42” Pompeii in San Felipe, MX

[Chach]

Looking good...

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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]

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

[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]

Oh, I wanted to add that I’m not opposed to drilling and bolting the plate down... my thoughts on that are that once I drill all four bricks and place stainless bolts in the holes, recessed to accommodate the bolt head, it would be super hard to get the spacing right so the holes line up with the anchor plate. I guess a guy could drill new holes once all the bricks are laid if the holes don’t line up.

One more stupid little thing that could have saved me a bunch of time... I’ve been struggling with the wet saw from day one. When I rip a long cut the blade have never cut a perfectly straight line. Today, I found the adjustment to fi that. I feel like an idiot. After all, I’ve worked on machines and fabricated metal for 40+ years. WOW... what a time to figure that out. It was too simple.

[david s]

I think your solution is better than drilling holes in the bricks, although cutting deep slots in the bricks is also tempting them to crack where the slots are. Trimming the anchor plate and shallower slots would be better. Many ways to skin a cat, good luck.

[modified9v]

Thanks David, if I proceed with the slot I will for sure cut down the plate... the slot won’t be very deep at all. I really don’t want to do the bolt together deal. I did make a sample hole with a masonry bit and it wasn’t so bad to drill... just concerned with the thermal expansion deal. I appreciate your quick reply. You have been an amazing asset to my build. Thank You So Much!!!

Mikie V.

[JRPizza]

The slotted bricks are an interesting idea. I considered just buttering up both sides of my adapter and making a sandwich between bricks, but I had concerns about adhesion of the mortar to the stainless and didn't want to have a compromised joint. The slots take care of that concern!
I did use slots though, as keeping the bricks exactly where they need to be during the mortaring process is not an easy task and I had to slot my plate slightly to get the bolts through the adapter

[modified9v]

I’m gonna go for it. I really wanted to do the bolt up but figured with mortar gaps and my lapse of paying attention there was no way to get the holes to line up with the bolts. I hope this works. If not, I’ll get some bolts and 4 more bricks. I still reference your build. Thanks for all you do JRPizza.

[modified9v]

So, after thinking more about this I’m not liking the slotted brick idea and here is why. If the metal expands at a rate faster than the brick, and it will, there is a chance that the brick would snap off at the slot. I had intended to leave some clearance but the amount clearance potentially needed would leave me with a loose chimney pipe that would really load that slot when the wind blows hard (like it does everyday) here. Also, to do the slot thing is going to take some serious precision cuts and trimming to make it fit right and even then it may not work period.

What I plan to do instead is sandwich the plate between bricks. I will allow for a little clearance but I feel better about this then the slot idea. Also, wanted to mention that eventually the whole mess will be inside an enclosure but that is down the road... in the mean time it will all be stuccoed on top of 2 layers of insulating blankets. I suspect that stucco will stop the swaying of the vent pipe. I think this method will be quicker, easier and more effective. Also, it’s been done in many builds and I haven’t seen any one post of failure.

The picture attached is not mine, I snagged it off of JRPizza’s build... I think credit goes to Russell. If anyone see’s a problem with this, please let me know soon. LOL

Thank you, Mikie V.

[david s]

Yes, I think that is a better solution. Regarding the stucco supporting the flue pipe, it is also a problem area for cracks and water entry. A solution that works pretty well is to wrap some box cardboard around the pipe that you can stucco up to. When the stucco has set hard remove the cardboard and fill the gap with high temperature silicon. This deals with the pipe expansion wanting to crack the surrounding stucco and provided the seal is maintained, prevents water running down the pipe from entering into the insulation layers. Just be careful, crazy flames up the flue (like my wife did one day when firing up) will kill the high temp silicon, but not too hard to redo.