New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

[cobblerdave]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

G'day
Oven setback also had a big effect on how easy it is to see into the oven.
Usually a brick and a 1/2 gives you enough to build an big enough entranceway and be able to fit a usable vent in it. What you also have to factor in is that your oven door bisects the circle of your dome and cuts a least 100mm from the edge of the circle. Don't factor it in and your door ends up being set back a 1/2
Brick or so deeper than you think.
Regards dave

[Wozza]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

I've decided on 1150mm, which is elbow height in any case. So the dirt goes back from whence it came. Hey, I'm trying to lose a few extra kilos anyway so I'll burn a few calories into the bargain.

I could have gone with some half height bricks instead but I've got so much dirt to get rid of in any case that shovelling it back into the hole is a much better prospect than getting it down the side of the house to the front and into a skip.

Spent an hour so chasing prices and I've now got an estimate for getting up to the hearth.

Road base: $110
Concrete (foundation, block holes and hearth): $600
Reo bars and mesh: $80
Blocks: $190

Just enough change from a grand for a decent six pack. Maybe I could save some on the concrete if I can find a cheaper price than Bunnings, but I need bags as getting ready mixed to the back of the house isn't really on. And Bunnings is convenient so I can avoid delivery charges and get them myself.

Our favourite Italian sells excellent pizzas at about $20 each. Let's say $5 for ingredients so I'm going to be saving fifteen bucks a pizza when this thing is built. So I'm currently running at 65 pizzas to break even. Sounds better like that...

[Wozza]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

G'day
Oven setback also had a big effect on how easy it is to see into the oven.
Usually a brick and a 1/2 gives you enough to build an big enough entranceway and be able to fit a usable vent in it. What you also have to factor in is that your oven door bisects the circle of your dome and cuts a least 100mm from the edge of the circle. Don't factor it in and your door ends up being set back a 1/2
Brick or so deeper than you think.
Regards dave

The hearth will be 1800 deep. So starting from the back I'll have 100 from the edge to the insulation (I guess that would be enough for a waterproof cover and maybe some brick 'tiles' like you did), then 75mm insulation, 115mm brick, 900mm internal diameter and 115mm brick.

If the outer arch started from there as a worse case (and yeah, I agree it'll be somewhat inside that line) then from that point I'll have 495mm to the other edge of the hearth. Say a brick and a half as you say for the outer arch and I've got 150mm left. Does that sound OK to you?

I haven't got access to a cad system at the moment, but as soon as I do I can start laying this out and posting some diagrams.

[BrendanLovesPizza]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

Road base: $110
Concrete (foundation, block holes and hearth): $600
Reo bars and mesh: $80
Blocks: $190

....plus beer to build!

sounds a bit expensive for some materials but if you costed it then I guess it is correct. Is that concrete from a mini crete truck with a pump. It may be faster and kinda easier to get the slab down. Then put the besser blocks in place, then form up and pour the filler and top slab in one hit with the use of a minicrete truck hose and pump system. The pump is using only $400-500 on top of the concrete mix you choose.

[Wozza]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

....plus beer to build!

sounds a bit expensive for some materials but if you costed it then I guess it is correct. Is that concrete from a mini crete truck with a pump. It may be faster and kinda easier to get the slab down. Then put the besser blocks in place, then form up and pour the filler and top slab in one hit with the use of a minicrete truck hose and pump system. The pump is using only $400-500 on top of the concrete mix you choose.

Truth be told, I can get everything cheaper per unit price. But apart from the road base, I'll be picking everything up myself locally. Otherwise delivery costs blows the price right out. The road base I can get at half the cost for a tonne versus the price the local guy is charging but he's charging about $50 for delivery and the other guy nearly $100.

The concrete will be 20 kilo bags and I'll get them in a few trips from Bunnings (unless I find cheaper somewhere equally as handy). I drive past one of their big stores a couple of times a week. Pumping it in would be pricey and I'd have to get it done once for the foundation and again for the hearth.

But rest assured I'll be checking all options for saving some dollars. To help pay for the beer if nothing else...

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

The devil is in the details. If you are not cashed up then look at each of the components and you can save heaps. My build set me back about $1200 without the wet saw and is a lot more than just the oven. I had a mate with a cement mixer, had the premixed sand and aggregate delivered and did it bit by bit, mostly on my own.

My break was finding the firebricks at the right price. Some were used and some not but the used ones had only been stacked in a kiln and not mortared in.. The formply and the rest was all new material but I have helped a couple of other people out with their builds with the loan of the saw and formwork materials.

The more you are prepared to do (and sometimes the hard way) the cheaper the outcome. Happy with mine and so are the others I helped out.

Keep looking for the right prices and it will work out better than you thought. The thirst quenchers then seem a lot more reasonable and deserved!

[softy]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

Hey Wozza, if your looking at losing some kilos before the oven is up and running, a larry will help with that, mixing the concrete in a barra burns calories, I lost 7 /8 kilos during my build, lucky enough for now I still haven't finished so I'm always moving dirt around so the calories keep getting burnt. I did use a mixer for one of my bigger pours.

[cobblerdave]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

G'day
I there with the Greenman......... $1,000 Ouch!
I'd be checking out "gumtree" for the block and mesh and steel.
You never know you luck there's always some left over in a construction site that can be had for some beer. Put out the word with you friends surely in this face book world something will come of it.
The stand was the cheap part of my build the firebrick was" spendy" bit.
Regards Dave

[Wozza]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

I had a mate with a cement mixer, had the premixed sand and aggregate delivered and did it bit by bit, mostly on my own.

The concrete is the killer.

I have a problem in that there is no easy access to the back garden. There's a tree alongside my deck at the back which means that I can't get wheelbarrow access from the side of the house to the garden. Everything has to come through the house (including the cement mixer for Chrissakes).

But I'll see what loose premix sand and agg would cost (plus bags of cement) and if there's a reasonable saving I guess I could get the loose mix dumped at the top of the drive and move it somehow through to the back. At least I could leave it all in the garden alongside where I need to mix.

That would be fun, carrying a ton of mix front to back (plus 10 steps) in a bucket. Who needs a personal trainer...

[BrendanLovesPizza]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

Wozza. I got my recycled roadbase from fairfield council. $28 per tonne delivered I did 10 tonne though for my rear yard. Bunnings is $5.50 a bag for cement. Cheapest you'll get. Look on ebay or gumtree for besser blocks they come up all the time cheap. I have a mixer if ya wanted to borrow one.

[cobblerdave]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

G'day
A lot of us use our own labour and time ( it's it cheap?) to keep down costs.
The access is an issue that you'll have to balance. You can't get away without a proper strong ground slab which you already know. The upper slab however doesn't have to be caste in situ.
2 things come to mind. Pre cast cement Lintels used for above doorways and windows in block construction. Power panel which is a caste hebel product 75 mm thick and mesh re-enforced and designed as a flooring.
Both these seem to be used by the Brits a lot and for the same reason....lack of easy access to back yards
Hope these give you some other choices
Regards dave

[cobblerdave]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

G'day
Think construction you think wheelbarrow. Inside a house it too big to be usefull.
Why not strap a plastic barrel to a 2 wheel movers trolley. Lot easier to move around. In fact consider one of those with the 3 cluster wheels that climb steps easier .
Regards dave

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

Wazza - that is tight. It seems that whichever way you go you will be able to give the gym a miss for a while! Daves suggestion is workable but you will need to stock up on brownie points before you start trundling all of that through the house!

Some of us don't really appreciate having plenty of room. Only lived in one place that was so small that I had to go out on the street to change my mind.

[Gulf]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

Wazza - that is tight. It seems that whichever way you go you will be able to give the gym a miss for a while! Daves suggestion is workable but you will need to stock up on brownie points before you start trundling all of that through the house!

Some of us don't really appreciate having plenty of room. Only lived in one place that was so small that I had to go out on the street to change my mind.

That sounds, sort of, like my first place. You couldn't "cuss "a cat in there without getting hair in your mouth .

[Wozza]

Re: New 36" Pompeii in Bondi

Wozza. I got my recycled roadbase from fairfield council. $28 per tonne delivered I did 10 tonne though for my rear yard. Bunnings is $5.50 a bag for cement. Cheapest you'll get. Look on ebay or gumtree for besser blocks they come up all the time cheap. I have a mixer if ya wanted to borrow one.

Recycled road base from the council...ok, I'll check that out. And thanks for the offer of the mixer. Really appreciate it. I'm not sure if the $60 hire for the day from my local Kennards trumps the trip to your place (and back) - would it fit in the back of a Toyota Land?

G'day
Think construction you think wheelbarrow. Inside a house it too big to be usefull.
Why not strap a plastic barrel to a 2 wheel movers trolley. Lot easier to move around. In fact consider one of those with the 3 cluster wheels that climb steps easier .
Regards dave

Now that is a good idea, Dave. I will seriously investigate that. Getting it ready mixed will save me a hell of a lot of effort and no little amount of moolah. Beats me doing a milkmaid impression and staggering through the house with a bucket all day.

Daves suggestion is workable but you will need to stock up on brownie points before you start trundling all of that through the house!

Some of us don't really appreciate having plenty of room. Only lived in one place that was so small that I had to go out on the street to change my mind.

Me with polished wood floors as well. And all walls repainted and a new floor laid in the kitchen. But I could lay old carpet throughout and maybe lotsa cardboard protecting all my previous hard work.

And I'm not sure if this is good news but I'm back working again. I was quite happy to leave it until the new year before I started looking but a couple of weeks work came up that I couldn't refuse. May lead on to more which is good for the bank balance but bad for making any sort of progress on the oven. I haven't even got time to fill that damn hole back in now.

Brendan, I think Bet365 just shortened your odds for first finish by a couple of bucks.

And talking of small places, I did some work in Hong Kong a few years back and the director of the company put two of us up in an apartment he owned. You would not believe how small it was. You couldn't turn around in the toilet. You had to straddle the bowl just to close the door.

I swear this is true, but if the other guy wasn't there, I used to go into the living room to wipe my arse. I kid you not.