Pompeii low dome vs hemispherical dome construction method

[yoboseyo]

Hi,

I am in the process of desiging my Pompeii oven build - 36" intermal diameter. I'm not deviating too much from the standard design, but there are a few points where I need input into the design.

Firstly, I've read about the benefits of a low dome vs regular hemispherical dome - I'll be mostly making pizza and it should at the very least heat up faster. A drawback is build complexity, but I have an idea.

If I start by building a soldier course and then put the indispensible tool in the middle before laying the floor bricks, then the dome height would be the height of a hemispherical dome (18") minus the floor bricks, so 15". After laying the soldier course I can build the floor in there but remove a few bricks in the middle where the indispensible tool is.

I'll adjust the door height to account for the dome height, i.e., 9.5"

I suppose a complication would be whether I need to build the solder course closer in or at an angle so that the first course is within reach of the indispensible tool. Otherwise
the dome will be quite flat due to the soldier course and hard to build.

Has anyone done anything like this? Is there any drawbacks

[UtahBeehiver]

Welcome to the forum. Low domes are not as common on the blog but Daidensacha just built a really nice low down and documented it very well. There have been a few builds where the IT is raised at the top of the soldier (by the way, using a soldier and a low dome will most likely require buttressing of the dome walls further complexing the build) but you will have to search the forum builds to find. In order to use an IT for a low dome, it MUST be length adjustable since a low dome is parabolic. Not trying to dissuade you from a low dome, but a pompeii dome oven does a great job on pizza and much easier to build. It may be possible to do a cast low dome if not too large in size. David S our cast expert is a good source on cast ovens.

[yoboseyo]

I may not need a soldier course, but I think that I can do without an adjustable IT. I'm just building a hemispherical dome, except the floor is inside the dome rather than under, so in effect the height is 1 brick less than hemispherical.

[UtahBeehiver]

There are a lot of variations in the build, brick size, mortar joint size, etc where having an adjustable IT is worth the extra effort. Attached in a set of plans from one our builders, there are also some not weld adjustable ITs out on the blog as well.