My Low Dome Pizza Oven Project

[dhs]

Hi everyone, I figured it was time to post about my own project after being inspired by so many others on here. My oven is a low pizza oven. I have a good amount of metal work experience but little to none in masonry. Because of this, my entranceway and landing are out of steel as will be the chimney flue.

Here are some pics of the progress so far:

[Tscarborough]

It looks good. I like that metal entry, very sharp. I would caution you that you should remove the excess mortar from the faces of the brick that will lie in mortar joints. Scrape it off and make every effort to keep those areas clean, as the old mortar will impede bonding.

[fxpose]

If they sold inner arches like that there will a lot fewer headaches. Also adds a nice commercial touch to the oven.
Very nice metal work and the rest of your project so far!

George

[dhs]

Tscarborough thanks for the tip. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done for that row. I am not too worried about that joint but may have troubles where the slurry mix was used to fill the 2nd and 3 rows of bricks. I knew ideally I should have done this all in one fell swoop but decided to divide it up. I only partially (1/2 to 3/4) filled the mortar joints on those rows. the idea being that when I went back and put the planned overall mortar over the top it would bond together as one mass. Live and learn.

thanks guys. I am very excited to fire it up in the coming months.

[Tscarborough]

I don't mean the mortar on the outside, I mean the surface that will have more brick laid to them. It won't be an issue anyway, it is just best practice for laying masonry.

[shuboyje]

What is your plan to buttress your multi-brick soldier? Insulating concrete with rebar? I wrapped my soldier in stainless cable anchored to a metal door frame, but it doesn't seem that would work for you.

[dhs]

Shuboyje, I could easily fit a strapping or a cable around the base row of bricks for the dome. There is space behind the entranceway plate for this. In my mind this would constrain outward movement of the dome and I believe allow the soldier course to only support downward pressure. What do you think? Up to now I had not really addressed this concern. Thanks for bringing it up.

[shuboyje]

In my mind the mortar joints at the weak spot, so if the oven is going to fail from outward thrust that is gonna be where. That was the reason for my original post...you have multiple mortar joints in the soldier to contend with. It seems like the easiest way to do it would be insulating concrete, which is what you can see in the 81 inch build in the commercial section, but in my mind metal seems sturdier then the brittle vermicrete.

[dhs]

I agree, the horizontal mortar joints in the soldier course look to be a weak point with any side motion from the dome forcing them 'out'. I believe the whole soldier course is pretty weak in that direction relying on the mortar strength (which is pretty strong though, no?)

I needed to have the joint in the soldier course to get the internal wall height I was looking for. I believe your idea of strapping to contrain the spreading for the dome is a very good and worthwhile addition. I am not sold on the necesisty of reinforcing the entire soldier course. I'll have to ponder this for a bit. Thanks for your input.

[shuboyje]

I think you are right. A single band around your beveled top brick should support the horizontal load. Not sure what I was thinking before. Just out of curiosity what are the dimensions and shape of your dome?