How long did it take you to build your oven?

[brickie in oz]

Nice Lee, nice..

[GianniFocaccia]

Lee,

Your oven rocks! Great tie-in with the existing bricks. Can't wait to see some pics of the food coming out of it!

John

[Karangi Dude]

I built one in seven days, then I woke up and it was time to go to work

[Stevenb]

This is our whole project. It was probably seven months or so, but we came and went a lot to do other jobs. It was a fun winter job though.

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by Karangi Dude

I built one in seven days, then I woke up and it was time to go to work

You should have said 6 days and on the seventh you rested....

[GianniFocaccia]

Stevenb,

Each time I look at the pics of your oven builds it is obvious you and your brother are quite skilled and also have your masonry-team processes down in order to build an oven of such quality in 8 days.

However, it appears that you are not installing any insulation between your oven floors and the concrete support slab. This phase of oven construction is felt to be critical to oven performance during and after pizza cooking. Are you putting insulation in and it is so cleverly installed that we can't see it?

More importantly, I am curious why your soapstone floor has significant cracking and the beautiful soapstone stove/heaters from the eastern U.S. do not. Is it the soapstone type or thickness? Modular construction like pavers? Could it be from contact directly with concrete underneath with no insulation? Or could it be from the temperature differential of the soapstone from the interior of the oven and the exposed outside of the oven?

I am just about to finish the dome on my oven that has a 3cm soapstone floor installed.
I am concerned that imminent cracks are gonna lead to a re-floor job.

John

[Stevenb]

We hide the insulation in the concrete. We pour a high strength 4" slab, then top with the kaowool, and pour 2" around it to hide it, hold it in place, and protect it. Then we install the base firebricks on top of that and start building the dome.
As for the soapstone, we have been told that there are only two places where soapstone is mined in the US, by several places in town. Rose mountain and flower mountain. The flower mountain has viens of talc that are weak and crack. The other doesn't have that, but still seems to crack. We are look in to getting the light green plain soapstone if we can find it. It sits on top of the firebricks, which are on top of the insulation. It is 1 1/4" thick slab. The way we I stall it makes it easy to replace, but it is spendy. $800 for the rose mountain, and $400 for the other.

[Stevenb]

Btw, the insulation extends to under the walls of the dome, which we like because it seems to help isolate the whole oven from the concrete base for better heat retention.

[aceves]

Hi Steve,

Awesome build!! Very clean and detailed! That is a great outdoor living area design.

As to your initial question for this thread: 2.5 years and counting. I've had to complete other projects in between (like a 2-level wood deck, a complete kitchen remodel, etc.) so it's not all WFO time. But I'm back with determination and plan to finish my WFO this summer!

aceves