Michael's 42in Pompeii Oven, Sydney Australia. Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Michael's 42in Pompeii Oven, Sydney Australia. in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; After the first row was level and plumb I continued dry stacking, but placing a 10mm gap between them. I ...

[MikeyMann]

After the first row was level and plumb I continued dry stacking, but placing a 10mm gap between them. I did this because the besser blocks are 390mm, and I need the 400mm to get the required 1800mm total.

I used a weaker mortar (5:1) for this as it's only for spacing. You can see the colour is very sandy. Sand is cheaper than cement!

I eventually filled all the cavities. I would alternate 3:2:1 concrete followed by crushed brick/sand & cement.

In one of the pictures you can see me emptying the remainder of this 5:1 into the cavity of the blocks. A convenient way to dispose of unwanted cement mix. I mixed this with crushed brick.

I will post a photo tomorrow of the completed block stand.

Next step is the concrete hearth.

[MikeyMann]

OK, so I worked all day tuesday to finish the block stand with a nice storage area for timber and added support for the hearth. I ended up filling every second block with concrete, and the others with bricks with the odd splash of concrete.

I finished the formwork using MDF and 4*2 pine. I coated it all in a splash of water.

I then started pouring the structural hearth with 100mm concrete mixed by shovel in a wheelbarrow. 3:2:1 (gravel:sand:cement)

Midway through I placed the reinforcement mesh and 12mm rebar.

My only fear is that mixing the concrete by hand was too slow and the hearth began to set before I was ready to screed. The result was too much gravel being right at the surface of the concrete. Some of it is chipping away.

My only saving grace is that I will perform a second pour around a central layer of insulation brick.

Can anyone foresee disaster with this?

cheers

M

[MikeyMann]

I forgot to add... I think i'm clever by adding a power cable through conduit... I get a power point on the far left of the oven. Happy chappy!

[paulyboy]

Looking good!!
Paul

[MikeyMann]

OK. Now I am excited. After over a week of doing nothing on the oven, my firebricks are coming tonight. Awesome.

I don't have a brick saw, and won't be hiring one... so I will assembling it with standard bricks bolstered in half. It will look fine on the inside, just a bit rough on the outside. Not to worry... Is this a problem you think?

I have an angle grinder with a masonry blade for some smaller cuts, which should suffice when I need to cut smaller shapes. Wish me luck!

[jmhepworth]

Ugly on the back won't matter. After you get it enclosed, you can't see the ugly.

[MikeyMann]

OK. Hi again. i spent most of yesterday laying out bricks for the cooking floor. So here's the layout of the insulation bricks. I just put some mortar around the outside to hold them in place for now.

[MikeyMann]

This is the cooking floor in herringbone layout. You will notice some of the bricks are chipped on the corners. I will choose carefully the bricks for the floor so there aren't any chipped corners.

I traced around the plywood formwork to make my circle. Simple enough!

[MikeyMann]

Using my 100mm Makita Angle Grinder I started to cut the bricks for the circle shape. This is a real pain with a small grinder. I am going to discs at a rapid rate. Fortunately they only cost $3.00 each, so the cost isn't the issue. The problem is, I have to bolster the brick to finish the cut, and sometimes the brick doesn't break where I have cut. Just ends up in wasting a brick here and there.

I just can't justify buying a larger grinder or a brick saw.

However... when I cut the bricks in the wheelbarrow, it's a great way to collect firebrick dust and chips for making a fireclay bed to lay the cooking floor on. Happy with that!

[Neil2]

"I am going to discs at a rapid rate. "

Soak the bricks in a bucket for 5 min or so first. This will keep the heat (and dust) down and the disk will last longer.

A 4 inch grinder is about as small a tool as I would use for this type of work. A 5 inch grider has about twice the power and are generally much more robust.