36" Pompeii in St Louis

[plastered]

Baza
Thanks! I used regular old brick mortar for the grout/tuckpointing. To affix the brick facade to the concrete hearth, I used versabond I don't remember why I chose these things, but it's been a year and they are still standing !

The thinset was great to glue the brick flats to the concrete, dried super fast so I didn't need spacers or anything fancy. I also just eyeballed the whole thing, and didn't do any measuring and it turned out great. Gluing the bricks probably took a couple hours, and the tuckpointing probably took 3-4 hours. Definitely one of the easier parts of the project.

[Baza]

Hey Josh! awesome work - really enjoyed the video!
I learned even more from you beyond what I've learned in your thread!

Quick question - noticed you used full brick around the mouth of the oven and thin brick on the concrete hearth ... what mortar did you use to grout?
I like the look of the lighter coloured mortar with the red brick you have here and would like to consider something similar!

Thanks for any insight you can give!

Great build!
Barry

[Boogie-D]

Pretty impressive for having no previous masonry skills... and very beautiful brick work styling ... awesome josh

[MarkJerling]

I put together a nice pretty timelapse on Youtube if anyone wants to see the whole process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiYE...ature=youtu.be

That is so cool! Nicely done!

[Chach]

Nice job on the oven and video!

Ricky

[plastered]

I put together a nice pretty timelapse on Youtube if anyone wants to see the whole process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiYE...ature=youtu.be

[plastered]

Ope-dog -- re-attached my door pics for you, sorry about that. Yep, just made an aluminum box essentially and filled it with leftover CaSi blanket, screwed some cedar to the front.
I asked my building supplier what to use and he recommended regular mortar for the stone.

Baza - The valve is open all the time, no need to manually open or close it. I'm sure you'll be fine without it.

[Ope-dog]

Hey Plastered... I've really enjoyed following your build and appreciate taking the time to post pics of everything! I agree.. the irregularity of your counter top is a nice touch. Did you use mortar or adhesive to mount the stone to the concrete base?

Also, the door pics from an earlier post never seemed to load. I'm guessing your mounted the wood to a metal backing, then fashioned a strip of metal around the arch to form a curve/cavity before stuffing with insulation?

Definitely a good-looking oven for sure!!!!

[Baza]

HA! I find myself just doing a few things too - "just because" really smart people on this forum know stuff!
Probably a good idea to keep with this.

I'm just worried about this best practice working in an oven enclosed completely in its "doghouse" - can't get in to open/close valve regularly - so am I at a disadvantage? Or, like builders before - will it go on merrily cooking in spite of not have one?

As for the stucco thing - I just know that homes around here that have been stucco'd when it was the thing to do for builders - over time (about 5 years or so) the stucco suffered in the freeze/thaw cycle - that could just be shoddy workmanship ... which clearly isn't an issue with YOU!

So - yeah, I think you are taking a good approach seeing how it goes and making decisions thereafter - I'll be watching and learning as always!!
Barry

[plastered]

Baza thanks for the kind words. I dont really know how this all came together so well either... I hope it inspires others as the builds here inspired me.

For the vent hole, I dont really understand it either, but its what some of the smart people on here suggested. I guess if water starts to get inside there is a way for it to escape. It was only ten bucks so hopefully it amounts to something. Time will tell. Realistically I won't live in this house for more than a decade so I will likely never know.

Yea, it gets cold here. I stucco'd it because thats what everyone else does. I have no idea how it holds up in the elements. I have zero experience in that realm, should I be worried? Maybe after this first winter I'll realize that I have to enclose it.

[Baza]

plastered WOW! You have been doing fantastic work - and figuring much of it out yourself! This is one of the very cool things about this project - we have the good folks on this forum - but at the end of the day - you have to leave the coach and go in and do it ... and you did great!

Wondering about a couple of things - I'm not completely clear about the vent hole - I see many with it, but not sure why (to release moisture? If so, did all the folks that built them without this now have moisture problems in their domes?); and,
Stucco in St. Louis - doesn't it get cold there? Will stucco hold up under that cold? I'm in Canada, to be fair, and will expect a freeze/thaw cycle so am closing mine in completely (kinda sad about that). Anyway - wondering what your thinking was about this decision?

Thanks - I've really enjoyed this build and the results are terrific - your first-time approach has inspired me a number of times.
Congrats
Barry

[plastered]

Finally installed a countertop. Real countertops are expensive, so my building supplier recommended this stone which was about $80. It was easy to cut, and I like the irregularity of it.

I think I am done for the year, I still don't know what to decorate the dome with, but it is fine for now.

[plastered]

Finally put up the brick veneer this weekend. Bought the Old Mill Brick singles/flats (mixed the following style/colors: Boston Mill, Cafe Mocha, Columbia Street, Independence - link to home depot). I applied them to the concrete using thinset, and then tuck pointed them with regular mortar.

Wasn't planning on putting bricks on the backside, but ended up with enough leftovers to do it. Not sure how they come up with their sq footage coverage estimation, but I bought way too much based on my calculations. These bricks are crazy expensive, but they are real brick and they look beautiful, and I'm happy they matched my real brick. I used fancy corner pieces along the front corners, and did not use them on the back (which I will never see).

Nice and cool out and I didn't need any power tools. I didn't even measure anything, eyeballed it all. It was fun learning to tuckpoint and by the last wall I had it down.

Now I just need to figure out some sort of counter top.

[mongota]

Nice progress!

Might just be my browser, but I'm not seeing your door pics in the previous post. I just get white outlined boxes with no images.

[plastered]

Stucco done, with breather vent hole. Will probably just paint the stucco for now until I figure out what finish materials I want to apply to the concrete stand/dome. I can't decide on a stone veneer or brick for the bottom...