If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

[boerwarrior]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I would move my inner arch about 1 inch further back. And I would make the floor about 2 inches higher. Other than that probably nothing!

[oasiscdm]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Make my yard bigger

So i could do what Benguilford suggested having the hearth slab and oven floor all at the same height with a small landing at front of decorative arch. Alas room did not permit.

Why!!!!!! because that looks so damn pretty.

[ATK406]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Home brew, no soldier coarse (lower dome), more insulation (> 2.5").

[davemartin88]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Take a bit more time on the wire supporting the stucco to get a more consistent finish/curve in the final dome shape.

[V-wiz]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I would make a smaller and lower dome. I find my 40inch to be huge and more than i need. I also would probably cure the oven with insulation on, i cured it without so i could find and repair cracks.

[cobblerdave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Gudday
Spent a delightfully time yesterday afternoon restocking the stowage in the oven stand. Did manage to finally remove the orange and lemon that had been entombed at the back forever and into the ready use stowage.
To get the wood in there and out there's only one way to do it and that's to crawl.... And bark your back on the entrance.
If I were to build again I build a H shape so that I get two shallow bays and build the entrance ways higher.



Regards dave

[kanoer54]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

listened to gulf on how "epic" this build may be. it is a lot larger (diameter) than i had imagined. i would have built it smaller and thought more about the final outcome, as to the final diameter. i guess i need to post some recent pics on the build.....although i am still a little shy about the final outcome. i would have built the diameter a little smaller....39 inch down to perhaps 36 inch.

my next oven at my fiance's forest property will be in the 34" to 36" diameter range.

[pizzalover4ever]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I'm trying to do research on an oven build. what height would you go? or how high is yours now? I should change this a little, it didn't appear where i thought it would in the thread... I was meaning the height of the oven floor. is there a rule like waist or higher or not? i didn't see it in the plans but might have missed.

[kbartman]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I'm trying to do research on an oven build. what height would you go? or how high is yours now?

Pizzalover4ever,

A good start on your research is to download the free plans here:
Click here

I would make a smaller and lower dome. I find my 40inch to be huge and more than i need. I also would probably cure the oven with insulation on, i cured it without so i could find and repair cracks.

V-wiz,

I'm getting ready to cure now, and was thinking the same thing, not sure which way, on or off. What is the main reason for your conclusion?

[V-wiz]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Sorry for the late response. People say that when you have the insulation on the heat transfers more evenly, therefore less chance of heat spots = cracks.

[david s]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Sorry for the late response. People say that when you have the insulation on the heat transfers more evenly, therefore less chance of heat spots = cracks.

I subscribe to this theory, but the drawback is that it is more difficult for the water to escape and also not possible to easily check for dome cracks. You would need to remove the blanket, inspect and replace it. I don't bother inspecting the outside of the dome, just the inside.

[Campmaki]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Can't argue with a real brickie
Wikipedia has a nice drawing I copied showing the 6 different bricklaying positions. Having said that this forum seems to have a convention using chipsters description. The tower of babel was never finished because the builders didn't understand each other - nothing will stop the tower of pizza

From a veteran mason, a shiner is actually a brick laid with the face towards the back. Some face brick are hard to tell which is the face, till the wall is completed. Then you will see them here and there.

[navyintel]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

First on my list would be oven door opening size. I calculated the height of the door and and tried to limit the width so that I would not have a lot of heat loss. This is on a 43 inch pompeii style oven from plans. I should have increased the width by about 1 inch total so that a full 18 inch commercial pan would fit instead of the 1/2 pans that I use. It is not much of a loss because I can get 3 1/2 pans in the oven at one time vs 1 full size pan. But still I would have liked the choice.

Also, I think that I would have put an additional 1/2 brick under the full brick floor, or instead of putting the 2 1/2 in thick side down, I could have put the brick on its side and made the floor 4 inches thick. For retained heat cooking, more floor mass it better, even if it takes a bit more wood.

[lventi]

Reading these makes me extremely excited about Dome Day - Saturday is the big build! Lots of people wish that their vent were larger. I just want to be sure that I'm using the same terminology...you (almost) all want the tunnel part that comes off of the dome to be larger, right? Wider or longer - you want it wider b/c it'd be easier to maneuver the pizza etc., or you want it longer/deeper so not as much heat escapes fromt he dome? And if you're not talking about the "tunnel," then are you talking about the chimney? I was told that for an approx 40" interior, to get a chimney pipe that's 8" across. My understanding is that the entry opening should be approx 66% of the internal oven height, so isn't the size of the vent opening sort of pre-determined by the oven height?
Thanks for any info,
ASP (Another Struggling Portlander)

[fornax hominus]

It will be 10 years this fall that I built my oven ..
my rebuild wishes are
put in an electrical outlet .. you will be out there in the dark
put in a nice / cubbyhole to hold your beer , I have spilt lots of beer in 10 years
make your roof big enough to stand under in the rain , it will rain while you are pizza cooking
as to your vent, Mine SUCKS ..in a good way!
mine is 27”x9” and I don’t regret it.
10 years and 500 + heats and my arch is still pristine