42” Pompeii in San Felipe, MX

[modified9v]

OK... tomorrow should be the day I can put the wet saw away. Almost home.

Question, and maybe there is a better place to ask this (let me know if there is please) but in the third picture you can see that I cut down the middle of a waste brick and have inserted the anchor plate into the slot. It’s not a super tight fit so I think the thermal expansion shouldn’t be a concern. My thought is to cut all 4 bricks and shape them to the line drawn on the bricks in the first photo then slot cut those bricks to accommodate the anchor plate. After that I would assemble/mortar the thing together on the bench with the anchor plate in place. It should float justttt a little bit but not enough where I’d be concerned about it flopping around. After a few days of curing I could mortar the whole thing on top of what you see in photo #2.

Your thoughts please... time is of the essence... ahahahaha
Mikie V.

[modified9v]

So, after cutting a bunch of weird bricks it was time for some pizza out of the POS oven in the kitchen. I should not say bad things about this oven. It’s been good to us. Wanted to test the new sourdough starter and it was a huge success. (I had my old starter down pat, but I killed it). Not the lift I was looking for but the taste was spot on. I made 2 pies. First one was a pepperoni (no pics) and it was gone pronto.

The pizza in the pics below is what we call the “Quattro”. 4 cheese with olive oil and garlic... just a touch of ground pepper. This is my “Go To” pizza. The crust gets all the credit with this pie. My starter passed the test. Bueno. 55% hydration and 5 days of cold ferment. Lacked a little bounce, but the color and crisp was spot on. A few adjustments with the polish and hydration and we will be ready for some 90 second pizza. I can smell it.

Oh, I used EVOO, dried oregano from our garden, motz, parm, provalone and stinky cheese (Gorgonzola)... some fresh minced garlic. Bob’s your uncle.. My wife says “You can sell this shit”. I don’t want to work. LOL

[Mongo]

Make sure you use a good quality outdoor adhesive (I use mono flex, but that brand may not be available in your part of the world). Also use glossy tiles which will clean off beautifully and a black grout.

I found Monoflex on the giant brain but of course not available in north america. It's like they read your mind and produced the product you wanted:

"A premium, water-resistant, flexible, rubber-based, fast-setting, cementitious adhesive for bonding ceramic and stone tiles to porous and non-porous surfaces subject to vibration and thermal movement."

Unbelievable!
I searched "flexible mortar" and found some suitable products available here.

I have a small mosaic that I bought from an artist some 20 years ago that I've been saving for the right application. The massive facade of my oven seems to be it. Quite a ways down the road.
Thanks for the info!

-George

[modified9v]

Sorry I haven’t got back to you Mongo... looks like we are finally going to be dry for an extended period. I did attach a couple pictures and I hope they help. I’m going up one more brick on the flue gallery and then I will make arced end caps that go over the the front and rear portion of the assembly to form an 8x8 square. It will look very similar to JRPizza’s (his work is much cleaner). I’m still on the fence as to whether or not to bolt the anchor plate down or just sandwich between courses. I spent the morning reviewing JRPizza’s anchor plate... funny, at that time during his build I could almost see him wondering exactly what I’m wondering. In the end he bolted it. I’m still on the fence.

Yokosuka Dweller, interesting that you ask about the wood storage area as it has been a topic around here with the guys doing my concrete countertop work and grading in my patio area. The way the grading has been designed in the case of a major storm event the flowing water is designed to go right through the wood storage area. It is rare to have these events and normal rainfall here is only 3” annually. We have exceeded that by far this year and even still there was no flowing water in my yard. The ground (sand) perks like crazy. A lot of thought went into this because when we do get that crazy rain it tears up the area. I studied other events and mapped the arroyos in my area and I should be golden. There will not be a cover over the oven as in a shade structure but the oven itself will have a house built over it for aesthetics. There will be a 4” drain pipe in the back of the enclosure that will allow flood waters to flow into a small arroyo on the back side of my property.

So, yes... the wood will get wet, but it will dry out quickly. I may put a metal grate in there to keep the wood off of the ground (scorpions and sidewinders) but will cross that road when I get there.

Speaking of getting there, it’s difficult to work around my contractor so most of my work gets done on Sundays when the workers are not here. They are right in my way right now but there are a few things I can do.

Thanks for checking in and following along,
Mikie V.

[JRPizza]

My patio had a very slight slope but is rather large and my oven is at the low end. When it rains (lots of rain here in the Pacific Northwest) I have water creeping under my shelter and into my wood storage area. I kind of wish I had built it on a slightly raised platform. I keep pallets under the oven so that the wood I store there stays relatively dry.

[Yokosuka dweller]

Looking very good there - everything coming together now. I especially like the front of the oven stand. If I could I'd do something similar like that but I'm on a slope which presents itself with some challenges...Maybe think about creating some kind of barrier or 'step' so that any rain water doesn't run in under the oven stand, that is, unless you're going to cover the entire area anyway.

[Mongo]

Very nice.
I'm curious how your flu bricks mate up to the gallery. Can't quite tell from the straight on photo.
I'm at the same phase in my build.
Not sure how much you are getting but I'm pretty sick of this water falling from the sky.

[Chach]

Looking good...

[modified9v]

Long over due. Made some great progress working around the contractor and weather. Almost there.

[modified9v]

Made some progress today. The stupid little “L” shape brick are in. I did round the edge of them to aid the smoke into the vent chamber. The backyard is taking shape. Notes about each photo are in the photo.

I have a big block of styrofoam that I will use as a jig for the vent chamber. I am going to do this out of brick, not casting.

Thanks for following along

[JRPizza]

Not sure why but I also had a different view. Thanks for the link Joe!

[Gulf]

Thanks Mike,

That is a different view from what I have as my start page for the forum. I have been using the link: Search for new posts on Forno Bravo.

[modified9v]

Maybe this picture helps. Where I have it circled. See where it says “Latest Activity”? I was accidentally in that mode and it really messes with the forum.

[Gulf]

Sorry Mike,

I'm not quite following you on this? From which page(s) are selecting this "mode"?

[modified9v]

OK... I think this is really important or I’m an idiot. I have been looking at the format for our Forno Bravo community all wrong. Not sure the right person will see this post but it’s really, really important to have one setting, in particular, CORRECT... I was in the wrong mode the whole time..

Just above the “POST” button there is one that says “POSTS” and the one to the right says “Latest Activities”. Make sure you are on “POSTS”. It makes a world of difference and would have made it a little easier... funny, in “latest activities” mode you have no idea what post number someone is referring to.

Sorry to those giving help and referencing post #’s... I just never seen it and figured it was just a screw up on someone else’s bench. It was my bench.

Ugggh,
Mikie V.