.25" down from the top of the "L" bracket. PS the IT need to be adjustable to correct any variables that crop up..

[terratree]

Nice work.

My IT in Pic. I have to "modify" it so the pivot is centered over the rotational axis

March 16- cut and laid down upside down cheap mosaic tiles, 2" Foamglas, 2" Thermo 12 Gold Cal Sci board

Some serious insulation. I do have spare white tiles lying around, is it wise to use these to prevent moisture wicking ?

Regards

Jay

[Denamontini]

Russell,

Thanks for the info on the IT! You are a big help to everyone on this forum! I'll post a pic once the IT we designed is finished. We needed something we didn't have to weld.

Jay,
I am a total novice with no experience in any of the skills necessary to build a WFO. I read through a bunch of builds and posts and asked questions. It seemed like many experts were saying that best practice would be to integrate weep holes into the hearth, elevate the insulation off of the concrete in a way to keep it dry but also allow for an easy path for water to flow into the weep holes. I just copied the idea. As far as the insulation goes... we decided (based on everyone else's experience) on Foamglas for the bottom because it is waterproof and would eliminate many of the worries people had keeping the insulation dry during the building process. We used 2" of Cal Sci insulation simply because it was in stock and we could have it the same day. We would have had to wait for 1" or 1.5" boards. The Foamglas was $4.33/ sq ft. The 2" Thermo Gold 12 was $6.46/sq ft. We picked it up so we didn't pay for shipping In all, we ordered 18 sq ft of each. I was being cheap, and we made it work, but 21 sq ft would have been an easier matrix.

Dena

[Denamontini]

Here's a question...

The inner arch... are the tapered arch bricks full length (9") bricks at the beginning and then we cut them down later according to our measurements with the slope of the IT? Or should we cut them a certain length to start? I feel like I am going to have a hard time tapering a full sized brick with my 10" saw. Any ideas suggestions? My saw blade will bevel to one side only.

Anyone have any arch building jewels of wisdom?

[UtahBeehiver]

You start with a full brick, each tapered arch brick is different and well and skewed cut, IE the right side of the Top Dead Center (TDC) brick will be different than the left side brick of TDC. So not advisable to precut the length. The IT allows you to set the length, top, bottom and both side angles intersections. A ten-inch saw is capable of cutting the taper arch bricks, you may need to but from both sides the hand feather any irregular spots or grind with an angle grinder with a diamond cup. As far as dome bricks, you will need to look a a jig to help you cut compound angles, there are several out there on the forum to look at. Many designed for the Harbor Freight wet saws.

PS there are a number of no-weld ITs out on the forum, do an "IT" search

[JRPizza]

Have a look at the linked post by Russell and the one below it I did. They talk about cutting the arch bricks with a 10" saw.
https://community.fornobravo.com/for...351#post400351

[Denamontini]

Thanks for the link! I will study it!

[SableSprings]

Dena, you (and the family work party ) are doing a great job so far. I'll be saving a link to this build (for future builder questions) as how to do "the best option" for top slab to cooking floor pics. I trust you are realizing that--although you originally claimed total novice status--you have gained a lot of valuable experience and are now at a point where you CAN advise other people who are just starting. Looking forward to seeing your WFO build progress through the spring.

[Denamontini]

Dang it!!! We screwed up!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! UGH!!!

Long story short... a few weeks back we bought a new 10" wet saw, we had a WONDERFUL DIAMOND BLADE shipped to us (Pitt Industrial Diamond), the weather was beautiful and we jumped the gun to cut the first 3 course in preparation for a weekend of building. We built these perfect jigs for the angles... we beveled the cuts... we followed the cut suggestions on the spreadsheet... Fast forward to Saturday... Welp, the bricks did not work out like a perfect puzzle piece. It was a huge disappointment.

I don't know how to describe them, they were just too angled and too beveled? So, instead of suggesting to my husband that we RE-CUT 80 1/2 bricks, I just said, "Oh well, we're gonna make it work" (I didn't say "Oh Well" I said lots of bad words) So, using my IT as a guide, I just laid a brick right side up and then the next one went in upside down. I knew it was wrong-- but a happy marriage is better than some jacked-up angled grout lines, right? My neighbors thought the brick work looked grand (they think the fire goes under the hearth inside the base, so I don't trust their judgement )

I know better. Measure twice, cut once. (Measure 3 times, make a mock-up, build it out of cardboard, then cut once)

Live and learn... here it is.

I contemplated burying this secret, but isn't this what the forum is for? Sharing ideas! It is a bad idea to blindly follow the spreadsheet without fully understanding and trying the cuts out first. I want to keep others from making the same mistake.

Mike, Thanks for building my confidence Haha!


Onward and upward,
Dena

Also, I ran out of homebrew with like 3 more bricks to go on the right side... that's why it looks off-center.

[JRPizza]

A tip for beveling your bricks - cut two bricks on opposite sides and see how well they fit. If you still have a vee, adjust your angle, re-cut, and re-check. When the angle is right cut the rest of the bricks for that row. If the angle was too much just save those bricks for a subsequent row as each row takes more of an angle.

[SableSprings]

Dena, your solution to the bevel cuts works out just fine. It actually may help to reduce the cracking where seams align too closely between chains. I think it looks a lot better than my inside brickwork...and the bottom line is that it's structurally sound and will reward you for a lot of terrific meals & fabulous family (and party) memories in the future. (...and nobody except you will notice anything but what's coming off the cooking floor ). Relax, and give yourself a pat on the back for successfully dealing with the issue (and have a nice adult beverage to celebrate your progress!)