Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

[glindhout]

After reading posts for the past year, we finally got up the nerve to dig in on our 42" Pompeii oven project. We want it to be the centerpiece of our outdoor kitchen addition to our deck, so we decided to create a new "hill" on the property to get us up to deck height.

First order of business was clearing part of the woods of overgrown brush and several large trees... and then the materials magically arrived from Menards!

[glindhout]

Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Since our deck is behind the house, cantilevered over a large hill, the only way to get materials to the site is through a 4' gate (hence the ATV and trailer which is 3'-11" wide), or by climbing a huge hill through the woods with the tractor.

First we had to stabilize the hill and create a raised area to build the oven pad. A few days later, with over 200 landscape blocks and lots of paver glue, we're making progress.

[glindhout]

Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

A few days later we began the concrete pad for the oven by sinking 6 sonotubes four feet into the ground to prevent frost heave... probably overkill, but I don't want to see all of our hard work become the "leaning tower of pizza" after our first winter...

Fortunately Karen's not afraid to get her hands dirty, and she had no problem pitching in... Unfortunately I had to buy 60 lb. bags of concrete mix since it's still more than half her weight, and she had trouble handling the 80 lb. bags... go figure -- what a trooper!

We're renting the cement mixer from our local hardware store, and it works great. It took 82 bags of concrete to fill the sonotubes and the pad. Good thing we've got the hot tub on the deck to soothe the aches and pains after this long day!

[glindhout]

Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Over the past week, I managed to block up the oven stand, fill the cores with cement, and rough in the deck framing for the future outdoor kitchen. I've also formed and poured an arch for the wood storage bin under the oven.

We've had 61 days of beautiful weather with only .007" of rain in Grand Rapids. But now that I've embarked on this project so late in the season, of course we've had continuous rain and cool weather for most of the past 10 days and it's gotten tougher to work on the oven. I'm starting to panic that I won't get the dome closed up before the first snowfall...

[vintagemx0]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Wow, that's obviously going to be (already is) a very impressive build. I'm in awe at how fast you guys are going at it. I bet Karen has a lot to do with that. My wife was a real trooper too, and she lugged quite a few 80 lb bags around - much to my shagrin. My hat is off to you guys at your organization and speed. Your year of research and planning is already paying for itself.

Doesn't 'Ol Man Winter come calling soon in your area? I'd only be afraid of freezing temperatures for the mortar work. 'Looking forward to following your project.

The Morgans

[glindhout]

Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Our house was built in 1962, and is mostly Chicago common brick (see first photo). I've had a very hard time finding bricks to match for past projects, but we decided the outdoor kitchen should be faced with similar bricks to maintain some consistency with the architecture.

I've been searching on Craig's List for a while, and this past week I found a listing for FREE bricks in Chicago (with some* labor required)... We decided to make the 4 hour trip to Chicago last Saturday morning with a 24' trailer in tow, just in case the bricks turned out to be a good match for our house.

The building owner, Joe, was tearing off a previous remodel to his 4-story condo, and removing the back wall which was built with bricks. He and his helpers were carefully lowering the bricks down to ground level in buckets so that the bricks wouldn't be damaged... BINGO!

It took us about 6 hours to retrieve, clean and stack approximately 1850 bricks onto pallets for the trip home. The trailer could handle 10,000 pounds, so we pretty much max'ed it out. And my helper was feeling the pain of the bricks as well!

[geisen]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Lovin the build already. With that kind of engineering going into the foundation and the sweat hours going into procurring the bricks, I can tell we have another masterpiece underway. good luck.

[wayner]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

The way this is starting out, you may just decide to step up and build a 60" oven instead.

I've got to show my wife your pictures. She too helped with my concrete pours, but not 82 bags worth!

Good luck with your build.

-wayne

[mfiore]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Greg and Karen,

It's great to see another Michigan build! Thanks for posting your progress.

It looks like this is going to be an incredible project. If you make some sort of temporary tent or shelter, a few warm lights, you should be able to extend your build into the early frost a little bit.

Good luck, and I look forward to your build!

Mike

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Greg & Karen: nice start on your 42" wfo. The area you're putting it in at the edge of your deck looks really nice too. Can't wait to see the whole outdoor area done with those bricks you got. You're brave working on a build this late in the year but like Mike said on the last post, it's definitely do-able.

After you fill the cmu cells with concrete what's the upper slab pour going to be and are going with FB board only or a vermi-crete pour?

Just wondering because I see you've got 5 blocks high but the deck comes halfway up the lowest block? Anyway, nice build, thanks for posting.

Cheers, Dino

[fxpose]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Wow! This is an interesting build as I will essentially be doing the same thing......reconstruction a hillside patio (concrete, in my case) around a raised foundation WFO.
I will add your build thread to my 'closely following' list of threads. Thanks for the photos, they're very helpful...

[glindhout]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Dino,

We just formed up the boards for the upper slab and it will be 4" thick with 2" of FB Board on top. We're just waiting to pour next week because the weather is supposed to be above 32 degrees again!

Greg

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Greg & Karen
NIce job so far, great enthusiasm,,,, Build fast and enjoy...

Cheers
Mark

[jmhepworth]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Enjoy the journey. It's great fun.

Joe

[stonylake]

Re: Greg & Karen's 42" Deck WBO in MI

Hi Greg. I tried to post earlier and had a computer problem. Don't know if you recieved it or not. I started my build on 9/18 and hope to pour my hearth slab this weekend. I'll call it quits for the season after that, may build my arch in my shop this winter. I have a couple of sheets of 4x8 cement fiber siding in the warehouse with broken corners, I'm going to pour over that and just leave it in place afterward. It looks like the weather will cooperate Saturday, shouldn't freeze for a couple of days...