Building a Neapolitan Pompeii Oven Introductions Discuss Building a Neapolitan Pompeii Oven in the Good Background Information forums; I've framed the box for the enclosure and insulated (still need to pick up a few more perlite bags though, ...

[maver]

I've framed the box for the enclosure and insulated (still need to pick up a few more perlite bags though, this will equal 6 bags, 4 cubic feet). I have started hanging the concrete board, I used cheap 1/4" board. I still need to finish the brickwork on the chimney and will eventually stucco the concrete board, surround the base with brick and hang a metal roof. Of course, the real beauty is that I'm at the cooking point. It took about an hour to reach 900 degrees in the dome, 750 on the hearth. Pizza Margherita in 2 minutes. I anticipate I'll be able to maintain faster cooking when I acquire proper wood that won't spit sparks so I can maintain a full flame while the pizza is in - I'm just finishing burning the concrete forms, which necessitated waiting until the wood was just about coals before I could place pizza in the oven.

I'd like to offer thanks to the wealth of information and advice on this forum.

[DrakeRemoray]

Looking good! Can you post a picture of your new door?


Drake

[maver]

This door was built hastily more to try the concept. It's a simple design but this morning the oven temp was 380 at 6am compared to no door the night before when the oven was 260 at 4:30am. I'm leaking perlite still - I guess 1 hour was not an adequate cure time for the perlcrete . I still haven't decided whether to rebuild this design with a better finish (maybe a bigger piece of aluminum flashing rather than several smaller pieces, adequate perlcrete cure time, a veneer piece of better finished plywood for the exterior, and maybe an actual handle rather than the scrap piece of wood I attached) or take my neighbor up on the shop made stainless door.

[james]

Hey Maver,

First off, I wanted to say thanks for all of your input so far. It's great for future builders and for all of us that have ovens and are looking for new recipes. The baked peaches sound great. Thanks.

Here's an idea for folks who used Super Isol under their oven. They can take an extra piece and secure it to a piece of plywood and a wood handle, then wrap it in sheet metal. That would sure stop the heat at the door for baking.

Just a thought.
James

[maver]

If I had used super isol I would use that idea in a second James. It would be a lot more practical than trying to wrap perlite in multiple pieces of flashing. At least in the time I took to make the door it was not practical to get the gaps small enough to stop perlite from leaking. I think perlcrete would have worked well if I had let it cure for a day to stabilize the insulating layer. I may still go back and redo the insulation. I have some 1/4 plywood scraps with a nice finish that I could apply over my 1/2 inch scrap plywood that the flashing is screwed into.

James, I'm just geeked out about the pizza oven right now - thanks for your kind words. I've been planning this for a few years and in the past 5 months or so have leaned heavily on this forum. Now that I have my oven to the working stage (still to complete the aesthetic stage) I'm excited to give input to those that are where I was in the past few months.

[maver]

By the way, I've remade the door with a fresh pour of perlcrete and better coverage of the corners with flashing. With a proper cure it does not leak bits of perlite and it seems to provide good insulation - my last few times using the oven were a bit rushed so I took less temp measurements, I'll try to report back on that later. I also covered the outside with a thin piece of finish plywood and it looks a lot better. More pictures to come soon.

[maver]

OK, here are pictures with the metal roof and the "brown coat" of stucco on the front. Also a picture of the finished door.

Still to do - complete the brown coat in a few places, chimney cap, tuck point the rear of the chimney, brick the base, and concrete counter to the side of the oven.

[carioca]

Ciao Maver,

your oven construction looks very neat, I admire the work that's gone into the trapezoid cuts of the higher-order bricks!

But I am most taken by your dad's elegantly simple design - pleasing to see a round hearth, and even the stand approximates the radial supports I'd mentally 'prepared' for my putative Pompeii oven...

Sfortunatamente, my wife, Bianca, won't let me even mention the word 'stone oven' any more so my planning has to stay sotto la tavola, so to speak :-)

In bushfire country, I will have to spend a lot more thought on the chimney and the best available spark arrester, I'm sure...

Cheers,

Carioca

[maver]

Thanks for your kind words.

I know code around here requires that a sphere larger than 1/2" in some states and 3/4" in others can pass through the oven. I have purchased a metal grate with 1/2" diamond openings to install as part of the spark arrestor but have not installed it yet. I'm not sure that it's really needed as the few sparks I see with seasoned wood don't really leave the oven chamber with the vent off the front. I'll probably still place the arrestor there to be sure I'm not a bad neigbor.

[carioca]

Hello Maver,

while we're on the subject of stacks: your father's oven has the chimney smack in the top centre of the dome - is there any advice AGAINST it?

Reason is, I rather like that placement, compared to the often elaborate 'ante-chamber' with stack in the front of the dome...

Cheers,

Carioca