Jamie's build Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Jamie's build in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Thanks- we were hoping to get it done by now, but the unseasonally hot september made the work go a ...

[cynon767]

Thanks- we were hoping to get it done by now, but the unseasonally hot september made the work go a little more slowly than expected. Call me a wuss, but I can't go for more than about 2 or 3 hours when it's 100 degrees outside, and with the kid to watch, I can't even work on it every day. Oh well... it's getting closer by inches, anyway...

We've got seeds planted in starter pots for a winter garden. The soil will be delivered in a week and a half, which should give us enough time to have the garden beds and paths ready for it. By that time, the oven will (hopefully) be close to ready to fire.

[cynon767]

My birthday present to myself was a full day's work on the oven. My wife took the day off work and too care of our daughter while I took advantage of the arrival of fall temperatures to spend the day in the yard. It allowed me to put in the time necessary to close up the dome.

At last! Major milestone achieved! There really is nothing like the feeling of tapping the keystone you've been carefully carving for the last hour into place, and stepping back to admire the whole creation.

There was an issue down at about the third through fifth rings with the angle of the bricks- i had initially not angled them enough, and the dome was on track to far exceed the height I had intended. When I steepened the angle in the next 2 courses, I over-corrected. I would have been fine with the resulting low dome, but my door was already built at 12 3/4 inches high, and I figured that if I let my roof go too low, I would lose a great deal of efficiency through the now too-high door. So, I decided to go with a slightly pointed arch, which is accentuated visually by the fact that the yellow bricks I used for my final courses are slightly larger in dimension, so that when they are flush on the inside they stick out a quarter inch further on the outside. It doesn't look quite as nice to my eye as the perfect hemispherical domes that others have gotten here using the indispensable tool, but I guess that's what I get for dispensing with it. I'm fairly confident that it will hold up, considering that there is still a relatively consistent curve to the walls.

I feel pretty darn proud of it, all things considered, especially considering I built it with no forms, just eyeballing it and making corrections as it went. Let me tell you, I got pretty good at that whole "levitating brick" trick, too! The secret is: very sticky mortar!

Now it's on to the chimney before settling in on the enclosure.

[cynon767]

Here's a couple shots of the keystone- it really did take a bit of carving, but in the end it tapped soundly in place and fit as well as I could have hoped.

[kebwi]

I always love the prideful final-keystone photos on FB.

[cynon767]

Yeah, me too. I figured, it's tradition, I might as well!

[cynon767]

I built the vent transition the other day, and am contemplating chimney issues and design styles. I am torn between a high-sloped igloo, a brick enclosure, modified gabled house, or some hybrid combination of the different elements. It's hard to put into words, but I am envisioning a prominent chase protruding from the front of the oven; behind that, things are a little murky. Our design vision has altered over the course of the project, but now we need to nail down the details.

I think I mentioned before that I wanted a full-width vent transition, since the area between my arches is rather shallow. So, I built a sloped-sidewall box to support the chimney, with the weight being taken primarily by the two arches and to a lesser extent the front of the dome (although I suppose, really, that ultimately transfers to the inner arch as well). The main goal was to get as smooth a transition to the chimney as I could.

[cynon767]

Dry-fit of the flue tiles. I am hoping that this will be tall enough, but the proximity of the garage makes me unsure.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

are you going to enclose the dome ? If you are I would go a little higher, if not it looks like your fine,, you are far enough away from the garage the smoke shouldnt bother it... Building code however might be another issue,, Nice brickwork,,,

Cheers
Mark

[dmun]

I love the alternating color arches: very Alhambra-like:

[cynon767]

dmun- thanks! that was a huge part of the inspiration.