Dave's Northern Virginia Build

[DaveW]

Oh snap!

It Happened! My dome cracked and how! Up one side and down the other. After 6 fires and one pizza night all was well. Sunday I fired up the oven with hickory wood at noon and kept it roaring till around 6:00pm. It was so hot the first pizza cooked(burned) in less than a minute. So we let it burn down a little and made the perfect Roman Pizza. Crispy, flavorful and aromatic. Pizzas cooked in about 90 seconds. But then I saw it! The right arch buttress opened up as well as the inner dome crack. It certainly didn't help any that my bricks were off bond. I am not inclined to repair the cracks. Is there any reason not to leave them be?

Please disregard my previous posts about a crack free oven.
Dave

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Hey Dave,
Is your dome enclosure done yet? If not I would look at the outside of that crack in the back of the dome and consider patching that up, just to keep smoke and flame from creeping out there. If it is enclosed already, I would just leave it alone. It is not going to fall down or anything! You don't often see a brick crack like that though. Must have been an excellent fire!

Drake

[DaveW]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Must have been an excellent fire!

Drake

Thanks Drake,
It was one hot fire! Yesterday we cooked a few more pizzas and this time the crack didn't open up so other than aesthetics it doesn't appear to be a problem. To help me forget about it my wife is making up a batch of limoncello!
Ciao,
Dave

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Don't worry about those cracks Dave, That front arch is just a hairline and probably happens to most of ours eventually. The one in the dome appears smaller than the crack I got. I only had the insulation laid on it so after a really smokey fire for hours, I had the tiniest light, wispy line of a smoke stain on the white insulation. Your dome crack is even smaller than mine so you wont loose any heat, smoke or anything else.

Let me know how your limoncello turns out. I believe that should be the standard course of action to most dome cracks and should be made part of the official PDF Pompeii oven plan download .

Ciao back, Dino

[DaveW]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Hi all,
I am finally back to working on the oven. Before I got started I had to dig a Fish Pond and resurrect the lawn. The decorative arch is now in. My wife's Limoncello is ready (powerful stuff) and I am looking forward to some good pizza this summer.
Dave

[glindhout]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Dave -- why is that all of these other projects take priority over finishing the dome? Mine sits unfinished while I'm repairing the yard, patching and repainting the pool, installing pool heating solar panels on the roof, etc., etc.!

Greg

[trockyh]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Nice to see you back Dave! Your arch looks great, but where are the finished pictures of the pond? Looking at all that sod makes my back hurt.
I will tell ya, pizza from our ovens is the best and so much fun.

Cheers,
Tom

[DaveW]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Nice to see you back Dave! Your arch looks great, but where are the finished pictures of the pond? Looking at all that sod makes my back hurt.
I will tell ya, pizza from our ovens is the best and so much fun.

Cheers,
Tom

Thanks Tom, The pond is not exactly finished. But, at least it doesn't look like this anymore...

Greg, If we wait for all the projects to get done our ovens will only be a dream.

Dave

[DaveW]

I've created a Monster!

This thing is mammoth! By the time I cap the chimney it will be 10 feet tall!
Great view from on top.
Dave

[DaveW]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

I finished the chimney cap. Now I just need to cap the Cap.

[DaveW]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Together with help from my friend and technical adviser Gianluca, we framed the roof. He came up with a good idea for a chimney cap also....

[Tscarborough]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Very nice, but is Virginia in an earthquake zone?! You have more rebar in that chimney than I have in my entire outdoor kitchen.

[christo]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

Great looking build! I think you need a different cap cap....

Can't wait to see how you do the surface finishes.

Christo

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

I was just checking out the "humble beginnings" of you dome on your site...would never have imagined what a great wfo it's become. That chimney cap detail is great. When you stood on it, I thought I saw your hand wave when I looked to the east from my office window .

[DaveW]

Re: Dave's Northern Virginia Build

I was just checking out the "humble beginnings" of you dome on your site...would never have imagined what a great wfo it's become. That chimney cap detail is great. When you stood on it, I thought I saw your hand wave when I looked to the east from my office window .

Thanks Dino, that wasn't actually me standing on it though. At 10 feet up I'm not risking any vertigo!

I am now trying to figure out how many Spanish clay tiles I need for the roof and what types...field, hip, rake, closure, end bands . . .

dave