Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks for the "well wishes" Marco, I need them and this forum since I am a "foody" and a "wino", not a contractor-builder-handy man kind of guy but I may be after I'm thru. I want to start cooking. I just read that Christo bakes cookies on his hot oven landing! These ovens can do almost anything.

So I've amended my landing area after looking over most everyones pics again. I will make the front arch wider to 24" (I'll let Christo keep his record 27" wide) and I will make my depth a tad deeper than many and almost like Christo's. It will be about 14" from the door (where the 1/2" notch is in the brick for the reveal) and the front of the outer arch. There will be a decorative arch covering that and it will add 2-4", technically on the landing.

I have been on autocad all day (don't tell my boss) trying to make my 3 FB boards work. It barely does but it will only go under the oven floor with maybe 1/4" extending beyond it for smearing 1/4" of Refmix over the dome when its done. I'll have to use the ceramic blanket draped all the way down the side and touch my concrete slab. Others have extended their Insblock or FB board about 2" beyond the dome but I can't and I want to lay it this weekend. This really is a lot to think about but it's also lots of fun.
Thanks, Dino

[Les]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino,

If I can make a suggestion. I would make your reveal 1 inch. I made my door 1/2 inch smaller for some wiggle room. I am still hitting the sides from time to time. I know you are planning on flaring your entry, which will help, but it will do no harm to add a little more lip to it.

JMO,

Les...

[glennb]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino,
If you are thinking about the arch design, have a look at my progress, as it sounds similar in size to what you are planning.
link to my build
If you want to know what my dimensions are ending up like, just let me know. I started off using CAD as well, but ended up just putting the bricks down in place and working from there, more by feel rather than design, and it seems to be working for me so far.

[egalecki]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

I agree with Les. I only have a 1/2 inch reveal and it's adequate, but 1 inch would be better. The door would fit better with the gasket if I had a full 1 inch.

[exceloven]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino,
I'm with Les and Elizabeth. I have almost 3/4" reveal, but I wish I had done an inch. I'm not sure why so many of us have used about a 1/2". I think 1 inch should be the standard. JMO

Mark

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Hey, thanks everyone, I'll plan on a 1" reveal. I'm off to pick up a bag of fireclay so I can mix it with sand and water to lay my 2" rigid insulation and oven floor. I don't want to wait until I cut brick to accumulate the fire clay.

Questions: How should I cut the rigid FB board? Slowly with a hack saw?, utility knife maybe? Thanks, Dino

[Les]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Questions: How should I cut the rigid FB board?

I used a sawsall. It's easy to cut but wear a mask - the stuff is nasty!

Les...

[christo]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

I may as well chime in on the reveal - I went from almost 2 inches at the edges to 3/4 to an inch at the center. the reason for the 2 inches at the edges was I embedded halogen lights into the brick. Crazy is as crazy does....

Christo

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks Les, I'll use a mask and saw if I can't find a sharp knife to cut the fb board.

And Christo and everyone else, thanks for the reveal info. I finalized my oven plans today with a 1" reveal therefore the oven inner opening goes from 20" (per FB specs) to 22" wide for the door then to 24.5 or 25" final outer arch width.
Thanks, everyone . Dino

[bbell]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Hi Dino,

Great progress.

I was able to use 3 FB ceramic boards for a 40" dome and would have had enough for a 42"dome. This includes a flared brick and a half landing.

And if you have an option in size of bags, I don't think I used more than a couple of pounds of sand and fireclay each for the hearth bed.

Enjoy!

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Your bbell, I too figured out how to make it work with Fb boards and some cuts. I'll set them tomorrow.

Question: Is the 50% sand/fire clay mix JUST to set my bricks on the FB board since most bricks are a bit uneven? Or do I also use it for placing my insulation board on the cement slab?

My slab is flat so I believe I only use it for setting the bricks to level? Is that right and is the fire clay and sand mix 50-50 and do I add just enough water for toothpaste consistency? Any thoughts would be helpful...as always, thanks to everyone, Dino

[egalecki]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

You don't need the mix to lay the board if you can get it to lay flat. Mine went down just fine. I actually didn't use the mix under my bricks, either, because they went on the board really well and I just didn't see the need for it. They were nice and even and fit together well, so....

[glennb]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

You don't need the mix to lay the board if you can get it to lay flat. Mine went down just fine. I actually didn't use the mix under my bricks, either, because they went on the board really well and I just didn't see the need for it. They were nice and even and fit together well, so....

Same here. Bricks went straight onto the Cal-Sil board without any fireclay/sand mix anywhere. My bricks were very flat and even though, so i guess it's brick dependent.

[bbell]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Hi Dino,

I went with no sand/clay mixture under the boards. There's a lot of weight upon the boards and they shouldn't shift at all.

I did use the mixture beneath the hearth bricks as the FB boards were a little compressed in places and the piecing of them together caused a little uneveness and a few seams as I pieced it out of 3 boards. The mixture helped find a little more flexibility in laying them even. Doesn't require much at all.

Hope that helps. Your build looks great so far. Enjoy!

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks for the info Elizabeth, Bill and Glen, I'll see how it all lays this morning and use my flattest bricks for the hearth. I've got a 3 day weekend so I should be posting more pics soon. -Dino