Timo's Ovenblog Has Begun Introductions Discuss Timo's Ovenblog Has Begun in the Good Background Information forums; Hello all Wood Fired Brick oven people all over the world. My name is Tim and I live in Northern ...

[timo]

Hello all Wood Fired Brick oven people all over the world. My name is Tim and I live in Northern Illinois, USA. I am in the beginning stages of building a corner install of a 39" oven.

I have begun a blog of my own found here. I am blogging mostly about the oven, but from a non-technical aspect. I am also working on a garden area, too. It's my hope to pick the vegetables, clean and prepare them and add them right to the pizza and then into the oven. Fresh!

I am going to use my ovenblog for the more mundane digging foundation and making the stand part. I feel I will need a lot more answers to questions from this wonderful forum as I get into building the actual firebrick oven.

Once again thanks for this great collection of insights and information. Since I will be off from school next month I hope to be spending a lot of time on the oven soon! The goal is to have a pizza party of bake 25 lbs. of bread by the beginning of school this fall.

Regards, Tim.

[Alec&Elena]

Tim,

I also live in N. Illinois (Naperville).
How deep did you go with your foundation?

Thanks,
Alec

[Lburou]

Originally Posted by Alec&Elena

Tim,

I also live in N. Illinois (Naperville).
How deep did you go with your foundation?

Thanks,
Alec

Alec, every step is recorded in his blog. Look at page three, his foundation prep and foundation is all there.

[timo]

Yes, take a look at the build thread. I didn't post specific measurements, though, is some cases. If I were to do it again, I most likely would have dug some pillars down 42", but it is holding up well.

In my case, I dug the top most layer of sod and black dirt out. That was about 6". Then I continued to double dig down until I hit a stable layer of clay. It was easily 12" or more. I dumped two tons of crushed rock into the "pit" for drainage. You might have to dig down even further if the soil isn't stable.

Now that I can look back, water and moisture is a huge problem for outside igloo-style ovens.