Hello from Maine

[maineoven]

Hi folks, my name is Stew and I have been humbled by my efforts to build a brick oven.

Well, now that the snow has melted and the weather is starting to warm. I (crazily) decided to add a brick oven to my backyard for the family. With limited funds, I decided to put it in myself. I think I must be crazy. I quickly found that I am NOT a stone mason and now have a whole lot of respect for those folks.

I know now that many here have poured a slab foundation and constructed the C shape block stand with a slab on top. I did not because of concern of cost and lack of know how. Instead I dug down to pure sand (they back filled my yard with sand when they built it) then laid down crushed stone, tamped and dry stacked blocks in a rectangle. I then filled every other hole with rebar and concrete. So now I'm left with this stand that I plan on filling with sand and a layer of insulation (clay and vermiculite).

Unfortunately the stand is not completely level when you measure it, but it looks pretty good from a distance. I'm going to continue to do the best I can with the pizza oven following plans here and getting advice from forum folks. Wish I had started here but I didn't. Right now I'm shopping around trying to find the lowest cost on firebrick. So far I've found $2 per brick.

I'll post pics of my block stand as soon as I can figure it out. I have a driving desire to complete this thing.

[Neil2]

I would hesitate to build on a dry stack foundation, especially if it is on sand.

Good luck.

[maineoven]

Pizza oven pictures by radiostew - Photobucket

Here are some pics of my block stand. I was told that sand was very compact and would not heave or move very much. Also, I thought the FB guidelines recommended dry stacking. Could anyone explain? Thanks

[Gulf]

Dry stacking and "at least" pouring every other hole is fine by FB standards. However, they do recomend placing it on a concrete slab. Your pics don't resemble dry stacking. They look like the blocks were layed in mortar. However, I don't see a reinforced concrete slab supporting it. My suggestion: Don't go to any further "expense" until you do have a slab to build it on. That may mean disassembling the blocks now instead of the entire oven later.
Just Say'n