42" build in Michoacan, Mexico

[towersurf]

Hello Forno Bravo forum members, I have always dreamed of building a pizza oven at our second home in Michoacan Mexico. After following this forum, in the back ground for several years, we decided to finally pull the trigger and start the build. The build will be a 42" pompeii oven intregated into an outdoor kitchen that we are going to build at ther same time. This is all happening rather quickly and somewhat unplanned. I actually just came down here a few weeks ago with plans of driving our USA registered truck back to the states however when news broke of the boarder closing it became apparent that I would not be able to drive back in time before the closing so we took the decision to stay until things get better. So, now that Im stuck here for awhile why not start that pizza oven project, right? As a side note, I hope everyone stays safe no matter where you are and please do not take any unnecessary risk. Now to the build. We started laying out the design of the outdoor kitchen with cal and then proceeded to escavate and pour the slab. Sorry I dont have better photos of this phase.

[towersurf]

We also added in some plumming for a sink

[towersurf]

Most of the construction in Mexico is done with solid red brick however I did find a place the had blocks. The only problem is that the blocks are 16" x 6" x 8" so we had a lot of cutting to do the make them fit correctly.

[towersurf]

Here you can see the hearth block stand complete and laying the block for the rest of the outdoor kitchen.

[towersurf]

The oven hearth is 4" concrete with another 4" of Vcrete. I did the Vcrete at 7:1 ratio which I found out later is not optimal and that I should have done a 5:1 mix. To mitigate some loading risk I have decide to place the dome on the oven floor insteasd of outside.

[UtahBeehiver]

Great looking view from your project.

[towersurf]

So today is day 21 since the pour so we decided to start cutting the floor brick. Its amazing how much Im finding out that I dont know. As we move forward things are becoming clearer but man I feel like im winging it at times. I was nice to finally get the saw set up and start cutting fire bricks.

[UtahBeehiver]

Since you are enclosing oven anyway dome on fire brick floor is actually easier. You can rough cut floor bricks, leave proud because won't be seen once enclosed

[towersurf]

Great looking view from your project.

Thanks. I struggled with where to place the oven. It seemed to be a trade off between the view and prevailing wind. Where its placed should still give us a good view while keeping the wind from blowing strait into the entry.

[towersurf]

Since you are enclosing oven anyway dome on fire brick floor is actually easier. You can rough cut floor bricks, leave proud because won't be seen once enclosed

That's good because today I learned that my brick cutting skills are not that good. Hopefully they will get better as i progress through the project.

[towersurf]

Last night I built the inter arch form and today we finished cutting the floor. I would like to do a tapered inter arch. I couldnt really visualize where the inter arch is placed and how it ties into the dome however after laying out the floor and playing around with the inter arch form its becoming clearer. The photo below shows where Im thinking of placing the inter arch. The half bricks on each side of the arch form would be where the first course ties in. In the last photo you can see how the TDC brick placement looks with the IT tool at 21". Does these look right to you guys? Thanks for any feedback you can give.

[towersurf]

I ran into a few issues that slowed down the progress over the last two weeks but now that those issues are resolved we are starting to move forward again. The first issue was that a part of the ceramic fiber board Im using got wet. It took a few days to dry out before I could set the floor. The second issue was the brick cutting jigs I had made were not square and had other flaws so I had to have new ones made. The new ones work well so Im back to cutting brick. Today we started the second course which was much harder then I had expected however after learning from a few mistakes it seems to be getting easier. Im not sure if its because of the hot tropical enviorment here but the home brew mortar is drying out so quickly that its hard to make adjustment necesarry to keep things level and inline. Each brick is soaked in water until no bubbles appear and the previously set brick is sprayed with water until the mortar is applied. Even doing this the bricks still soak the water out of the mortar within seconds. Is this normal?

[towersurf]

Here are some photos of the progress to date

[Yokosuka dweller]

Great photos and start with the build. About your homebrew drying fast - I dunno your local climate but it looks warm and sunny. What I found, and others too I think, is to keep the mix on the wet side. I.e. actually soupy and sliding off the trowel when you check it, then even with wet bricks and sprayed area, if in the sunshine, this will still work well to lock the bricks pretty fast but just be easier to work with and stay workable for longer.

Btw, what's on top of your p-crete insulation? Looks like a paver but is probably insulation?

[towersurf]

Thanks for the advise Yokosuka. Temperatures here during working hours are high 80's F or about 32C. Ill keep the home brew on the wetter side today and see how that goes. One quick note on the home brew, I am using the mud, run through a fine screen, from the fire brick cuts instead of fire clay. I was finally able to source some fire clay and it should be here in about a week but I didnt want to wait to get started. Regarding the insulation, I added 4" of Vcrete on top of the hearth and then added 2" of ceramic fiber board on top of the Vcrete. The fire brick floor sits on top of the 2" fiber ceramic board. When I layed out the floor to cut it, I layed it on top of plywood to prevent damage to the Vcrete. I then remove the plywood for the final install.