Quote:
Originally Posted by Pizza Freak  Hey gj & cv...
Thanks a lot for your input. If I ever get this done, you'll have to stop by for a pizza or two if you're ever in the neighborhood. I'm a winemaker, so we'll have something available to drink as well.
Freak |
Freak,
Thanks for the invite, but my trips to California are few and far between..but its interesting that the two responders to your posts thus far (GJB & me) are also winemakers...but then I would guess probably half the folks on this forum brew somthing (beer or wine)...I think we all see the WFOs as just a natural extension of a brewer's hospitality.
I think you are on the right track with a slab of reinforced concrete inside the perimeter wall, but I would caution that you don't want to make the bottom of the slab sloping down towards the retaining wall. If you have a sloping slab on sloping subsoil, you might get some sheer movement if you get shifting soils (don't yall get shakers out there?) or a lot of subsurface water. Better would be to cut your soil inside the perimeter wall into a series of steps so the slab would rest on a horizontal surface ...or even slightly reverse slope the soil steps into the hillside...nothing severe (5% or so) but it serves to help lock the foundation into the hillside, especially when you have to replace that retaining wall! The upper surface of the slab could be whatever is easier for forming.
I was following a forum thread earlier posted by NissanNeill (trying to figure out his rope seals on the oven doors) when I realized that his WFO is built into a hillside above a retaining wall. I'm sure he could give a lot more pratical cosniderations since it sounds just like your project.