Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

[bbell]

After a couple of months of learning, lurking and waiting for the last snowfall to melt I've finally moved to the next step of pouring a slab.

We've finished with our 2 weeks of snow and now just wait for days without rain. It was supposed to be cloudy but dry. It wasn't. If one waited for cloudy and dry at this time of year I wouldn't be eating pizza till next fall.

I was able to spend a little of that time welding up a stand rather than using cement blocks. Figured it might save a little weight.

My thanks to all the mentors, their patience and their wisdom on this forum. It certainly allows us newbies to move from the head scratching to actually mixing cement.

A couple of questions....
I haven't decided on whether to buy, borrow, or steal a wet saw. If I were to buy one (and somehow rationalize it to my wife...), any suggestions on make, model, or blade size?

I will post a link below to the pictures I've taken to-date.

Thanks again for all the help!

Bill

[dmun]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

A lot of us bought the Harbor Freight 10" wet saw.
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
It's more expensive than when I bought it, but I understand they go on sale from time to time. Look for a retail branch to save freight.

[Les]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

I haven't decided on whether to buy, borrow, or steal a wet saw.

Bill,

If dollars are an issue, I would borrow one. If that is not possible - then definitely steal one.

What Davis said - the HF is a good saw for the price. When you are done you should easily get a third of it back on Craig's list.

Les...

[jrparks]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Hi Bill,
Nice to see I?m not the only one dodging snow, wind, and rain in an attempt to build a northwest Pompeii oven. I just managed to pour my hearth slab last Sunday and my vermiculite concrete yesterday. With a little luck, I hope to complete by May.
I got my wet saw second hand. Try craigslist.com, I saw several options there today.
Good luck with your project.
Cheers,

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Here's a question....

I intend to use a metal (steel) frame for the base. Does anyone know what the different support strength would be if you used 3 or 4 layers of cement board stacked rather than a 4" slab?

Just curious...

Bill

[jrparks]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Hi Bill,
Not sure if the cement board is designed for that kind of load. Since you are able to weld, perhpas yoo could consider using some 2" angle to create a form and poue a 2" slab reinforced with 1/4" rebar grid. You could even weld the rebar to the 2" angle for suport while you pour. Hope this helps,
Cheers,
John

[Les]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Bill,

I did a quick google. It looks like Durock is rated at only 30 lbs per square foot. That's not even close to what you need.

Les...

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Les and John,

My thanks to you both. Good advice and good suggestions.

Any feel for minimum thickness the slab should be?

Bill

[Les]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Any feel for minimum thickness the slab should be?

I'm not sure. I went 3 1/2 and felt that was minimum. It only gave me 1 1/2 inchs of concrete above and below the rebar. I spaced my rebar grid around 10 - 11 inches. I supposed if you went overkill on the steel you could get away with a smaller slab. Is there an issue with the recommended thickness?

Les...

[jrparks]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

I think that the thickness is going to depend on how you designed and built your steel frame base. If you have adequate steel cross members then you can probably get away with a thinner slab.
Cheers,
John

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Les, good question. I was trying to keep all but the dome as light as possible. I'm getting over that now...

John, the frame is 1 1/2" angle iron so I'll probably form up the sides to around 3" to 3 1/2". I like the idea of tacking the rebar t the frame. I'm not a welder though a good friend is and has left the welder at my place. Time to experiment....

Bill

[dusty]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Souds like you are off and running!

Have fun...I sure did.

dusty

[Tim F]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Concrete is pretty cheap - instead of asking 'what is the minimum' I'd be thinking 'how much is too much?' The few extra dollars you put into it now will equate to a lot less worrying over the rest of your life. But then again I'm a worrier by trade

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Thanks Tim, you're right.

Was able to finish the stand today and lay in the rebar for the hearth pad. I did all this in the garage and then had that disturbing thought - How the hell is theis going to get to the back of the house? Thanks to some creative wheel barrow use and spousal support we were able to wrestle it to the pad.

Hopefully can form up and pour tomorrow.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Bill, nice re-bar work! I just finished mine and know
1) how hard tieing the re-bar is on the fingers and
2) how expensive steel is! But it looks like it will be solid and that's always good. Best to worry about about thickness of the pizza crust than the stability of the oven base.
-Dino