Mason de Terre Oven

[martywatts]

I am off to a non-re-treatable start. I am building a 36" Pompeii in the corner of our kitchen. The kitchen is on the second floor. I channeled out a 5" deep ledge into the wall to carry the mass of the oven in the corner. The chimney which extends to footings some 14' feet below also helps carry some of the load. The front of the oven is slightly cantilevered over a 5" steel I Beam which is planted on the 2 concrete posts which extend down to a the bond beam that caps the first floor walls and carries the second floor walls and part of the roof load. The first floor walls are 14" thick. I placed the 4" reinforces structural slab on corrugated tin roofing and used the extra roofing material to form the irregular front of the slab. I tried using masonite, but some of my bends were a little tight. The next phase is to poor the insulated slab. I plan on using a mix of perlite and Portland Type II mixed 8:1. It will be 4" thick. I have some mineral wool on hand and was wondering if it would be advisable or not to place it between the structural slab and the insulated slab as a thermo break. I am trying to build this project with minimal cost and am not totally convinced that using the FB insulation on the bottom buys me much since I can get Perlite fairly inexpensively locally. Any comments?

[dmun]

Re: Mason de Terre Oven

the insulated slab. I plan on using a mix of perlite and Portland Type II mixed 8:1. It will be 4" thick.

Four inches of perlite concrete will do the job. I used the mineral fiber board because i wanted to save a couple of inches of thickness. 8:1 is a portland light mix, members who have used those proportions have mechanically mixed a slurry of portland and mortar, and mixed it with the aggregate, rather than the way i did it, which is to mix the dry ingredients 5:1 and add water. Both ways seem to work fine.

There is no need for a slip plane between the support slab and the insulating slab. In fact, the original instructions called for them to be poured the same day, so that they would be bonded together. Upon consideration, this seemed like much work for no particular purpose.

[cynkat]

Re: Mason de Terre Oven

i am looking for a mason who builds pizza ovens in new jersey any advice??

[martywatts]

Re: Mason de Terre Oven

I live in Colorado and really don't consider myself a mason thou I have built a number of Rumford Fireplaces and a few adobe homes. This is my first oven build...so for so good. I am working on the dome right now. I would consider building one for hire after the one I am building is tried and tested...but New Jersey is a bit of a commute. The masonry wood heater association has a list of members at the following website. Masonry Heater Association Member List. Short of finding a seasoned oven builder I would guess that any who has experience building heaters would have the skills to build an oven for you.

Marty