Treehouse Pizza

[RandyJ]

Giovanni Rossi the whole reason I am documenting this build is to hopefully help others in the future the way i was helped on my last build. There are simple things that can make a big difference in how easy something is to do or how cheap it is to do. I know that I have received tons of valuable information from this forum and at work that helps me do these projects. I was lucky when I built my first oven and was at a job sight that had framers and Mason's and concrete workers all of whom I told what I was doing and asked how I should proceed and was told exactly what to do. Now I feel it is my duty to help others the way I was helped.

Now today we have a break in the rain this morning still and seeing as it predicts rain for most of the next 10 days i am going to start stacking block for my stand. It is supposed to not rain on wed again so i am going to shoot for pouring again then. Wish me luck as that will be a solo job again most likely. Just nowhere near the volume.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Well I forged on ahead today regardless of the weather. It looked like it was going to start raining at any time so I ran to menards as quickly as I could and got the rest of the blocks I needed a little more rebar and a bunch of bags of concrete. As soon as I got home it started to sprinkel. So I figured I better work fast . I drilled holes in the slab and pounded the rebar into it. Then stacked the blocks over them. It had not started raining hard yet so I figured I would mix up a few bags of concrete to start pinning every thing in place by core filling every other hallow. It worked out one bag completely filled one void. So I mixed 13 bags by hand and by the time I was done it was pouring and I was completely soaked. Oh well it just helps convince my neighbors I am nuts.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Well I am trying to get ready to pour my support slab on Wednesday. I managed to get the bottom of the slab framed up and the sides as well. I also got all the rebar cut and some bent and put into place. I still need to go back and tie some of it together but for the most part I have it all ready to go. I spent about 3.5 hours on this part today.

I can't wait to have all this part done and move onto the funner parts of the build. I also am just slightly paranoid that if I don't hit this window then I am not sure when I will get the next chance to pour as it is predicted to rain for most of the next 2 weeks.

Randy

[david s]

STOP.
Before you pour the concrete put some wedges under the props, so they can drop a little. Failure to do this means that as soon as you move a prop off vertical, you extend its length, creating upward stress on the slab and possible cracking.

You may also want to consider having some weep holes through the slab for underfloor drainage which allows moisture from the underfloor insulation to dry a lot easier and faster. This is easier to achieve by casting in some 1/2' plastic pipe rather than drilling the slab later and having to dodge reo.

[RandyJ]

Hey david s , I had been planning to just cut the supports off after the slab is cured. If that's not a great idea how am I going to get the shim out from under the leg? I would think with all the weight pushing down it will be stuck there. Maybe I am missing something. I am picturing using door shims.

As for weep holes I had just planned to use a hammer drill and drill afterwards. If I did go before do you think a bit of 1/2" EMT would work? Pretty sure I have some on the job and could just slice up a few chunks before I go home.

Randy

[Giovanni Rossi]

I'm right with you on the wedges Randy. I was ready to use shims under my supports, but had the same thought about the weight and not being able to knock them out anyway. I just sacrificed them and cut them. There must be some engineering concept whereby if the wedge is a certain angle they're easier to knock out??

The drainage tubes were pretty simple to install. I just zip-tied them to the rebar to hold them in place. One thing I can't quite see on your photo is if you have a platform above the horizontal members of your supports. I did, so I just drilled through the cement board and and pushed the tubing though so it rested on the platform. That plus the zip ties held the tubes very well during the pour. I'm sure you know; if you use the tubes, make sure to position the top 1/8-1/4" below the surface so they don't interfere with floating the slab. And stuff the top to keep the concrete out. Drilling seems pretty simple too if you've marked the rebar locations on your forms.

[SableSprings]

Shims are wedges and are pretty easy to knock out. Getting those supports cut is going to be harder than you think. Also, putting shims in on the horizontal wood will help drop them out later...guaranteed you'll struggle trying to cut them out and they won't drop out. As David said, the boards will push out when they are even slightly angled. I used a couple chunks of 2x4 in my ash dump void and it took me over an hour to cut, drill, & pound them out because they had also absorbed water from the pour and swelled up considerably.

As for the weep holes, putting in almost any semi rigid pipe is far easier than drilling through the slab (and possibly hitting rebar). Set them so the top is just below the top level of your slab. That will allow you to scree the top and you can easily clear it after the pour sets with a rod & hammer from below. I know this all seems like a lot of extra fiddling with the shim additions and setting in weep hole tubes, but it will make cleaning up the slab forms a whole lot easier. By the way, I'm sure Menards has packs of wedge/shims for cheap...I'd recommend the plastic ones as they won't split or absorb water (and swell ).

[RandyJ]

Ok. I made the recommended changes. Does this look better? I added 3 weep holes roughly under the edges of the dome. I added shims under the support legs under the slab and moved the form up a bit to compensate. I have roughly 1/2" of space above the weep hole pipes. I found some scrap 1/2" EMT so that is what I used and I covered the top side with duct tape. Let me know if anyone sees anything else. I have concrete ordered for 1pm tomorrow.

Randy

[david s]

You should be able to easily drill out that 1/2” from underneath after about 2 days when the concrete is not too hard. At least you won’t hit any reo.

[RandyJ]

Well I got my support slab poured today. Once again I took off from work at lunch time and ran to get a trailer load of ready mix. For anyone in the future this is a great way to go. If you could access your build spot you could just dump straight into your form from the trailer. I unfortunately have to wheelbarrow everything to the backyard. Fortunately there is not to much of a hill. Other that it being a lot of work to lift all the cement from the wheelbarrow to the form it went very well.

I am very happy to have this part of the build done. Concrete work is not my favorite thing to do. It's not that it is that hard to do but it is brutally heavy hard work. I also was hoping to have the base done before my kit arrived and I have met that as it is supposed to arrive on Friday. Even with all the rain we have been getting I managed to build the whole base in 12 days. That is about as fast as I think I could do this with working full-time too. Maybe could have shaved a day here or there but you need to allow curing time foe the concrete too so not much to cut from that time frame. Now the only concrete work I am not looking forward to is the post base for the pavilion.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Now that the concrete has hardened up a bit I covered it with some heavy weight plastic sheeting. I plan to leave it covered for several days. The oven arrives Friday but I will just have to drag it all inside and then we will be leaving for the weekend. This prevents me from getting to antsy and starting before the slab is ready.

[RandyJ]

So I have been thinking about what I want to do for lighting under the lean to pavilion that I am planning to build over the oven and just had the idea of using my table saw to dado a grove down the middle of the rafters and put some diffuser Chanel with LED strips in it. This is very similar to what I did to light my sons treehouse. Probably do 3 or 4 rafters on each side of the chimney. What does everyone think? Has this been done before? in the treehouse 8M of led is enough to read by and you can do cool colors and effects.

[RandyJ]

So close yet so far away. When the Simi showed up to deliver the oven they had no way to unload it. Oh well I guess we will have to wait till next week

[Giovanni Rossi]

Really strange. Not many residential addresses have a forklift available. My truck had a tailgate lift. However, it took 4 of us to get the crate up the 6' driveway apron to the sidewalk. The freight company said they only deliver to the street, but the driver offered his pallet jack and even helped us. There was no way it was going any further up the 20^o driveway! Had to break it down and move it brick by brick. It's impressive how substantial that crate is constructed. Too bad, you worked so hard to be ready to build when it arrived.

[RandyJ]

Hey Giovanni Rossi , I was also surprised they didn't have a way to get it off. I was not actually home when it got there my dad was. The rep from the shipping company called me back and was all flustered because the crate is 2570# and their abilities were either 2000# or 2500#. I sent a message to Ben and he called back shortly and apologized about the shipping issue. Fortunately we were not going to be home this weekend anyway so I was not planning to do any work on the oven. But I am really looking forward to starting asap. Hopefully it gets here soon so I can get going. My son has requested pizza for his birthday on July 2nd so I am hoping to have it cured by then. That means it will be a bit of a race to get it done in time. Granted that doesn't mean everything will be done probably but hopefully usable. I will eventually need to do a bit of a paver patio in front of the oven too, and build the pavilion and do stone work. But the sooner I get started the sooner I will be done. Hopefully I actually fully finish this one. The last one got to 99% and never quit got fully done. Granted my son was a baby at the time but...

Randy